I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all NGSU members and their families a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. I hope that you all have a relaxing break and enjoy the festivities.

It has been a very difficult year for everyone working at Nationwide but particularly for those involved in change programmes and redundancies. The financial uncertainty that redundancy brings is especially acute at this time of year and I hope that 2010 brings new and positive opportunities for them.

The ongoing economic difficulties will continue to create a tough operating environment for Nationwide and consequently for employees. I hope that further change will be kept to a minimum but I am also hopeful that we can work with the business to manage change in a constructive way should the need arise. Although the employee relations climate has not been the best over the past couple of years I do detect a greater willingness from the business to engage with the Union and to listen to our views on behalf of members. For our part we will continue to do all we can look after the interests of individual members and the membership as a whole.

Talks are currently still on-going in relation to the Job Security Policy and we have recently been discussing how the Society can best manage its desire to create a more flexible approach to meeting customers' needs - in a way that takes into account the personal circumstances of employees. So far these have been encouraging talks and I hope to be in a position to update members about these issues over the next month or so.

We are still seeking more Representatives to help us keep in touch with members and to participate in consultation on matters affecting employees. If you've been thinking about becoming a Rep please contact us - we'd love to have the opportunity to talk to you about what's involved.

Best wishes

Tim Poil
General Secretary