2011 Annual Delegates Conference

The 2011 Annual Delegate Conference will be held at The Fishers Hotel, Pitlochry, Perthshire.

Please click here for more information.

Bill Thomas, OBE
All Club members will be saddened to learn of the death of our National Treasurer, Bill Thomas OBE.  A stalwart of the Brandhall Labour Club and of the NUL&SC, including attending every Annual Delegate Meeting, Bill worked tirelessly to promote the Union, as well as to offer help and advice to Clubs throughout the country. 

He represented the NULSC on the Socialist Societies Executive, at Labour conferences and on the Party’s Policy Forum.  A long standing councillor, he was a former Chair of Education, and – almost until his death – the widely respected Leader of Sandwell Council in the Midlands. 

Throughout his periods as a head teacher and on the Council, he was the most effective agent first to Peter (now Lord) Archer and subsequently John Spellar MP. He had also served for 27 years on various health service bodies in Sandwell including being chair of the local mental health and social care trust.

It was for his work on behalf of the health service that he received an OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours.  But it was for his good humour, loyalty and commitment to the well being of the people of Sandwell and to the Labour Clubs that he was loved.

Bill died after a short illness and his funeral was a private family affair. He will be sadly missed by our movement and the sympathies of the national Executive Committee are with his family.

Councillor Brian Baldwin CBE, President of the NUL&SC stated: "Bill's work as Treasurer, and on our Executive, helped secure an organisation of great importance to the movement.  We will miss him by our side". 

National Minimum Wage
New £5.80 minimum wage rate from October 2009
National Minimum Wage rates are to rise from October 2009 with the minimum rate for workers aged 22 and over rising to £5.80 an hour. Nearly one million people are expected to benefit from the new rates.