Here is an extract from the summary of discussion at UNISON's Northern Regional Committee which has been passed to me by regular readers Sid and Doris Regional Leadership;
"Blogs
Discussion held around the way in which blogs were being used by some NEC members outside the Region to make unacceptable and factually incorrect comments about the Northern Region, and elected activists. It was felt this was bullying and harassment and there needs to be a protocol to protect individuals from such behaviour. Paul Thompson and Josie Bird agreed to take up at the NEC."
For those who want to share experiences of how UNISON deals with complaints about comments on blogs I am happy to share from my own experience.
Should this blog be one of those NEC members' blogs to which comrades in the North were referring then I should point out that the comment box is open and that I would always publish the comments (and indeed a total right of reply) from any UNISON member who feels that they have been unjustly criticised.
In unrelated news I am considering requests from comrades to post reports of how and by whom UNISON United Left was set up and why (on earth) I agreed to stand in the last General Secretary election.
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5 comments:
well read this I stand by it.
http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Politics/Unison.html
I didnt write the stop press bit
Good that you will now be explaining why you stood for the GS position a few years ago. Will wait and see what you write with interest but will be nice in my response (if factually incorrect) as I have been told off (last night) by a mutual friend of ours. I was also instructed to be publicly nice to you?! I thought I always was? The comments (not from you) about the realationship between myself and the UL misinterprets history. It was the UL that asked me back in 2002/3 to stand under their ticket and not the other way around. I was Finance Convenor and won an election against R Styles in 1999 as an independent and served for 5 years. So someone has got their history wrong! In fact I lost the 2005 election because I went under the UL ticket?? I don't see how the SWP (splendid group of people as they may be) and Labourites can be in bed together?? Never understood that!!
things can sometimes get a bit vague but I seem to remember us setting up UUL sometime around 1999 to unify the CFDU and the SWP? The purpose was very much to do what it said on the tin, to unite the left in UNISON. At times we have been more successful,others less so. That being said I have enjoyed and believe I have contributed and gained from working with comrades from different traditions. As to why you stood for GS, I think that is your story to tell Jon
it is always an admission of defeat when people threaten disciplinary action rather than just putting the record straight!
It is just another step towards gagging UNISON NEC members and any UNISON member who opposes the UNISON/New Labour agenda. Any internal political opposition is crushed by witch hunts and the supposed 'Democracy Guidelines'. I was criticised for raising complaints about the treatment of Yunus Bakhsh at the hands of UNISON and his employer. Its the duty of NEC members to make enquiries and pursue complaints when apparent injustice takes place. We are elected to the NEC not just the region, the logic would be we could only comment on issues within our regions rather than comment on or make decisions for the whole union.
I was once given a hard time by a long standing NEC member when I complained about the lack of debate on the NEC. The NEC member said 'what would you want to talk about", the answer was 'It depends on the issue' Why would I have to justify trying to debate issues that effect every UNISON member on the nation body set up for that very reason? Perhaps it is because certain elements of UNISON don't want debate because that means questions, analysis and accountability.
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