LSESU Labour Society

Constitution
Contents:

Article I - Aims & Objectives...................................................................2

Article II – Members ...............................................................................3

Article III - Executive Committee ............................................................3

Article IV - The Committee .....................................................................5

Article V – Elections ...............................................................................8

Article VI - Annual General Meetings (AGMs) ......................................11

Article VII - Referendums .....................................................................12

Article VIII - Resignations & Motions of No Confidence .......................14

Article IX – Endorsements ...................................................................16

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Article I - Aims & Objectives

1. All aims, objectives and following rules are subject to LSESU

Labour Society being bound by the Activities Bye-laws of the LSE
Student’s Union.
2. To promote the values and policies of the Labour Party.
3. To involve and promote the views of society members nationally
through official Labour Youth divisions.
4. To aid the elections of Labour Party candidates across the country
at all levels.
5. To host tolerant and inclusive events with a wide range of topics
and formats to satisfy section 2, 3 & 4.

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Article II – Members

1. Membership is open to all students of the LSE.

2. Associate membership may be offered to non-Union members.
3. Associate membership can only be offered after being approved
by the Activities Committee of the Union.
4. Associate members of the society may not stand or vote in society
elections.

Article III - Executive Committee

The Society shall have an Executive committee who shall have

additional powers granted by the Constitution and Students Union. The
society shall have a:
1. President, who shall;
a) Lead the committee.
b) Chair all society meetings.
c) Oversee and be responsible for all members and actions
taken by the committee as a whole.
d) Have access to all social media accounts.
e) Be ultimately responsible for the society during their time as
President, subject to the constraints and requirements set
out in the constitution. All committee members are obliged to
help the President meet these goals.
f) Be the only person allowed to be registered as President
with the Students’ Union (hereafter SU).
2. Secretary, who shall;
a) Convene all society meetings.
b) Take minutes of all meetings/AGMs.
c) Circulate minutes or digested minutes with society members
after each meeting.
d) Be responsible for booking rooms for events.
e) Be responsible for circulating a regular email on society
events and changes.
f) Lead the society’s communications and have access to all
social media accounts.

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 g) Be the only person allowed to be registered as Secretary
with the SU.
3. Treasurer, who shall;
a) Administer and keep a record of all finances of the society
b) Authorise all society spending
c) Have access to all social media accounts
d) Aim to widen access amongst members who may not be
able to attend events or fully participate due to finances.
e) Be the only person allowed to be registered as Treasurer
with the SU.
4. The society shall have two Vice Presidents who shall sit on the
Executive Committee.
a) Vice President (Internal Campaigns), who shall;
i. Lead campaigns on campus.
ii. Liaise with official Labour Youth and Student wings
on campaigns where we may share a common
goal across campuses.
iii. Hold at least two All-Member’s Meetings during the
Michaelmas and Lent terms so that members may
discuss the direction of the society with the
committee.
iv. Have their campaigns be subject to the approval of
the President.
b) Vice President (External Campaigns), who shall;
i. Lead campaigns off campus.
ii. Liaise with official Labour Youth and Student wings
on campaigns external to the LSE or LSE SU.
iii. Encourage and facilitate participation in members’
local Constituency Labour Parties and Branches.

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Article IV - The Committee

1. The committee will be made up of the Executive committee and a

Sub-Committee (together known as the Committee) comprised of
four Liberation Officers and four members of no fixed brief.
2. Although a specific quota of First-Year Undergraduates or
Postgraduate committee members will remain unspecified, if there
is to be no representation from either of these student groups on
the committee, the committee is obliged to hold a meeting with the
respective group to discuss participation and representation. All
Committee members, including those in the Executive Committee
are subject to the following obligations:
a) They must partake in any form of training as specified by the
President. This must include Anti-Semitism and consent
training. Other forms of training are actively encouraged for
all members and should be discussed with respective
liberation roles.
b) To participate in a minimum amount of external campaigning,
providing that it has been made accessible, by the
requirements of members, by the President and Vice
President (External Campaigns). The minimum amount is
under the discretion of the President, who must
communicate the exact amount of participation expected of
committee
3. Liberation Officers
a) Women’s* Officer, who shall;
i. Be a self-defining woman or non-binary member.
ii. Encourage women and non-binary people to join
and become active within the society and the
Labour Party.
iii. Encourage and support all self-defining female and
non-binary society members at LSE.
iv. Organise and host at least one event per year.
b) BAME Officer, who shall;
i. Be a self-defining Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic
person.

