The Industrial Action Committee (IAC) also exists by virtue of Rule O.2, which says that the NEC may “appoint a sub-committee, officer or member to act on its behalf in issuing any particular instructions to take industrial action.” The IAC is that Sub-Committee.
The NEC delegates to the IAC the donkey work required to comply with its duty under Rule O.4 to “draw up a Code of Conduct applicable either generally to all industrial disputes or in relation to any particular dispute.” The IAC also deals with the requirements of Rule O.5 which states that; “Dispute benefit and other costs and expenses arising from and connected with the dispute will be paid under regulations drawn up by the National Executive Council from a fund specifically maintained for these purposes.”
When I was on the NEC I took an interest in the IAC and - although for five terms of office after my doomed bid for the General Secretaryship (from 2005-2015) I was only placed upon one Committee by my NEC colleagues, I did get to sit on the IAC from 2003-2005 (before I blotted my copybook) and from 2015-2017 (when my misdeeds were - perhaps - sufficiently in the past).
Most NEC Committees meet according to a schedule which will be drawn up and will cover the period until the end of the term of office of the current NEC, at the close of National Delegate Conference 2023 but, whilst the IAC may - and probably should - have some scheduled meetings to deal with predictable work, it may also be called to meet at short notice to deal with industrial disputes as they arise.
It therefore makes sense for the NEC to put as many members as it can on the IAC so that sufficiently well-attended meetings can be called when required - and it makes sense for as many NEC members as possible to be prepared to serve on the IAC (and therefore to express a preference for that Committee along with the others on which they would like to serve).
If the newly elected UNISON NEC want to demonstrate to our membership that there is real meaning to the slogan “#timeforrealchange” then there are a couple of things that the incoming IAC could then do, fairly quickly.
First, the Industrial Action Handbook (which was last updated in June 2019) could be redrafted, following a brief consultation - in particular - with those activists in UNISON with recent experience of leading industrial disputes.
At present, the introduction to the Handbook states that “industrial action becomes a legitimate strategy when negotiations have broken down and where any agreed disputes procedure has been exhausted” - exemplifying an attitude of mind which leads UNISON officials to discourage activists from pursuing industrial action, because that is the message that they have received from more senior officials.
Industrial action becomes a legitimate strategy whenever a group of workers decide for themselves that it is a legitimate strategy and UNISON’s Industrial Action Handbook should be a helpful guide for workers having to negotiate the many obstacles placed in their way by a succession of hostile Governments and by the courts - not another such obstacle.
According to their latest return to the Certification Officer (for 2019) UNITE (a smaller trade union than UNISON) held 245 industrial action ballots in that year, whereas UNISON’s return for the same period indicates that we held 234. (An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly reported that number as 25 and I am indebted to a comrade from the NEU who pointed out that I had misread the document).
UNISON needs to be much more inclined to encourage - rather than discourage - members whose interests will be best served by a willingness to take industrial action. The difference between a left-led trade union and the other sort is not that a left-wing leadership can (or would want to) provoke strikes or foment discontent - however, left-wing union officials, and representatives, can decide not to obstruct union members from taking action.
Secondly therefore - and this is something which the IAC could recommend to the NEC following its first meeting as a Committee - the daily rate of strike pay could be increased (perhaps from the current rate of £25 a day to match UNITE at £50 a day).
These changes - to the Industrial Action Handbook - and the rate of daily strike pay would matter as much for what they symbolise as for their substance, but they would provide practical assistance to members and activists on the front line of defence against the attacks coming at UNISON members from the Tory Government and the employers.
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