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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Unison election result signals need for unity

Whilst the world focused on yesterday's cuts budget, Unison activists were waiting for the result of the election for our General Secretary.



Dave Prentis has been elected for a third term as Unison's General Secretary. Dave got 67% of the vote (down 8%), Roger Bannister got 20% of the vote (up 3%) and first time candidate Paul Holmes got 13% (up 5.5% compared with my tally five years ago).



The turnout at 14.6% was a couple of points down on the already disappointing turnout last time.



The votes were as follows;



Voters eligible to cast a vote: 1,487,759



Votes cast: 217,027



Valid votes cast: 216,116



Dave Prentis: 145,351



Roger Bannister: 42,651



Paul Holmes: 28,114



Turnout 14.6%



Whilst the usual suspects may claim this as a great triumph for our General Secretary (http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/2010/06/dave-prentis-re-elected-as-unison-gs.html) I think that the reduced support for the incumbent (in spite of a more unified campaign for him at national and regional level) together with the growth of the combined "left" vote from a quarter to a third of votes cast indicates both the need for a more tolerant and inclusive approach in the here and now and that the next election is not in the gift of the "machine".


Now let's unite to fight the cuts (and expect the same unifying approach from our leadership)!

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
at

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:41 pm

    Hi Jon

    Thanks for the report. On reflection do you think the UL would have been better off backing Roger?

    Its clear that the idea that the Left candidate with the most nominations should be the one that everyone supports doesn't translate into the most votes. As has been proved now in the last few GE elections

    Stuff to think about I think

    cheers

    P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:35 pm

    So Serwotka's re election result and his 55% must have been a disaster ??

    yet Union Futures said Serwotkas victory was a great victory and a new mandate

    So what is it

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:10 am

    Jon says "Now let's unite to fight the cuts"

    Roger says "As I predicted, the result for the United Left demonstrates once again the lack of support for their programme and tactics.

    "In particular, the failure in the United Left to put forward a clear position on disaffiliation from the Labour Party meant they suffered in this ballot.

    "If they do not re-consider their position as a result of this election then the only victors will be the right wing at next year's national executive elections."

    hmm

    ReplyDelete