Paul Couchman, Surrey Unison branch secretary, personal capacity
Nominations are now open for the general secretary of Unison – the UK’s largest trade union. The general secretary is the most powerful position in the union and plays a huge role in how Unison is perceived by members, employers and the government.
As we go to press, we are aware of only two candidates seeking nominations: Christina McAnea, the current general secretary, and Andrea Egan, the left challenger and part of the Time For Real Change network within Unison.
Socialist Party members in Unison are calling for nominations for Andrea and will be campaigning for her to win this election. This is because we believe a victory for Andrea will be seen by members as a sign that the union is going to change – to become more combative, to challenge the government and employers, and introduce more democratic lay-member controls.
It would also be a clear message to Keir Starmer’s government that the biggest public sector trade union, with around 1.3 million members, is under new management.
Starmer and Angela Rayner rely on the support of union leaders like Christina McAnea to get away with their austerity agenda with little or no resistance. For years, Unison has been led by general secretaries who believe in ‘partnership’ with the bosses, in not ‘rocking the boat’. Most end up in the House of Lords as a reward for their services to the status quo. Christina told the Unison conference this year that “there is no magic wand” and that Labour’s U-turn on the winter fuel allowance was not a sign of weakness but a sign of the government “maturing”.
Unfortunately, the North West ‘Organised Left’ group have decided to back Christina McAnea, learning nothing from the decades of subservient acquiescence of the union under the leadership of the right wing.
Trade union elections traditionally have a very low turnout, which favours the incumbent. A serious grassroots campaign amongst the membership in every branch will be needed for an Andrea Egan victory, and Socialist Party members in Unison will be doing all we can to support this goal. At the same time, we will be arguing for the fighting programme we think is necessary to transform the union and defend our members.
Socialist Party candidates in trade union elections have always pledged to stand on a workers’ wage so we are pleased that Andrea Egan has said she will only take a social worker’s wage if elected. She has also made a clear promise to review and bolster the union’s ability to take effective national strike action, which is very positive.
Break with pro-austerity Labour
We also welcome her pledge to launch a comprehensive review of the union’s relationship with the Labour Party, but this should not be to “ensure we get value for money” with Labour, as her manifesto says, but to enable a break with a pro-austerity Labour Party and backing only for candidates and parties who support our union’s policies.
Nor has she said anything about councils setting no-cuts budgets to protect jobs and services. We will be arguing for these two policies to form a key part of her manifesto in order to galvanise members’ support in the campaign to defeat the right in this election.
Branches, regions and other bodies in the union have until 26 September to make nominations
- The ballot opens on 28 October and runs until 25 November. Results will be announced on 17 December