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 ii. Encourage BAME people to join and become
active within the society and the Labour Party.
iii. Encourage and support all self-defining BAME
society members at LSE.
iv. Organise and host at least one event per year.
LGBT+ Officer, who shall;
v. Be a self-defining member of the LGBT+
community.
vi. Encourage LGBT+ people to join and become
active within the society and the Labour Party.
vii. Encourage and support all self-defining LGBT+
society members at LSE.
viii. Organise and host at least one event per year.
c) Disability Officer, who shall;
i. Self-define as disabled.
ii. Encourage disabled people to join and become
active within the society and the Labour Party.
iii. Encourage and support all self-defining disabled
society members at LSE.
iv. Organise and host at least one event per year.
4. Committee Members of no Fixed Brief
a) The society shall have a further four committee members.
b) All four positions must be gender balanced. If not possible
the President must postpone the election or leave the roles
vacant.
c) These members shall represent the views of the society not
already covered by the Executive Committee or the
Liberation Officers.
d) Each member should be given to another member of the
executive committee to assist and or given specific tasks.

5. Committee meetings
a) The entire committee shall meet regularly at the discretion of
the President

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b) All committee meetings are required to be open for all
members to attend and must be advertised to members
before the start of the meeting.
c) The executive committee may also meet outside of regular
committee meetings, but are not required to do so
d) All minutes made by the Secretary must be made available
to the members within a week.
e) If a vote is undertaken in a committee meeting, efforts must
be made to allow committee members not in attendance to
vote. Any vote called by the President in a committee
meeting is advisory.

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Article V – Elections

1. Calling Elections
a) The elections of the Executive committee will be within the
first three weeks of the Lent Term at the Society’s AGM.
b) The Liberation Officers and Committee Members shall be
elected in Michaelmas term election during the first three
weeks of MT.
c) The exact date of the election is at the discretion of the
President.
d) Members must be given 48 hour notice of any Election called
by both Email and through at least one form of Social Media
2. All elections are to be run by the Returning Officer who shall be a
member of the Executive Committee (unless a liberation caucus).
In the event of one of them running in any election, another
member must run that position’s election. If the SU or Labour
Students wish to carry out any election or observe, they will be
allowed to do so and not be impeded upon.
3. Eligibility of Candidates and voters
a) Candidates for the election are only eligible if they have been
members of the Society for at least 24 hours before the
election.
b) Voters must be members of the society at least 24 hours
before the election.
c) Any member wishing to run for a committee position must
state their intention when the returning officer asks if anyone
wishes to run for the position.
d) Quoracy (10% of the Society’s membership) must be present
for an election to be valid. If this is not met the meeting
should be postponed and rearranged in consultation with the
Activities and Development Officer.
e) No committee member is allowed to hold two roles at a time,
and is obliged to resign their previous role if elected to
second role in an election.
4. The elections of each position shall go in the order they appear in
the Constitution.

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5. All elections where there are two or more candidates, each
candidate must give a 1 minute speech, apart from the election of
the President, where candidates must give a 2 minute speech.
Refusal to give a speech will result in their name being withdrawn
from the Ballot
6. Elections for every position require a ‘Re-Open Nominations’
(RON) option.
7. Speeches will be followed by a series of questions. The questions
will last as long as the Returning Officer deems fit but must be
equal for all candidates but are advised to be a maximum of three
questions for all candidates.
8. Voting and Counting
a) All elections must be run by a secret ballot if there are two or
more candidates. Public ballots are prohibited
b) Completed Ballot papers must only be collected by members
of the executive committee, unless they are running for the
position they are collecting ballots for.
c) Voters will rank the candidates under the Alternative Vote
system.
d) The election for the four committee positions shall be done
as a block under the same system.
e) Elections for all Liberation positions must be done in private
and voted on by self-defining members of the same caucus.
f) The Returning Officer of the Liberation votes must be the
Liberation Officer of the caucus, or a self-defining member of
the caucus in a committee position at the time of voting.
g) If a self-defining member of a caucus does not wish to
identify themselves as a member of the caucus during
voting, they may request a proxy vote from the Liberation
Officer.
h) Counting of Ballot papers must be done by the Returning
Officer. The Returning Officer may appoint additional
counters and does not have to count themselves; however
they must be present for all counts.
i) Anybody (including candidates) can witness this process if
they wish but are not allowed to return to where the election
is taking place until the announcement has been made. The

