SGE results are a warning

The results of the biennial elections to UNISON's Service Group Executives are now available at http://www.unison.org.uk/file/2012%20SGE%20summary%20results.pdf.



From the perspective of socialist activists within the union, these are a mixed bag, with some positive and some disappointing results. I congratulate all those elected and commiserate with excellent socialists not elected.



Perhaps what is most striking is the number of vacancies, and that the great majority of those elected were elected unopposed, fewer than 30% of those elected having faced opposition. This is an alarming indication of the retreat from activism at the base of the union at a time when the onslaught of job losses is beginning to impact upon our membership.



At a national level our lay democracy is not in good health, and we are not inspiring new activists to take on national roles. At this rate the value of the national trade union to activists at a local level may be called into question.



We aren't delivering nationally on pay, we try to promote disappointing compromises on pensions and our (UK wide) political engagement over recent years has seen a comprehensive failure to secure our objectives from the longest serving Labour Government in history, preparing us now for a comprehensive assault from the most anti-union Government in living memory.



We have to face up to these challenges at next week's Conferences, or we'll continue to slide towards irrelevance.



(This blog post has been brought to you by the pessimism of the intellect...)

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