Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Friday, June 23, 2017

A sorry little episode

I was saddened to see an inarticulate rant in Friday's "London Calling" (the generally tedious and anodyne Regional news sheet at UNISON National Delegate Conference).

The rant, written by one of the stooges of those who brought our trade union into such disrepute by their misconduct in the General Secretary election, celebrates the "leave" vote to which Londoners were so firmly opposed.

More than that, the author (mentioned by the Assistant Certification Officer in her decision for a previous ill-informed rant) celebrates that "we" have taken back control of "our" borders and speaks of "our national interests".

The visceral hostility to migrant workers expressed by the sorry soul who has cobbled this nonsense together is offensive (and, being plainly racist, amounts to a breach by UNISON of our Rules) but, as significant is the anti-working class political illiteracy of someone who believes themselves part of a first person plural which owns borders and has a "national interest".

Those of us who understand the society in which we live know that borders are controlled in the interests of the ruling class and that there is no "national interest" which unites workers with those who exploit us.

I am only pleased to note that the author of this intemperate rubbish is someone who has been repeatedly rejected by our members when trying to get on our NEC.

His delusions of adequacy are not widely shared.

1 comment:

Dorothy said...

Doesn't Unison have a position on Brexit? Surely it has policy on immigration controls?