Socialist Party young Unison members
The fourth young members conference of public sector union Unison took place in Swansea at the end of November, with the most lasting impression being that young activists are ready to fight for change. There was an overwhelmingly left-wing outlook from members, which at times came into conflict with the bureaucracy of the union.
Last year, two-thirds of motions were ruled out of order. This year, members managed to get 20 motions into conference, with six emergency motions getting through.
Unfortunately, because of the long time allocated to speakers, panel discussions and workshops, there was only around four hours in total to debate these motions. In an attempt to get all motions heard, points of order to move onto the vote were made after just one or two speakers, stifling any potential debate on some incredibly important motions. These included motions on redundancies in local government, public service cuts, the rise of the far right and the continued attacks on our trans members.
No cuts
Socialist Party members were able to intervene in these discussions, speaking on eight of the 20 motions, with wide support in the conference for what was being proposed.
Moving a motion on fighting public service cuts, Socialist Party member Eve Miller said: “We should have needs-based, no-cuts budgets implemented in councils to ensure services stop being starved and can effectively function for all.”
This motion, supported by conference, called for a campaign with all the union’s service groups to campaign for a policy of no cuts to our public services, to fight for the funding needed to bring services back to pre-2010 levels, and to increase Labour’s public service spending.
Jobs and homes not racism
A motion on fighting the rise of the far right was moved by Socialist Party member Sam Church, reminding conference that in 2017, when Jeremy Corbyn was the Labour leader, votes for UKIP fell dramatically.
This shows that policies that benefit the working class can attract those that have been disillusioned by the capitalist parties and are the prime target of Nigel Farage.
The motion passed, asking Unison’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to propose that the Trades Union Congress organises a major Saturday demonstration on the theme ‘Workers’ unity not division – jobs, homes and public services not racism’.
LGBTQ+ demands
Socialist Party member Rachel Cox intervened in a debate on the continued support of trans rights. She made the point that however good Unison’s policies are on LGBTQ+ issues, if the union does not challenge the Labour Party on these issues – including health secretary Wes Streeting, who continues the puberty blocker ban and continues the under-funding of health services, which lead to wait times of five years for initial appointments – then it is failing to support members.
We should back politicians who do support our policies.
Among young members there is a strong appetite for a unified left to bring about real change in the union. There is a push to change the young members’ conference to a branch-led conference, like the other sectors in the union, rather than a regional-led one, so that decisions on who attends would be made by elected members rather than regional staff.
There appears to be a strong base for further collaboration and development of a fighting left in Unison.
