Public sector union Unison’s conference is taking place against the background of a massive collapse in Labour’s vote in the May elections. Labour has enraged workers by openly attacking sections such as the elderly and those with disabilities, while continuing with Tory austerity measures.
Since Unison’s formation, the right-wing dominated leadership has had one strategy – get Labour into power and work with them to try to change things. This strategy was always flawed. Even during the Blair years it meant privatisation, pay stagnation and cuts to services.
A union of 1.3 million members has the ability to organise mass nationwide militant campaigns on all the crucial issues that face the working class.
To win we need a national fightback
Unfortunately, on the whole, this year’s conference agenda fails to present delegates with serious options for building a national strategy to fight. While it’s true that the leadership is moving the union onto an ‘organising’ agenda – aiming to build strength through industrial campaigns as opposed to a union that just excels at individual representation, services and lobbying politicians – there is still a reliance on doing this branch by branch.
Although the right-wing dominated National Executive Council (NEC) motion on organising doesn’t roll back the clock to the days of Unison being a ‘service’ union, it does limit the organising strategy to winning smaller, localised disputes in key sectors for the union. However, in all of these sectors – schools, Adult Social Care and the NHS – there has never been a clearer need to bring these groups of members together for a national fight.
The union still struggles to win ballots for national action, especially on the crucial issue of pay. A whole series of nationally co-ordinated ballots have failed to beat the Tory 50% ballot threshold in all sectors, despite substantial majorities in favour of action in all cases. Yet the NEC is presenting the new Employment Rights Act, that has failed to remove these thresholds, as “transformative”. However, members will be demanding that the union goes into battle against Labour over pay as the cost of living spirals out of control.
Fighting Reform
The collapse in support for Labour has benefited Reform UK in some local authorities. Reform has gained from the despair of many, including workers and trade unionists in some instances, at the attacks they face from all the establishment pro-capitalist parties, including Labour.
Unison must confront the serious implications this has for members’ jobs, pay and conditions and services by bringing members together to fight – with industrial action if required. But the NEC’s motion, while recognising the root causes of the rise of Reform, fails to put the case for an ongoing campaign against austerity which is the breeding ground for this expression of frustration.
The Surrey County amendment, if carried, would set the ground for Unison to organise a militant campaign against austerity, drawing workers into a coherent opposition to Reform UK, and could establish a national movement against the far right, around the theme of ‘Jobs, Homes and Services not Racism’, as the TUC agreed to in 2018, but has not implemented.
Developing an industrial and political strategy
Andrea Egan will address her first conference as general secretary with big expectations following her victory as a lay member over the ‘continuity’ candidate and previous right-wing, pro-Starmer general secretary Christina McAnea.
Most activists will want to hear how Andrea plans to transform Unison into a fighting trade union. She has made remarks that many Unison members would welcome – the implementation of a wave of insourcing, developing support to deliver national action over pay, and for a radical change of direction over the funding of public services.
Most members do not see the Labour Party as a vehicle for change. Andrea Egan addressed this in her general secretary election manifesto when she pledged to “end subservience to Labour”, and “launch a comprehensive review of our relationship with the Labour Party including the role of the Labour Link”. Conference will hear that fewer than 14% of members pay into Labour Link. Many members will want to know when will this comprehensive review start?
With Labour in crisis and potentially heading for further defeats, members will want to know how they can back political representatives that are prepared to deliver on our union’s policies and not back down to big business bosses once they get power. Andrea has a choice, she can either fight to change the direction of the Labour Party or fight to allow Unison members to work alongside other trade unionists to build a working-class, trade union-based and socialist alternative.
Unison members deserve a bold, militant campaigning union to meet all of the challenges we face. Socialist Party members in the union will be fighting at conference for the best positions to push a militant agenda that helps members organise to win. Increasingly the union will need to adopt socialist policies and join the fight for new working-class political representation.
- Extract from the Socialist Party bulletin to be distributed at Unison conference
Socialist Party fringe meeting
Labour in crisis – building a fighting alternative
- Wednesday 17 June, 5.30pm or end of conference at St Paul’s Church, West Street, BN1 2RE (at the rear of the conference centre) all welcome
- Speakers: Hannah Sell, Socialist Party general secretary, and Jim McFarlane, Unison NEC member (pc)
