I have kept
to the promise
I made not to provide a running commentary on preparations for next week’s
hearing in front of the (Assistant) Certification Officer of complaints made in
connection with the election for UNISON General Secretary last year. Being in
possession of some three thousand pages of documents and statements in a total
(now) of ten large files, I shall of course have a fair bit more to say soon –
and not all of it as a
pantomime.
I have
certainly learnt things from the preparation of this hearing which I would not
have learnt had I relied upon being given straightforward answers to questions
as a mere member of the ruling body of the trade union. Whatever the outcome of
the hearing, we must and will ensure that UNISON members have the opportunity
to become familiar with every detail of what went on in the course of the
election, so that members can make our own judgement about our own trade union.
What I see
now is what I have known for years, with greater understanding as each of the
thirteen years I have already served on the National Executive Council (NEC) of
UNISON has passed – UNISON is a top-down, hierarchical and bureaucratic organisation
directed by a small number of senior officials in conjunction with a few
leading members of the Executive (though the role of the lay part of this
partnership is strictly subaltern).
There are some on the left who might,
historically, have said “so what?” to this observation and, whilst I am
something of a troublesome ultra-democrat (with incipient anarcho-syndicalist
tendencies), I could see the argument that we ought not to trouble ourselves
too much if our trade union was less democratic than we might wish if it were
delivering for our members.
However.
The history
of the period since 2010 in particular is a history of UNISON “battening down
the hatches” in order to try to ride out a storm which shows no sign of abating.
In the service of this strategy we abandoned prematurely
the fight to defend public service pensions in 2012 and subsequently failed
time and again
to
smash the pay
freeze which has driven
down the living standards of those of our members whose jobs we have been
able to defend.
Therefore,
in order to protect the continued existence of our trade union as an
institution, we have deliberately refrained from supporting assertively the
interests of our members. Our members have responded to this strategy as one
might expect, with declining participation and interest in our union, as it
delivers less for them.
From within
the organisation this truth cannot be acknowledged, as a culture in which
criticism is seen as disloyalty has risen over the years. Each success is
applauded. Each failure
is ignored. Critics are condemned or humiliated.
The combination
of undemocratic, “top down” bureaucratic control with ineffective performance
in collective bargaining is toxic for the future of UNISON. Ultimately, the
most energetic commitment to organising cannot keep such an organisation
growing in such a cold climate.
Therefore we
need change.
Members need
the new UNISONAction
Broad Left – and activists need to show discipline and humility to build
the coalition which is emerging to change our trade union.
We need
candidates in every seat in the forthcoming elections to our National Executive
Council (NEC) who are committed to change – and we need one such candidate for
each seat.
Now is not
the time for timidity. Nor is it the time for ego.
I do not
regret my decision
to stand down from our NEC. I am allowed to have a life, and now that I
have the opportunity of happiness I intend to take it.
I will miss
the opportunity of being part of a larger left on the NEC, seriously trying to
reverse the decline of UNISON – but I will miss it far less if the seat I
currently occupy is filled by Sean Fox, Secretary of the Haringey branch and
representative of London on the National Joint Council Committee, who has the
experience and judgement to do the job we need to be done.
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