Rep elections 2022
TIMELINE
VOTE
ROLES
CANDIDATES
7
OCT
Ballot period opens. Members can cast two votes for reps in their region. Reps may make contact with members that they know or have represented to ask them to vote for them but cannot use union membership lists to canvas. Voting will be online here.
Ballot closes at midday. Votes are counted and verified, and any queries resolved. The rep with the most votes from members in their region will be elected to the national role (if they have expressed an interest in this) and the rep with the next most votes will be elected as regional rep.
24
OCT
1
NOV
Period of office begins. We will then assess where we have and haven't got rep coverage and see if any runners up need to be seconded into a role in another region for coverage.
Elections will be taking place for the Scotland, South-West and North-West region. Click on each candidate's name in your region to view their personal statement to help with your decision.
The following reps have been successfully nominated into position:
NORTH EAST, YORKSHIRE & HUMBER
WALES
WEST MIDLANDS
Adrian Moore (Regional Rep)
Ian Walter (National Rep)
Ruth Walter (Regional Rep)
Karen Jordan (National Rep)
Claire Benton (Regional Rep)
Scotland
Rab Baxter
I have been a rep for over 18 years, I have completed a successful secondment, and have been on NCC for over 7 years. I have a lot of experience in casework, and excellent negotiation skills. I enjoy meeting people and feel I have an excellent relationship with the employers,colleagues and above all our members.
Michael Cantwell
As one of the most experienced Unite reps in Lloyds Banking Group, I’d like to be considered for the posts of Senior Workplace Rep and NCC. In these trouble times, support to our members is being significantly attacked while facing the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation. With over 20 years' experience with the bank, I’m a proven steady pair of hands. Whether it’s supporting a member’s through difficult issues with manager or making sure LBG’s directors hear the authentic voice of the workers, I have a proven track record of standing up to represent the workforce in Lloyds Banking Group.
South West
Richard Byron
David Long
James Westall
I have been the Bournemouth Representative since 2020, completing both parts of the UNITE Reps training and then the four weeks training to become a Health and Safety Representative. I regularly volunteer to answer the LBG UNITE Helpline, giving me, a good understanding of the problems our members are facing across the country. I am involved in the Finance Combine meetings and active in our Reps chat groups to keep up with issues such as Pay for 2023. I am a member of all four of LBG’s Diversity networks, equality is something I have always been passionate about and was for over 6 years a committee member of LBG’s ACCESS Disability Network. I started support groups for colleagues with hearing loss and dyslexia and worked a lot on the Bank’s mental health weeks. I was responsible for recruiting and training local Reps, planning, organising and hosting hundreds of disability awareness events at sites across the UK. I got to work closely with the Bank’s senior management from Human Resources, Inclusion and Diversity on a wide range of projects and personally took ten discrimination cases too Directors, bringing about change to both HR and Management training in LBG. I have a BA Hons Management Degree and tens years management experience and believe this can help me work with LBG’s management to build a positive relationship and achieve the best of outcomes for our membership not just in casework such as grievances and disciplinaries, but pay and our employment terms and conditions. I am a Rep because first hand, I’ve seen how poorly colleagues can be treated, bullied and discriminated against and the difference it can make when we stand up to support each other and create change. I hope our members will give me the opportunity not just to represent them but to make LBG a better place for everyone to work.
My name is Dave Long and I have worked for LBG for 11 years and been a Unite workplace rep for 7 years. I have really enjoyed the challenge of representing members, fighting on their behalf to maintain and improve on the terms and conditions within the workplace. I also enjoy supporting them in grievances they have raised over a variety of different issues. I have worked in a variety of different jobs and been in different unions since I left school at 16. I take a keen interest in Politics. In the course of my working life I studied part-time and obtained two degrees in Social Science related subjects. I feel I can contribute on the National Company Committee and as a workplace rep by utilising the experienced gained in the workplace combined with a deep understanding of political, economic and wider societal issues that affect member’s lives. I am passionate about protecting member’s workplace rights including: protecting member’s health and safety, campaigning for a fair pay rise for everyone, fighting against job cuts and equalities for all men and women. I have been actively involved on various committees over these issues. I voted for Sharon Graham to be our general secretary, and how refreshing it was to see a woman given the top job. I am not afraid to put my head above the parapet and be a lone voice on certain issues if I feel a decision or action is not right for our members. It would be an honour and a privilege to represent you all, by campaigning, organising and negotiating on issues that are important to you.
I am running to be the South West NCC representative or Senior Work Place rep, to continue the work and progress we have made over the last 3 years. I have been a member of the NCC over the last 3 years, and together with my colleagues, we have opened up the engagement of the union to members, and have greatly increased our effectiveness. I want to be able to continue driving the NCC towards greater things and more wins for our members and colleagues across the bank. Between the south west NCC members, we have seen an increase in membership, engagement of colleagues and new reps joining us. I feel that my experience in the role, can help me provide the best for our members, and the amount of case work I’ve been able to have taken on, has massively increased my experience and knowledge. Through my time as a rep, I have been highly effective in protecting our members interests, roles and health. I have taken on cases across the entirety of the south, to make sure our members are supported when they need our help the most.
North West
Cris Leatham-Frost
Dean Perry
For the past two years I have been seconded to the union but my home role is in a call centre within CFA. I would hope that people agree that I have helped people personally and collectively there in my 8 years as a rep. The union is changing at the minute and there is more power in members’ hands – the way it should be. This means that reps need to ensure that we are in contact with members in our area as members are the ones that have the ability to change things and win issues. In these roles there is also an expectation to assist reps on their journey to confidence and competence. This is something that I’ve taken under my wing over the last couple of years and have seen reps better communicate with each other in their region and also reps grow in confidence to the point where they are now considering standing for this seat! Competition is healthy, though! Lastly – campaigning is going to be massive over the coming years. Listening to members, taking up their concerns and empowering members to do something about the issues they are facing. I wholeheartedly commit to doing this for whatever issues are raised as we all want to come to work and be happy, progress, and take home a reward package that keeps us comfortable.
