Socialist Party members in Unison

Unison is the largest trade union in the UK, with over a million members delivering public services in the NHS and social care, councils and schools, the energy sector and beyond. Those members work for thousands of different organisations in the public, private and independent sectors.

Since its formation in 1993, as the result of an amalgamation of three existing unions, Unison was seen as one of the main bulwarks of the right wing in the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which has failed to fight austerity and seen hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear through redundancies and privatisation.

In 2021, members elected a left-wing National Executive Council (NEC), with the majority being part of the Time for Real Change (TFRC) grouping. Sadly, since then members have seen little real change and the right wing is mustering its forces to seek to retake control. The right still holds the position of general secretary.

United left challenge

The Socialist Party is campaigning for a united left challenge in next year’s NEC and general secretary elections, on a programme that can really turn Unison into the fighting union our members need.

To this end, we have reissued our programme, updated very recently, which demonstrates to members what we stand for and how we believe the union should respond in the face of further attacks.

‘For a fighting Unison’ covers the major issues being faced by the union and its members today, from pay and jobs, through specific problems faced by sectors such as health and social care, councils and education, to crucial concerns surrounding trade union democracy, equality and diversity, and climate change.

It is the plan of action that the Socialist Party fights for – and we appeal to others to fight together for these demands.

For a fighting Unison

Most workers join trade unions to get fairer pay, terms and conditions. If your union is unable or unwilling to get you a decent pay rise and stop employers bullying you into unacceptable conditions in the workplace, membership becomes a ‘luxury’ many cannot afford.

‘For a fighting Unison’ addresses all members, not just those still working for councils and the NHS.

Over the past decades, as services have been privatised and outsourced, Unison’s right wing has all but forgotten about fighting for those members who went with the services into the independent or private sectors.

Consequently, those members’ and their successors’ pay has been driven down, often to minimum wage levels. The programme calls for pay claims to be submitted and fought for, for all members – from those in private social care providers, to school meals workers no longer employed by councils, and others like private nursery schools.

It also demands a £15-an-hour minimum wage without exemptions, a rise in statutory sick pay and the repeal of all anti-union laws designed to prevent workers collectively fighting for better pay.

There is also a demand for Unison branches to have “a genuine right to campaign to change and develop our union policy – let the members decide,” which would put pay campaigns in the hands of those fighting for increases instead of unelected full-time officers.

The programme makes a special mention of democratising the union’s youth structures to allow young workers a proper voice, “removing unnecessary restrictions and barriers”. This includes branch-based conferences and committees, currently outlawed by the leadership.

Unison members have struggled for years against devastating cuts and privatisation – and both are set to continue under Starmer’s government. The Socialist Party has campaigned for the union to lead a national fight against council cuts, and to call on Labour councils to set needs-based budgets and demand the funding from central government. Unison’s right wing has hidden behind blaming Tory austerity, and the TFRC grouping has not stood up against that – letting Labour councils off the hook. Now there is a Labour government, what excuses are left?

Stop cuts

Unison must demand Labour councils refuse to implement cuts, and that Starmer’s government provides emergency funding as the first step in recovering the billions stolen from councils since the 2008-09 economic crash. The Socialist Party’s programme also calls for an end to privatisation, bringing services back in-house.

But while Unison is tied to the Labour Party, its demands will be frustrated by union leaders whose narrow vision is simply that ‘Labour is better than the Tories’. We call for Unison’s funding of parties and candidates that cut services and jobs to be democratically reviewed, and, where applicable, ceased. Currently, all political decisions in the union are made behind closed doors by the ‘Labour Link’ section of the union, elected only by Unison members who are members of the Labour Party. 

Our programme commits to fighting for a new political voice for the working class – a new mass workers’ party, based on the trade unions, drawing together workers, young people and activists from workplaces, and community, environmental, anti-racist and anti-cuts campaigns, to provide a fighting, socialist political alternative to the pro-big business parties.