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 use of any communication devices during the count is
prohibited. The returning officer has the right to temporarily
remove the device from any witness.
j) During Liberation Officer elections, only those who are self-
defining members of the caucus may witness the process.
k) In the event of a tie, a re-count will be held. If the result is still
a tie then result should be reported to the Activities and
Development Officer who will make a decision in consultation
with the candidates.
l) If at any point anybody present believes that the Returning
Officer is not acting in accordance to the Constitution they
may raise this by standing and saying “Point of Order”. They
may do this at any moment unless candidates are speaking.
At any other time the Returning Officer must not silence
anybody from expressing a Point of Order.
9. If there is only one candidate they are not required to make a
speech, but are required to answer questions. This may be only
done with the approval of both the Returning Officer and the
candidate.
10. The candidates may not be present in the room where
ballots are being cast. Ballots may only be handed out once the
candidates have left the room.
11. The Returning Officer will announce the results of each
election to the candidates privately. No other member of the
society is allowed to witness.
12. The result shall be announced to the society by the
Returning Officer or President if they are not the Returning Officer.
13. Should a candidate not be able to attend the election they
may submit a speech to be read by the Returning Officer on their
behalf, but are not allowed to vote.
14. Disputes surrounding the integrity of the election should be
directed to the Activities and Development Officer.

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Article VI - Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

1. An AGM must be called every year

2. All Executive committee members must give a report on their work
in the Society. This does not have to be in the form of a speech.
3. AGM’s may also be used for:
a) Holding Executive Committee elections.
b) Referendums.

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The LSESU Labour Society is bound by the Activities Bye-laws of the LSE Students’ Union.

Article VII- Referendums

1. Referendums may be used for:

a) Constitutional amendments
b) If the President wishes to poll the views of members (i.e. to
decide on a campaign to focus on)
2. Referendums can be called at any time
3. Referendums must be held under the same conditions as any
election
4. Votes will be cast under a secret ballot and do not have to be
counted under the AV system.
5. The President decides on the format of the referendum.
6. Quoracy is 10% of the Society’s membership. If this is not met the
meeting should be postponed and rearranged in consultation with
the Activities and Development Officer.
7. Amendments to the Constitution:
a) Amendments to Constitution must be proposed to the
President signed and in writing.
b) The exact wording of the proposal shall then be submitted to
the committee for approval. The committee may alter the
wording of the amendment in conjunction with the proposer.
c) If approval is met, the amendment is to be voted on by
members at the AGM or through a referendum (10%
Quoracy still applies).
d) Amendments are passed if they receive a majority of votes
by all present members and new constitutions must be
passed by a two thirds majority of all present members
e) A new Constitution or Constitutional Amendment must then
be submitted to the Activities Committee for approval.
f) All amendments must be titled Amendment and inputted into
the relevant article
8. If there is an election as a delegate to any Young Labour event the
election may be carried out entirely over email or messenger.

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Votes may be put to either the membership or the committee, the
format of which is up to the discretion of the President.

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Article VIII - Resignations & Motions of No Confidence

1. Resignations
a) Committee members may resign at any time.
b) Resignations must be submitted in writing and signed to the
President.
c) A notification of their resignation must be sent to all members
via email or social media. The exact form this takes is up to
the discretion of both the resigning member and the
President.
d) If the position unfilled is of the President, Secretary or
Treasurer, an election must be scheduled to fill the position.
e) Otherwise, the Executive Committee may decide to leave the
role unfilled until the next election or hold a by-election. They
may not fill the role on a temporary basis without holding a
by-election.
f) Any unfilled position that has been agreed to be filled must
be filled with an election within a month under the same rules
as that position was elected under. This election may be on
the same date as the election of the resigning member,
should they resigning member be vacating the role in favour
of another committee role.
2. Any member of the society has the right to call a vote of no
confidence and may do so in writing. The motion must be
seconded by another member, both the proposer and seconder
must sign the motion. If there is an accusation that a committee
member has contravened the Constitution, the exact Article and
Section should be cited in their statement.
3. Procedure for a Motion of No Confidence
a) The motion must then be submitted to the President (or
Secretary if the motion regards the President).
b) The full membership and the Activities & Development
Officer must be informed of a Motion of No-Confidence 48
hours before the meeting at which it is voted on.
c) Motions of No-Confidence must be voted on by committee
members within 5 days of submission. The Proposer has 4
days wherein they may withdraw the motion.

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d) For a Motion of No-Confidence to be carried it must receive
the votes from two thirds of the present committee.
e) To vote on a Motion of No-Confidence there must be at least
10 committee members. If this is not met the meeting should
be postponed and rearranged in consultation with the
Activities and Development Officer.

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Article IX – Endorsements

1. Endorsements for any election are to made by the committee

alone unless the President wishes to call a referendum.
2. Endorsements made by the President without consultation of
the committee are prohibited.
3. Endorsement Meetings
a) Are open for all members to witness. Anybody not a
member cannot witness the meeting unless they are
given permission by the Activities Development
Officer
b) All candidates must be invited to an Endorsement
meeting. Failure to invite all candidates will result in
the meeting being void

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