Two new regional secretaries elected in CWU poll

Union Matters

 

Congratulations to Erin Massey and Ruth Harris, chosen by members in Northern Ireland and South East respectively…

As well as these new additions, the results of the union’s biennial elections also saw ‘acting’ Midlands Region secretary Mark Harper confirmed in his role.

And in our other seven regions, Ian Murphy (London), Gary Watkins (Wales), Kevin Beazer (South West), Paul Moffatt (Eastern), John Woodhouse (North East), Carl Webb (North West) and Craig Anderson (Scotland) were all re-elected.  

Speaking to CWU News this morning, Erin Massey thanked members and said: “For me, to be the first woman elected to this role over here in Northern Ireland is an honour.

“And in congratulating all those elected within their respective regions, I want to especially mention my fellow female comrade Ruth Harris, the new South East Region secretary. Together, we have changed the proportionality at the regional table, which now has two regional secretaries for the first time. This is a credit to our union as a whole. 

“Here in Northern Ireland, unfortunately, there are many divides for one reason or another in all walks of life. There is a lot of hard work to be done, yet responsibility also lies with everyone within this region. We all need to understand that we need to make things happen together. Everyone under the CWU banner, all constituencies need to work together to do our absolute best regionally, for all concerned and to strengthen our union.”

Ruth Harris, from Portsmouth, said that she was “extremely honoured” to have been elected, noted that she is “the first woman regional secretary for the South East” and also welcomed the significant step forward in proportionality that this year’s elections have achieved, saying: “This is what our union needs to move forward in our ongoing redesign and our unified push to greater equality all round.

“I want to promote the South East Region within our union and work with all members and branches across the businesses to strengthen our union and our activities,” she added.

Commenting on the elections, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “Warm congratulations to our new regional secretaries Erin and Ruth and also to our confirmed and re-elected regional secretaries.

“I want to thank all the candidates for putting themselves forward – contested elections are a positive sign of a healthy and vibrant union, which is what the CWU is – and to the former regional secretaries Dave Kennedy (NI) and Paul Carpenter (SE), for the great job they did.

“A CWU regional secretary is a hugely important position and I’m looking forward to meeting up with them all soon and taking our union’s agenda forward in unity.”


  •  Full regional secretary election results here