Advance Elections

The following elections will be run for Advance representatives and Chairperson from Friday 31st October 2008 to Friday 21st November 2008.

Chairperson
A National Officer of the union and responsible for the NEC, nominations for the chairperson role are only eligible from members of the union who have served a full term on either the National Executive Committee or Area Committee in the last 5 years.

Area Committee Representatives
Area reps form a vital part of the union representing the views of members in their particular business area, nominations for area reps are eligible from all members who have been in membership for at least 3 months.  Full training will be given for this these roles.

If you require further information or nomination forms for either of the above please contact Advance office on 01442 891122

Bradford & Bingley

You should by now be well aware of the details of Abbey’s acquisition of Bradford & Bingley’s Direct Channels business, but just to reiterate the deal involves the:

I have been briefed on events this week and whilst information is still limited at this stage I believe this is good news. I also welcome the statements made to Advance and in public that the Bradford & Bingley transfer is about capitalising on a great opportunity for expansion and that where there are branch overlaps they would look to relocate rather than close.

Overall I believe the addition of Bradford & Bingley will be of great benefit and I hope to be able to provide more information in the next edition of our magazine which you will receive in late October - early November. 

I am in regular dialogue with senior management and will continue to keep you informed of any further developments on our website  Rest assured that we are your voice at work and the interests of all our members remains our top priority.

If you have any queries, please contact Advance’s office on 01442 891122.

Regards,
Linda Rolph
General Secretary

For The Urgent Attention
of Advance Members 

I am writing following the announcement this morning, 29th September 2008, by HM Treasury to take the Bradford and Bingley into public ownership, with the retail deposits, branch network and related employees transferring to Abbey National plc with immediate effect.

I have been fully briefed by senior management in Abbey this morning on the details relating to the acquisition which was concluded in a very short space of time.  Accordingly, there is not a great amount of information that I can share with you at the moment.  It is however, a significant opportunity for Santander/Abbey to increase its branch capacity throughout the UK, raise its profile and advance towards its goal as the best commercial bank in the UK

I wanted to advise you that Advance will continue to be your voice at work and that our main objective throughout the coming months will be your job security.

It is to early to know the full impact of this acquisition however, rest assured we will be in constant dialogue with senior management regarding the plans going forward and we will keep you updated.

Linda Rolph
General Secretary
Advance

We will send a written communication to every member in the next couple of weeks.

 

Santander & Alliance and Leicester

Following the announcement by Santander of its intention to purchase the Alliance and Leicester, Advance has met with Senior Abbey management to discuss the proposals.  Consultation is at an early stage, but Advance have requested that further discussions take place as the proposals move forward and the impacts on employees both in Abbey and Alliance and Leicester become known.

Our primary concern is the welfare of our members and protecting their long term job security.  We will keep our members up to date with consultations as they progress. Linda Rolph
General Secretary
Advance

 

Moving Forward

As you will be aware we held elections at the end of 2007 for our General Secretary and National Executive Committee:

We can confirm that our team going forward is as follows :

General Secretary Linda Rolph 07850 742340

National Executive Committee

Area 1 – Branches South West & Wales Caroline Stevens 05511 430051
Area 2 – Branches North Helen Kennedy 05511 430340
Area 3 – Branches London Jim Leonard 05511 430251
Area 4 – Branches South East Annette McColgan 05511 430177
Area 5 – Branches Midlands Martin Fisher 05511 430510
Area 6 – Head Office Chris Hockett 0207 612 5153
Area 7 – Contact Sites Cathy Kelly 07824 841944
Area 8 – GEOBAN Linda Bartle 01642 703849
Area 9 – AFI Robert Elliott 0113 236 6807
Area 10 – Non Abbey Maureen Ryan 0800 092 3300

Goodbye to ANGU, Welcome to Advance

In the last issue of our magazine we explained the background reasons for the need to change the name of our union. Agreement to the change from Abbey National Group Union to Advance was reached at our Extraordinary General Meeting on 9th November 2007.

On 1 January 2008, ANGU changes its name to Advance. Our name and stationery will reflect a new, modern and fresh approach for the union. What will not change will be our dedication to our members, our determination to ensure that working lives improve and that job security and conditions of employment are safeguarded. We are determined that all of our members are treated with dignity and respect. Next year we will be visiting more branches and other locations to recruit new members and meet existing ones. We will, through these visits and our surveys find out what our members want and how they feel. As we say, Advance is your voice at work.

 

 

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