By Socialist Alternative members in UNISON
Activists met in Liverpool for UNISON’s National Delegate Conference (NDC) last month, just days after a set of disappointing results for the left grouping, Time for Real Change (TFRC), in the biannual National Executive Council (NEC) elections. The conference was overshadowed by the shameful victimisation of two activists from the union’s formerly left-led Presidential Team at the hands of UNISON’s bureaucratic machinery.
Political witch hunt
Steve North, UNISON’s former President, Salford Branch Secretary and a long-standing activist, was removed from all elected roles as the result of a long-winded procedure which flies in the face of union democracy. Julia Mwaluke, UNISON’s now-former Vice President and a low-paid, migrant care worker, was removed from her seat on the NEC on a totally undemocratic basis by the right wing.
This was a seat which she had only just been re-elected to by the union’s rank-and-file membership. The supposed reason for this was, so the bureaucracy claims, that her wages put her slightly over the low-paid threshold entitling her to the reserved seat.
This was a spurious ruling which fails to take into account the reality of precarious employment of care workers and the hand-to-mouth situation that mainly women and often migrant workers have to face every day. Protests over the treatment of Julia were held inside and outside the conference hall over the course of the four days.
The annual NDC, to which all branches are entitled to send delegates, is traditionally a cocktail of motions on a variety of subjects, often passed unanimously after a ‘debate’ where few, if any, speak against.
A traditionally heavy-handed approach from the union’s Standing Orders Committee adds to the frustration, by ruling out of order anything that puts the right-wing bureaucracy under pressure.
Most shamefully, this was used to shut down debate on how the union can challenge the Supreme Court’s recent anti-trans ruling, on the false basis that it could put the union in “legal jeopardy” as advised by unaccountable legal advisors.
UNISON right’s cosy relationship with Starmer
The noticeable change this year was the shift in the number of delegates willing to criticise Starmer’s government, and the fact that UNISON’s conservative layer and bureaucratic machinery are so closely aligned with it.
Delegates lined up to express their frustration that UNISON’s leadership have cosied up to Starmer’s Labour whilst it continues to carry out attacks on our members and does virtually nothing to roll back Tory austerity.
Christina McAnea, the current General Secretary who will have to defend her position later this year, addressed delegates with a predictable claim that the Labour government are ‘listening to workers’ with their proposed changes to employment legislation with the Employment Relations Act.
But as left-wing delegates pointed out, any small concessions made will be massively outweighed by brutal attacks on the working class.
UNISON’s left grouping, Time for Real Change, in which Socialist Alternative members are active, held a very successful rally with a strong turnout from delegates and visitors on the first evening.
The mood was one of determination to see justice for Steve and Julia and correctly saw both as victims of politically motivated attacks on the left. The machinery sees that the patience of activists for Labour has largely deteriorated.
Conference speakers made the point that much progress has been made by a TFRC-led NEC, which has started the transition from a servicing union (emphasising members buying a service with ‘benefits’, with activists dealing with individual cases) to an organising union where the emphasis is put on building collective struggle.
The flagship strategic initiative, Organising to Win, was welcomed by delegates as a practical expression of this shift in emphasis. However, the NEC election outcome will now threaten progress, as the new leadership will try to hold back struggle where they can.
General Secretary campaign
While the NEC results are a setback for the left, the conference still showed a desire for a fightback from a significant layer of UNISON activists.
The well-attended Socialist Alternative fringe meeting on the new left party we need and how trade unionists can build it showed there is a definite shift in consciousness among the most serious delegates, who recognise that a new party of struggle needs to be built urgently.
The General Secretary election due before the end of 2025 will be fiercely fought. This will be a run-off between Christina McAnea representing the conservative bureaucracy closely tied to Labour, and Andrea Egan, the TFRC candidate promising a major shift to the left, standing on a workers’ wage and with a programme of support for industrial action and a clear challenge to the Labour government’s austerity.
Key for TFRC will be to take this message into the branches and workplaces to fight for these necessary changes.
Socialist Alternative activists, including NEC members Dave Jones and newly elected Tom Barker, will do everything we can to win for Andrea and lay the basis for a fully TFRC-led UNISON over the next few years which can inspire members.
