Regional Secretary

Trish Vollans

northeastregion@cwu.org 

Welcome to the North East Regional website.

My role as Regional Secretary is to be the principal representative of CWU HQ in the Region, and to co-ordinate all CWU activity within the Region. This covers all issues of policy, structure and organising by co-ordinating Branches, the Regional Executive and Regional Sub-Committees.

Regional Assistant Secretary

Mark Hugall

branchsecretary@cwunewcastleamal.org

My primary roles are to deputise for the Regional Secretary when Trish isn't available and to take a lead for all on Equality. I work with the NE Equality Leads on their objectives and by developing links with the national Equality, Education, Training and Development team. I support the Regional Secretary and the Lead Regional Representatives on communications and campaigns.

Regional Chair

Joanne Shaftoe,

jlawtoncwu@btconnect.com

I'm from the Tyne & Wear Clerical Branch and I run our quarterly full regional meetings as well as the regional conference. I take shared responsibility with the Regional Secretary in communicating with branches and regional activists.  You can contact me to communicate something out on your behalf. I am also elected to the Northern TUC Executive Council and regularly attend those meetings and conference.

Regional Financial Secretary

Paul Leckey,

distribution@cwunewcastleamal.org

Hi, I am currently CWU Area Distribution Representative and branch finance officer for CWU Newcastle Amalgamated Branch
My role for the Region is to ensure that its finances are conducted in strict accordance with the rules and policies of the Union.
I have one simple rule which is all monies spent must be justifiable to our members

Regional Political Officer

Asghar Khan,

asghar.khan@hotmail.com

My name is Asghar Khan your regional political lead.

I’ve been a Labour Party and trade union member and activist for many years. I’m a postal worker from Leeds, - the CWU Leeds No1 branch- and a local Labour Councillor in Leeds.

I am currently the Lord Mayor of Leeds 2021-2022.

Regional Lead – Women

Claire Lord,

neregionalwomenlead@gmail.com

Hi my name is Claire Lord, your regional women's lead. I have been a postie for 21 years and I am based at Halifax delivery office. Throughout the years I have seen many inequalities in the work place, and I believe that together we can help make work environment and the wider community a better place to be.

Regional Lead – BAME

Steve Islam,

islamtheman@hotmail.co.uk

Hi, I'm Steve Islam and I'm the Regional Executive Lead for BAME - Black, Asian and

Minority Ethnicity.

I am the CWU BAME Rep and IR Rep for Newcastle Amal. My main aim is to contact all the branches and find out why they do not have a BAME Rep and then try to get someone to take up the roll in their branch. I will be soon trying to set up a WhatsApp group for the Northeast BAME officers as myself has already joined the national group.

Regional Lead – LGBT

Liza Midgley,

liza.midgley@telefonica.com

Hi my name is Liza Midgley I’m the North East LGBT+ Regional Lead. I want to be a role model for kindness and inclusion, create a safe places.

I’m proud of be the lead and be a part of the CWU.

Regional Lead – Disability

Pete Sharrocks,

petersharrocks@cwunortheast.co.uk

My name is Pete, I am branch secretary for the North East Branch and your current Disability Lead for which I am grateful. 

I will with the support of yourselves as members and your branches hope to gain improvements for our members. 

I will be working closely with the other leads, along with the equality dept. In order for us to be able to affect change we need your help. Please if you have a disability make sure it is registered on the membership database. By doing this it will help us to build a better disability plan for the region and the whole CWU. 

This can be done via your branch disability or equality rep or direct with HQ. 

Thanks Pete.

Regional Lead – Young Workers

Quincy Raymond,

quincycwu@gmail.com

Hi, I am Quincy and I come from Tyne and Wear Clerical Branch. I have been part of the union for six years now having started as a workplace rep. I have been the Regional Young Worker Lead for the North East since 2019.

I see the Young Workers Committee as a place for young workers to come together to support each other and to improve their own development as a rep and the lives of young worker members. We as a committee look to host guest speakers, training and charity fundraising. This has been successful for previous years and for the young workers reps.

I look forward to seeing you at the Regional Young Workers Committee Meeting

Regional Lead – Retired Members

Danny McGougan,

dannymcgougan67@gmail.com

Hiya, I was a postman for 29 years at Leeds Mail Centre I Retired 3 years ago I was area rep for 20 of these years I took over the role of Retired Members lead last year and hopefully when this pandemic is over we can get th committee up and running  

Regional Lead – Health and Safety

Barrie Jenkin,

neregionalsafety@gmail.com

Hi, my name is Barrie Jenkins, I am currently the CWU Regional Joint lead for the North East, I have have been active as a safety rep for 17 years. My employer is Openreach which is a BT Group Business, I started in 1997, the aim of our committee is to promote good health and safety practice in a general (non industrial) manner, with the our Sub-committee tackles key issues that affect areas such as, general employees health, disability, womens, etc etc. using Motions, attending and debating at TUC Local/Regional/National led events as well as other means to achieve our aim of, Every worker has the right to be respected and safe at work.

Regional Lead – Education, Learning & Training

Bev Walmsley,

bev2cats@yahoo.co.uk

I'm based at Leeds Mail centre but also work at my Branch office as the lead learning rep for Leeds No1 Amal branch. My role is to support and encourage our members and reps to access learning, this could be anything from helping them use a new smartphone to gaining a degree.

My aim for the future of learning is to continue to promote education within the workplace and to enable all our reps to be trained to a high standard.