Hugo Pierre, former Unison NEC member
This year’s Unison National Executive Council (NEC) elections result will be seen as a setback for many activists who want to see Unison start a fightback against Keir Starmer’s Labour government. Starmer’s spending plans will continue Tory austerity, leading to more cuts and job losses, especially in public services where Unison members pay a key role.
In the 2021 elections, members kicked out the right wing that had dominated Unison since its inception, and that had failed to fight a decade of savage Tory austerity. A majority was won by the ‘Time For Real Change’ grouping (TFRC), which for the last two years was held narrowly. Now the right has won back control of the NEC.
The union machine, and the general secretary Christina McAnea, are backers of Starmer’s Labour. Socialist Party members warned from the start that they would remain an obstacle to members taking action which TFRC would have to confront.
We argued for a serious fighting programme to build up members’ confidence to fight after years of right-wing leadership, in all sectors of the union. That would have to include standing up to Labour councils passing on Tory cuts and instead demand no-cuts budgets, and building a national campaign against cuts, privatisation and job losses instead of leaving branches to fight alone.
However, while the TFRC-led NEC has made some changes that have brought some more members into action, it has not been sufficient to renew the base of the union.
Members need to see a fight
The battle at the top of the union between the general secretary and the TFRC-led NEC unfortunately was mainly restricted to internal and democratic matters that, while important, were never the top priority for members. On the issues that members were most concerned about – the devastation of local government funding, the crisis in the NHS, the 20%+ loss in real pay – there appeared to be little difference between the TFRC and the general secretary.
Campaigns to fight for migrant workers’ rights and for re-banding of groups of healthcare assistants have been taken up patchily across the union. But members in the vast majority of sectors did not win ballot turnout levels high enough to take action during the 2022-23 strike wave, to fight for pay restoration back to 2010 levels during the cost-of-living crisis.
Some of the unions that fought, where members experienced the effectiveness of national strike action, saw an increase in their activist layer as well as general membership. The only group of Unison members in action was ambulance workers; consolidated by mass action of nurses, junior doctors and consultants, health workers won a significant pay rise.
In this year’s NEC elections, the Socialist Party made an electoral agreement with TFRC as part of a united left challenge to the right wing, while standing on our programme centred on militant industrial action and the need for a pro-worker political alternative to Starmer’s Labour.
Socialist Party candidates
Seven Socialist Party members stood as NEC candidates, and two were elected, one more than last time, with Jim McFarlane (Scotland general seat) rejoining April Ashley (Black members’ female seat).
Scotland has seen significant strike action on pay in local government. Jim played a major role in mobilising for this, and opposed the leadership calling off action when more could have been won. This led to the defeat of all but one of the pro-McAnea ‘Members Together’ candidates.
April was 8,000 votes ahead of the other candidates. There were some very close results, with Eve Miller only losing out by 150 votes in the West Midlands reserved seat.
The majority of our members standing in the election were new activists to the union and their election addresses reflected a new layer of younger activists articulating the anger of young people in work and a programme to fight for change. One was Ellie Waple, a proud trans woman who was attacked in the right-wing press for standing in a women’s seat following the Supreme Court ruling.
TFRC, however, only regained 25 seats out of 32 they held previously. The right-wing grouping ‘Members Together’, plus so-called independents who vote as a bloc with the right wing, gained enough to give them an overall majority on the NEC.
The Socialist Party backed an independent socialist candidate, James Robinson, in the North West. Three others were elected from the slate he stood on, as members expressed their frustration at the TFRC leadership. No right-wing candidates stood there as they would have been roundly defeated.
The overall result, based on possibly the lowest national turnout for the elections of 4.8%, shows a widespread disillusionment in the union’s ability to fight campaigns, even among the activist layer. No doubt there is also a layer of members hoping, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that Labour will deliver enough to stave off a major crisis in health, local government and the other public and private services the union organises in.
This victory for ‘Members Together’, which was not without significant losses on their side, will prove hollow over the coming period, as the crisis in public services intensifies and members look for a way to fight back.
The general secretary election, due to take place before the end of this year, will be another testing ground for where our union is going. In the last two elections, the winner has not polled over 50% of the vote.
A bold campaign as a call to action for Unison members to organise and take on Starmer’s Labour could energise new layers within the union. Explaining a strategy which would include fighting for pay restoration and a minimum of £15 an hour, for needs budgets in local councils and full funding from Starmer’s Labour, a fully funded NHS free from privatisation, and nationalisation of the utilities, would raise confidence that we could win. The call for a trade union-based new mass working-class party would also get an echo amongst the most conscious layer that could drive such a campaign to victory.
Young socialists report from Unison Local Government Conference
Sam Church and Saffy Hill-Chambers, young member delegates from Surrey County Unison branch, personal capacity
Unison’s Local Government Conference was attended by up to 20 Socialist Party members, who were the ones offering a genuine alternative to the issues facing local government across the debates, and conference was receptive to the concrete alternatives put forward.
In her speech, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said that the Labour government “gets” local government and that there is “no magic wand” to fix funding for local services.
What we need is socialist policies, not imaginary magic solutions! Local government needs funding and staffing. The money is there – the rich are getting richer – what we need is councillors and MPs from the working class and trade unions who will fight to represent the needs of the people instead of the rich and big business.
Angie Waller from Kirklees told conference we need local campaigns against cuts. We need no-cuts budgets and a national fight by the union too, to win the funding.
Socialist Party members Brian Debus from Hackney, and April Ashley, recently re-elected onto Unison’s NEC, highlighted the current strike action being undertaken by the Birmingham bin workers. They also pointed to the strike-breaking action that is being carried out by the Labour council with the government and Deputy Prime Minister and former Unison NEC member Angela Rayner behind them – to support and applause from the conference floor. Unison members must build solidarity.
Brian also intervened on a motion on pay to state that claims should be in with employers by November, with balloting for strike action in mid-January if no reply has been received, “so members believe we’re serious about pay”. The current process means workers are not getting an offer from the employers until after the claim should be resolved, with strike ballots only happening six months after the fact!
Unison still backs the Labour Party despite the Labour government’s failure to deliver for working-class people, including its flagship pledges such as the promise of a National Care Service. Our delegates are calling out this catastrophe and proposing alternatives. Sam Church from Surrey, on the subject of AI’s impact on local government workers, said: “The only true way to protect jobs is to have a true workers’ party in government.”
Saffy Hill-Chambers called for a mass demonstration – unions have to lead the fight against austerity and against attacks on migrant workers. Catherine Clarke from Southampton spoke passionately about the need to include outsourced school caterers and cleaners in any new national negotiating body. National Executive Council (NEC) candidate Ellie Waple spoke on trans rights.
The mood for change at Local Government Conference was strong, with Socialist Party members leading the charge, and setting the stage for National Delegate Conference (which began as we went to press).
