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Unison And The Political Fund

THE BATTLE over the political fund at this year's UNISON conference is crucial. UNISON pays well over £1 million a year to the Labour Party and the trade union movement has paid a colossal £250 million to Labour since 1979, when the Tories came to power. But what have we got in return?

Glenn Kelly, Bromley UNISON

Working people and trade union members have faced a diet of cuts and privatisation, while New Labour has kept Thatcher's vicious anti-trade union laws intact. It's not surprising that members are increasingly opposed to the union handing over £ millions to New Labour.

That's why in 2001, UNISON conference voted for the Socialist Party resolution calling for a review of the political fund, so the funds should only be used to support UNISON members' interests.

But the national executive have arrogantly ignored the membership's wishes and have put forward a report which only proposes renaming the Affiliated Political Fund the Labour Link.

The union has banned the debate on the call for a ballot of all the membership on whether they wish to fund New Labour. Also banned is the debate on the establishment of one fund to be able to support other candidates and the proposal to create a third fund which can support candidates other than New Labour.

The Socialist Party clearly believes that New Labour has turned its back on ordinary working people and broken the link, not the union. And as such we believe that UNISON should no longer fund New Labour. We do believe that there should be a single, democratic political fund which is able to support other candidates which generally defend the interests of UNISON members.

But more than this the Socialist Party calls on UNISON to call a conference of trade union activists to launch a new workers' party. That is why this year we call for a ballot of the whole membership on whether they wish the union to fund New Labour.

If the union bureaucracy continues to block the wishes of the membership in allowing genuine changes to the political fund, when it comes to the political fund ballot which the union will have to hold in 2005, under the Tory laws, we believe that many members will see that as a vote on funding New Labour or not. We would understand members who voted no in order to stop feeding the hand that bites us.

Left Make Gains On Unison Executive

THE left swing amongst rank and file trade unionists was a factor in public sector union UNISON's national executive council (NEC) elections.

Three Socialist Party members, Roger Bannister (North West), Jean Thorpe (East Midlands) and Raph Parkinson (Reserved Seats) comfortably held their positions, as the hard-left grouping increased from nine to fourteen members. Socialist Party member Glenn Kelly, standing for one of the national local government seats, was narrowly defeated (by 19,316 votes to 20,866) as was Adrian O'Malley, standing for one of the national health seats.

Socialist Workers Party (SWP) member Mark New (Health Service Group) lost his seat but a new SWP member Bea Belgrave gained one of the Reserved Seats to join Yunus Bakhsh (Northern Region), the other SWP member currently on the NEC. But another left NEC member, John Owen, lost his East Midlands seat.

Left gains in the elections were Ann MacMillan Wood (East Midlands), Fiona Monkman and Jon Rogers (Greater London), Carol Dutton (North West), Kate Ahrens (health).and Jessie Russel (Southern).

In the Cymru/Wales Region the former (right-wing) NEC members all lost their seats, although they have not been replaced by left-wingers.

In December 1997 Dave Prentis, then the deputy general secretary, proposed a report to the NEC that initiated the witch-hunt against socialists in the union. Responding to the accusation that the report was a sledgehammer to crack a nut, Prentis told the NEC: "It may be, but if you don't back this report it will be too late, they are after your seats!"

These results show what a waste of time the witch-hunt has been as far as saving the political skins of UNISON's right wing and how little time ordinary members of the union have for Prentis' witch-hunting antics!