UNISON NEC elections: Socialist Party gains

THE SOCIALIST Party group on public sector union UNISON’s 70-plus
ruling National Executive Council (NEC) has been increased from three to
five members following the recent elections.

Existing members Roger Bannister (North West), Raph Parkinson
(Additional Members) and Jean Thorpe (East Midlands) all held their
seats. Roger Bannister’s 9,256 votes is the highest vote in the union’s
largest region.

These three will be joined by two more Socialist Party members, Glenn
Kelly, who took the Male Seat in the Local Government Service Group, and
Diane Shepherd who defeated a sitting right-wing NEC member for the
Reserved (Low Paid Women’s) seat in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region.

Many activists particularly welcome Glenn’s election because he
defeated Nigel Flanagan by 31,989 to 29,753, someone they have seen
shifting from the ultra-left wing of the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP)
to the right wing.

Flanagan’s allies in the bureaucracy and in the stalinist Communist
Party of Britain will be devastated at his failure to take the seat
vacated by the departure of Dave Anderson to the Labour Parliamentary
back-benches in the general election. So out of nine Socialist Party
members who stood, five were elected.

Respectable votes

The votes for other Socialist Party members in these elections were
respectable, despite their not being elected. In Greater London, Nancy
Taaffe polled 2,706 votes in the Female Seats section.

Unfortunately, the insistence of the United Left (UL) group to
nominate candidates for both of the available seats, and their refusal
to respond to the Socialist Party’s suggestion of discussing the
situation with a view to reaching agreement, resulted in a split left
vote. Sitting UL NEC member Fiona Monkman lost her seat to a
right-winger.

In the West Midlands, Dave Auger polled 3,187 votes to the sitting
right-winger’s 5,188. In Yorkshire and Humberside, Vicky Perrin polled
5,425 votes, only 259 behind her successful opponent.

In the Health Service Group General Seat Adrian O’Malley polled
12,312 votes against the 16,311 of his opponent, a sitting right-winger.

Unfortunately, the losses of seats held by some UL NEC members means
that the overall balance of power between the right and left on the NEC
is unlikely to be affected by these elections.

Clearly the UL, still heavily dominated by the Socialist Workers’
Party (SWP), have learned nothing from their dismal showing in the
recent General Secretary election.

They refused to reach accommodation with other lefts in Greater
London and overall they continued with their confused position on the
Labour Party. They failed to call clearly for UNISON to disaffiliate.
The unambiguous position of the Socialist Party candidates on this issue
clearly hit a chord with the membership.

In addition to the loss of Fiona Monkman’s seat, leading SWP member
Yunus Bakhsh lost his seat in the Northern Region, (resulting in there
no longer being any SWP members on the NEC). Labour Party member Kate
Ahrens lost her Female Seat in the Health Service Group.

The UL managed to gain two seats, Diana Leach in the South East and
John McDermott in Yorkshire and Humberside, leaving them overall one
seat down on the new NEC.

The overall strength of the left on the NEC will be maintained by the
election of independent left John Jones who took the General Seat in the
Water and Environment Service Group, defeating a sitting right-winger.

UL supporter Mike Tucker’s retention of his seat in the South East is
of particular significance, given that the merger of the Southern and
South East regions since the last election has resulted in the loss of
an NEC seat. Mike defeated the sitting right-winger Roger Laxton in this
contest. Laxton was used two years ago to ensure that Socialist Party
member Raph Parkinson did not become the chairperson of the
International Relations Committee, following three deadlocked votes
between Raph and the sitting right-wing chairperson.

The general turnout was around 7%, marginally higher than the last
elections two years ago, but still poor.

Socialist Party members on the new NEC will work together as a group
to promote a socialist alternative to the failed policies of the
right-wing leadership. In particular, they will argue for militant
action to defend jobs, pay and conditions of service, especially in
relation to pensions, wherever possible working with other lefts to
achieve these ends.

They will continue to call for UNISON’s disaffiliation from the
Labour Party and in support of the union playing a major role in the
creation of electoral alternatives to Labour.

UNISON members and other workers should have the opportunity to vote
for candidates that will support and promote public services and the
workers on which they depend, as opposed to the constant privatisations
and other attacks of the neo-liberal Labour Party.

Socialist Party members Bernard Roome and Gary Jones have retained
their seats on the executive committee of the Communication Workers’
Union.