April Ashley, Unison NEC member, personal capacity
The newly elected Unison National Executive Council (NEC), which now has a small majority for the right wing, met in July. The left, in which the Time For Real Change grouping (TFRC) is the biggest bloc, lost its thin majority in May’s election.
However, the success of the right wing doesn’t at all mean that Unison members are themselves moving to the right, but that they are yet to see the difference a left fighting leadership could make. In fact in that election, many right-wing activists also lost their seats.
The right majority on the new NEC started as they mean to carry on, with little criticism of the Labour Party, despite the government and councils acting against Unison policies and attacking our members.
There was little discussion on the NHS pay campaign, despite members being in the midst of a consultative ballot on the pay review body recommendation of 3.6% (having already rejected the offer), or of the local government pay campaign, in which Unison accepted the dismal pay offer of 3.2% because of the below-50% turnout in the consultative ballot.
The discussion on local government funding cuts highlighted the pivotal Unite Birmingham bin workers’ strike. Unison has sent messages of support to the bin workers. But I pointed out that Unite conference had voted to suspend Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner from membership, and that Unison should do the same, as Angela’s actions on behalf of the Labour government amount to strike-breaking. However, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea completely rejected this, claiming that there was no mechanism to do this in Unison.
Christina also didn’t agree that Birmingham Labour council’s action could amount to ‘fire and rehire’ if they offered the workers new inferior contracts! Fire and rehire was meant to be outlawed by the Labour government, but hasn’t been. It seems that repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016, to revoke the 50% ballot threshold that hampers strike action, is also receding further.
The NEC majority refused to allow discussion of the campaign around Julia Mwakule, outrageously removed from the NEC as Senior Vice President despite topping the poll in the recent election, alleging that it could create a conflict of interest.
General secretary election
The NEC also agreed the election procedures for the general secretary election taking place by the end of the year. This is a crucial election under Starmer’s Labour government. Christina McAnea is standing for re-election, determined to keep the union safe for the Labour government. The Socialist Party is giving support to the TFRC candidate Andrea Egan, as defeating McAnea would open up the opportunity for members to push Unison in a more fighting industrial and political direction.
When the left won a majority on the NEC in 2021, they correctly removed an undemocratic rule instituted by the old right wing, which had barred candidates from accepting support from any entity that was ‘not provided for in Unison rules’. That rule was used to try to prevent socialist candidates – who, unlike the establishment candidates, don’t have all-year-round access to the union’s official communications – from putting forward a fighting programme widely.
It is no accident that at the first opportunity the new right-wing NEC has reintroduced that rule, barring campaigning by ‘outside organisations and associations’, even when Unison candidates are members of those organisations. They would rather bureaucratically restrict a fighting programme and a political alternative being put to members than allow a real serious debate on strategy – clearly they are not confident that, as Starmer’s attacks rain down, they would win the argument!
TFRC amendments to this were rejected. Unfortunately, the ‘Organised Left’ group members who were present in the meeting voted against all TFRC amendments and for the right wing’s rules.
There will be continued battles on the NEC as the right wing seek to acquiesce with the Labour Party whilst Unison members are looking for a fightback and an alternative to Labour, as their pay and the services they provide continue to be eroded.
