HORIZON SCANDAL: The Environment Agency’s decision to extend Fujitsu’s £19.5 million contract is a “kick in the teeth” for victims of the Post Office-Horizon scandal, GMB conference moved today.

The Japanese firm, whose IT software led to the wrongful convictions of hundreds of subpostmasters for fraud, was in January allowed to run the agency’s flood warning systems until September 2025.

Thames General delegate Cliff Roney said cuts to the system’s human checkers left it unreliable during Storm Babet last year, telling of how a colleague put his pet dog and cat on the roof of his terraced home after receiving 15 text alerts asking him to “move his livestock to higher ground.”

HEALTH: Breastfeeding mothers should be given flexible working hours and suitable facilities to express and store milk, GMB conference heard today.

Moving the motion, Plaistow delegate Elizabeth Booker said workplaces have been doing the “minimum” to meet Health and Safety Executive guidance on the issue. Mothers have been allowed a room to breastfeed, without a fridge or adequate privacy.

Conference also backed calls for paid menstrual leave, following similar measures in Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan and Zambia.

UNION MEMBERSHIP: GMB ran more than 1,800 ballots and grew its membership by more than 10,000 last year, general secretary Gary Smith told its annual conference today.

It spent £2.8 million supporting members financially during industrial action and £700m on legal bills supporting equal pay claims, he added.

Conference approved 7p and 2p-per-week rises to full-time and part-time subs, respective rises of 2 and 1 per cent.