By a Unison conference delegate
A thousand delegates came together In Brighton for the Unison National Delegate conference. They represent over 1.3 million workers in the public sector and although there was a lot for them to discuss: low pay, job insecurity, privatisation and victimisation, to name but a few, the agenda suggested a much more managed affair.
Instead of the immediate issues of the day, delegates were treated with a bout of naval gazing. Resolution 1 with the title “Reshaping and Resourcing Our Union”, tabled by the National Executive, was a long piece of self-congratulation on achieving 25years, although in reality the membership has remained pretty stagnant over the years since the merger of NUPE, NALGO and COHSE. There was over page and half of pats on the back, culminating in an instruction to the NEC to initiate a “comprehensive review” of the union’s structure. Many frustrated delegates were wondering why the National Executive couldn’t undertake such work without blocking off conference time.
One of the first debates scheduled for discussion was “Low Pay and Women in Unison”: at last, we thought, some meat on how to end the scourge of low pay, especially amongst women workers. How wrong I was. The resolution was an organisational issue about who could take a seat on the National Executive that was ear-marked for low paid workers. It even had an amendment that wanted to take out the term “low paid”, stating that this stigmatises women asking for a different definition. I have tried to think of one and all I can come up with is remunerationally-challenged.
This might so far give the impression of a moribund union, but up and down the country Unison members are fighting and this was reflected in a lunchtime fringe meeting at which John McDonell spoke but before he arrived a series of speakers spoke about industrial action in their area.
Unison members at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust were going to walk out on Thursday June 28 and not return to work until the following Tuesday, over plans to create subsidiary company called WWL Solutions. The strike is set to begin at 6am the day after the Trust’s board makes its final decision on transferring almost 900 estates and facilities employees into the wholly-owned firm. The members voted to reject the plans and voted for a strike, with 93% in favour on a 79% turn-out.
Unison members are also angry at the setting up of a subsidiary company by Mid-Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust, to which the terms and condition of employees would be transferred. Non-clinical staff – those who do not deliver emergency care – would be affected. A similar scheme is also being considered by hospital trusts in Leeds and Bradford and members here too have balloted for strike action.
In Birmingham, home care workers are striking, because they’ve been pushed to breaking point. Government cuts to local authority budgets have led to Birmingham City Council slashing the home care budget by 40%. This is on top of seven years of austerity – where the social care workforce has fallen from 7,000 to just 2,000 – a further, damaging, deep cut to care. That’s why homecare workers balloted to strike, with 99% voting in favour on a ballot
Unison Members at waste management organisation FCC Environment in Hull are undertaking two weeks of strike action in a dispute over sick pay.
Workers at Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) are preparing for a two-week strike over pay. Unison members oppose a new “market based” pay system, introduced in April, which they say “breaks promises” made to them.
Dustbin collectors in Kirklees West Yorkshire are to stage a week-long strike in July in a row with a council over claims of bullying and harassment. The ballot showed a vote of 865 members, with 85% in favour of strike action
Glasgow City Council staff are to take equal-pay claim back to tribunal a long running dispute over equal pay for women workers has still enraged the care staff who now have given the council an ultimatum “equal pay or we walk away”.
This is only a sample of the disputes around the country, but what can be seen from these is that if members are given a positive lead, it is possible to win strike ballots. As one rep said, “I have a spreadsheet of all my branch members with emails and mobile phones so I can contact them meet with them and persuade them to take action”.
John McDonnell echoed this, by referring to the recent strikes at McDonald’s and TGI Friday, mainly by young people who did not have a history of trade union activity.
So, on a much happier note we returned to the conference, only to be told that Unison is the most left-wing union by General Secretary, Dave Prentice, in his address to conference. It was Unison, he said, who backed Jeremy Corbyn first. Problem was, I was at the National Delegate Conference 2015 in Glasgow and it was clear that the Unison leaders did not back Jeremy for some time after conference.
All was going well for the conference managers, so much so that it was time for a long composite entitled “Strategic Review of Unison”. It was five pages of A4 waffle, except for the sting in the tail on finances. The review promised to look at branch funding and to enforce this position a resolution (129) on branch funding would fall if the composite was passed.
Yet it was clear from the start of the debate that a large number of delegates did not trust the National Executive on this review of funding. There is a mood in the branches that more union funds need to be kept locally for campaigning and recruitment work and so the conference was repeatedly asked by delegates to consider resolution 129 and compare it to the vague promises in the composite.
As the debate progressed, it was clear that a mood was developing, and delegates felt that it was time to assert their authority and not to be constantly rode over. At the close of the debate a show of hands was called for and although it was close, most observers thought the vote went against the composite. However, the chair decided to call it in favour of the composite and tried to railroad business to the next motion. This decision caused uproar in the hall for a full fifteen minutes as delegates demanded a card vote. Eventually, after it became clear that conference was not going to let this go, a card vote was taken. When the result was announced the size of the majority against the composite was a surprise – nearly 60 per cent of the delegates rejecting the National Executive.
In an otherwise fairly uneventful conference, this episode showed something of a gulf in trust between the membership and the leading bodies of the union.
June 25, 2018
