Another complaint about the UNISON General Secretary election

Having reported the good news that an inappropriate posting on the UNISON website has been withdrawn this afternoon, following a number of complaints submitted (including one by your blogger), I thought I should share with readers the complaint which I have now made to the Returning Officer about the inappropriate proposal to invite just one of the General Secretary candidates to address a "webinar" being organised as a replacement for the National Retired Members' Conference.

 

It goes like this (regular readers will notice some repetition from an earlier post on this blog);

 

"I am writing to complain about a current and prospective breach of the General Secretary election procedures by the UNISON National Retired Members' Committee. I am pleased to note that UNISON has removed from its website a post which clearly breached the election procedures, and about which I complained earlier today (for the avoidance of doubt I am not withdrawing my complaint about that matter).

 

However, it appears that the determination of the UNISON National Retired Members' Committee unfairly to favour one particular candidate in the election – Christina McAnea – is reflected in more than simply that one improper news story on the national UNISON website (for which UNISON is plainly responsible).

 

This complaint concerns the proposed webinar reported upon in this report on the UNISON website - https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2020/09/retired-members-committee-announces-care-webinar/.

 

This publicises a "webinar" to take place on 14 October as follows;

 

'Care after COVID', will be a webinar for retired members, looking at the impact of the pandemic on the care sector, why we need a new system for social care and the actions that need to be taken for such a service.

The event will be a panel debate with the following speakers:

• Christina McAnea – UNISON assistant general secretary with responsibility for bargaining, negotiating and equalities;
• Gavin Edwards – senior national officer for business, community and environment;
• Guy Collis – policy officer.

 

A couple of things trouble me.

 

First, the details of the seminar – to be addressed by Christina McAnea – were posted on the UNISON website on 17 September. On 18 September Christina McAnea's campaign Facebook page reported the "endorsement" of her campaign by the National Retired Members' Committee (with a video message from the Chair) (which specifically refers to Christina having launched the "Care after Covid" campaign which is to be the theme of the webinar).

 

Secondly, the procedure for this year's General Secretary election indicates that ballot papers will go out from 28 October, a fortnight after the webinar being organised by the Retired Members National Committee. No doubt between now and 14 October retired members will receive reminders about this event, and – after 14 October (but before 28 October perhaps?) – we shall receive a report from this event. On each occasion we shall be reminded about who is speaking (or who spoke) at this official replacement for the UNISON National Retired Members' Conference.

 

How does this sit with the General Secretary election procedure?

 

Paragraph 45 of the procedure provides that "any nominating body, branch or group of members that invites a prospective candidate to speak at a physical or virtual meeting or social event of the nominating body about their involvement in the election must also invite all the other candidates."

 

Paragraph 51 of the procedure states that "UNISON funds, property or resources cannot be used to support campaigning for any particular candidate." The National Retired Members' Committee is not a "nominating body" in the General Secretary election and therefore is not covered by the exemption to the general rule set out in paragraph 51 of the procedure which entitles nominating bodies briefly to inform their constituents of why they have made a nomination.

 

Now the National Retired Members Committee might say that they are not inviting Christina McAnea to speak about her "involvement in the election" and that therefore they are not using UNISON resources to "support campaigning for any particular candidate". However, this webinar is about the "Care after Covid" campaign, and the Chair of the National Retired Members Committee can be seen on Facebook citing Christina McAnea's involvement in this campaign as part of the reason why she will be casting her vote for Christina. Christina McAnea has also made a campaign for a national social care service a major part of her election manifesto (online here).

 

There is no particular logic to the National Retired Members Committee having invited the Assistant General Secretary (Bargaining, Negotiating and Equalities) to speak at this webinar rather than – for example – the General Secretary himself (who would surely otherwise have addressed the final Retired Members' Conference of his twenty year term of office), or the Assistant General Secretary (Organising and Recruitment) – also a candidate for General Secretary – whose role will be central to achieving the objectives of UNISON's "Care after Covid" campaign.

 

Of the five Assistant General Secretaries, the most appropriate to be invited to such a webinar would – without doubt – have been the Assistant General Secretary (Communications, Campaigns and Policy), who has responsibility for campaigns. An invitation to the AGS (Communications, Campaigns and Policy) would not – since she is not a candidate for General Secretary – have raised any issues of concern in relation to the General Secretary election.

 

In the light of all the foregoing I think that the decision of the National Retired Members' Committee to organise – and publicise – as a replacement for their national Conference a "webinar" to which they propose to invite just one of the candidates for General Secretary, contravenes paragraph 51 of the General Secretary election procedure.

 

It would be easy for the National Retired Members' Committee to put this right. They could withdraw the invitation to Christina McAnea to speak and invite a more appropriate speaker. Alternatively ,if they wanted to organise a "hustings" meeting, compliant with paragraph 45 of the procedure this would seem to be an appropriate – and probably a very popular and useful – virtual replacement for the Conference which cannot take place.

 

Equally, if the National Retired Members' Committee felt that it was essential to invite Christina McAnea to speak at a "webinar" about the "Care after Covid" campaign this could very easily be done after the close of voting in the General Secretary election, so as to avoid the very obvious perception of bias.

 

To be clear, my complaint is that, already, UNISON has publicised an event on 14 October (to which all retired members are invited) at which just one of the candidates for General Secretary has been invited to speak, which is plainly an opportunity to showcase that candidate. This is contrary to paragraphs 45 and 51 of the procedure.

 

This breach of procedure will be compounded if the event on 14 October goes ahead.

 

I look forward to your early acknowledgement of this complaint, which I am copying to UNISON in the hope that the harm which has already been done can be mitigated by adopting one or other of the reasonable courses of action identified above."

 

Let's hope that common sense and a spirit of fair play can once again triumph on the Euston Road and that we shall see a change of approach on this issue also!