The Socialist 17 June 2008

No! to racism: Yes! to decent jobs, homes & public services

No! to racism: Yes! to decent jobs, homes and public services

Unite and fight against racism

Protest at BNP 'hate festival'

Let AmDani stay!

conference

Lisbon Treaty 'No' vote delivers major shock for political and big business Establishment

Shell drivers strike

David Davis - sanity or carving a position?

Greater Manchester - save your post office

London protest over Rajapaksa's dismal human rights record

Stop big business polluting our environment

Stop New Labour's divisive school academy plans

NHS: Polyclinics - Stop this backdoor privatisation

PFI - a very bad deal for the NHS

Reopen the battle on NHS pay

End the occupations

Unison conference: Angry delegates attack leaders

Leeds: Stop Beeston post office closures

National Shop Stewards Network Conference

CWU's link with Labour hotly debated

Victory against bosses at Keele

Workplace news in brief

Previous issues, etc

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Unison conference: Angry delegates attack leaders

Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest overflowed, photo Paul Mattsson

THE LOCAL government sessions of the Unison union's conference passed a resolution criticising the conduct of pay negotiations in local government.

Jane James

Socialist Party members from Ealing, Greenwich and Hackney spoke in the debate, which exposed the fact that the ballot called in October 2007 came eight months after the pay deal should have been implemented.

The motion called for future negotiations to start in January, so that the union would be ready to strike if necessary in April, when the pay year starts.

Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest, photo Paul Mattsson

Many delegates were angry about full-time officials refusing to conduct strike ballots when branches demanded them. And many delegates attacked Unison's link with Labour. Socialist Party member Roger Bannister declared: "We should say to New Labour - you give us 2%, we give you nothing".

Monique Hirst spoke in the equality debate and got a lot of applause when she pointed out that Unison was supporting a Labour government which had brought in the 42-day detention law - a law that was alienating a lot of young Muslims.

108 copies of The Socialist have been sold in two days, many delegates coming up to the Socialist Party stall, amazed that the witch-hunt of socialists is still going on.

For more information on the witch-hunt of Unison members, go to http://www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk

Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest, photo Paul Mattsson

300 attend anti-witch hunt meeting

A COACHLOAD of members from the four branches being witch-hunted arrived at the conference on 17 June. Conference stewards instantly told them that they would not be allowed to hold up banners in the public gallery.

But a protest went ahead outside conference and around 300 delegates attended a lunch-time 'stop the witch-hunt' meeting. They could not all fit in the room - flowing down the stairs and cramming into the lobby!