My name is Dean Perry and I’m a Unite workplace representative in Online/Tele Fraud, Liverpool. I am asking for your support and vote to become your voice for the North West on the Unite in LBG National Company Committee. I am a passionate, committed and active trade unionist and have successfully supported and represented many members within LBG on a wide range of issues. I have led and organised an array of local and national campaigns throughout my time as a local, senior, NCC and seconded representative to better the terms and conditions of members. Most notably fighting to prevent the removal of the staff mortgage benefit in 2018, which secured a mortgage offering for LBG workers. The 2022 pay campaign and the £1,000 cost of living payment which was secured as a direct result, mounting a pushback for fairness and equality with our collective grievance for part time colleagues, and our ongoing 2023 pay campaign, which has seen us, LBG workers, mount the biggest series of collective actions to turn the tide and demand better pay in LBG. For me, actions speak louder than words! I have many years of experience and knowledge under my belt and have a graduate degree from Keele University in leadership/industrial relations. I am a trained mental health first aider/advocate and have participated in many Unite/TUC training courses to remain a fully competent representative. The members come first, that has always been my motto, and it has been the driving force behind everything that I have done since becoming a rep back in 2014. If elected, I promise to give you my all, and to ensure that your voices are always heard. For it is only when our voices are united that we become too loud to silence. In solidarity Dean Perry
Helen Rogers
Kelly Shaw
My name is Helen Rogers and I have been a workplace representative for almost 13 years and I have been a National Rep for almost half of that time. I feel that based on my years of experience and rapport I have with Unite members within LBG, that I should be elected as national and senior representative for the North West and other regions. I have under my belt, years of casework experience and knowledge and am open minded to learn new ways of campaigning to take into account the massive impact of digitalisation and the effect that the pandemic has had on the recruitment of new members. Also, to understand the rising cost of living and the impact this has had on working life makes it even more important to be a member of a union and educating workers about this is crucial to the success of Unite within LBG. This will be goal, along with organising and retaining existing members to stand up for their working rights, and fight to improve them. As a new mom, I feel that women should play a massive part in becoming more involved to improve the working conditions of those with diverse backgrounds and standing up for equal rights. With this in mind, in addition to focusing on national issues within LBG, I will also be standing for an Equality rep so the minority can be represented fairly. I am currently off work on maternity, so I look forward to coming back in January getting stuck into the task of building a stronger Unite collective to get better terms and conditions. We are stronger together!
I have been a rep for 6 years. I have acted as a workplace rep, senior rep, NCC rep, health and safety rep and I am currently seconded full time to Unite. I am incredibly resourceful, purposeful, driven and creative. I feel very strongly about fairness, equality and ensuring individual voices are listened to and seek to bring honesty and integrity to everything I do. I have vast knowledge of policies and employment-based law and issues having supported many colleagues over the years, mostly through complex cases and achieved some unprecedented wins. I have dealt with a range of high-level business consultations and have been trained in job evaluations. With more and more colleagues raising concerns over not being fairly paid for their role this is something I will be focusing my time on. I have been at the forefront of many high-profile campaigns, including the staff mortgage and pay campaigns. I have sat on our pay negotiating team for the past 2 years, nearly 3. Fighting for the best possible deals and improved our communications strategy on pay significantly and increased member participation and engagement. Pay and reward is a passion of mine and want us on par with other workplaces in their pursuit for pay and conditions and that comes with building our membership, engagement and in turn leverage. Negotiations will only take a union so far, to go further we need a solid and strong membership. That is what I want to keep building so we can all get the pay and conditions we deserve. My priorities as an elected NCC rep and/or seconded rep will be about building our union, improving our leverage, supporting and developing our workplace reps and supporting you, the members, working on the issues and campaigns that matter most to you!
Chris Wilton
Chris Wilton is a qualified solicitor who has worked at LBG since 1997 and is currently based in the Group Litigation & Contentious Regulatory Team at Cawley House in Chester. He has extensive knowledge of the LBG business and was elected as a Senior Workplace Representative in 2018. In 2021, Chris was co-opted on to the LBG/Unite National Company Committee (NCC) as co-vice chairperson. Chris is 100% committed to equality, diversity and the fair-treatment of colleagues at work and is seeking re-election as Regional Senior Workplace Representative/NCC Representative. He is an experienced workplace representative who regularly supports colleagues in the resolution of workplace issues (including formal and informal casework). As well as casework, Chris participates in a number of work-streams and forums to ensure that the views and interests of colleagues are properly represented to business areas and LBG management. In his role as a solicitor, and as a Senior Workplace Representative, Chris has acquired extensive experience of problem solving and negotiation. This is supplemented by strong communication and presentation skills that he is able to adapt for effective engagement with both members and LBG line-management alike. Chris has extensive experience of supporting colleagues ranging from Band A to Band G across a variety of LBG business areas. He is a fearless advocate in support of the fair treatment of colleagues and will work hard to secure the individual and collective interests of colleagues both regionally and nationally. In these increasingly challenging economic times, Chris is acutely aware that colleagues will need strong representation and you can be assured that (if elected) he will do his utmost to ensure that they have access to the support they deserve. If you require any further information, please call Chris on 07895772158 or email him at: christopher.wilton@unitetheunion.org