The election contest to be General Secretary of Unison – the UK’s biggest trade union – could have a significant long-term effect on the balance of forces in the TUC and particularly in the Labour Party. Even in this early stage, where candidates are seeking nominations, it appears that the membership of the union are asserting themselves in a radical manner not seen for many years.
The four candidates have published their election platforms and are circulating them to the branches and on social media. Of these, Christina McEnea, currently an Assistant General Secretary, is the favoured successor of the union bureaucracy and it is reflected in her platform, which, in effect, offers more of the same.
Like another Assistant General Secretary in the race, Roger McKenzie, McEnea offers a programme that is long on vacuous promises, but short on detail. It is easy to offer a shift in union resources to “where they are needed” (McEnea) or “more funding and resources for regions, branches and activists” (McKenzie) but Unison members do not want administrative tinkering within the union and new “organising strategies”. They want to know what strategies will be employed now to win back the wages and conditions they have lost in the last ten years. They will want a fighting union to lead them in the coming battles.
Pressure coming from below
At least both of the full-time officer candidates reflect the disenchantment of their members, albeit as a pale reflection of what members really need. Christina McEnea promises “to fight for our members and to stand up for working class people” and to “challenge and hold governments to account”, while Roger McKenzie promises that the union will, “through the strength of our numbers and our organisation, deliver the pay rises and the improvements to terms and conditions at work that our members deserve.”
These statements show that the union leadership is beginning to feel the pressure from below, but unfortunately, neither of these is offering real “change”, except in words. They are both essentially continuity candidates.
What is shaking up the election contest and sending shock waves through the union is the campaign behind Paul Holmes, which seems to gather more momentum the longer the campaign goes on. Paul is a lay member and a branch secretary, and it is the first time in fifty years that a lay union member has come within reach of being elected general secretary of a big union.
Appalling treatment of public sector workers
Paul’s manifesto goes straight into the issue of low pay, poor conditions and the appalling treatment generally of public sector workers, promising “radical change” in the union. “We need to be at the forefront of all current battles”, he argues, “The union needs to be leading demos and shouting from the rooftops. We need to be bold.”
These are the main elements of Paul Holmes’ manifesto, policies with which every Unison member will agree:
*The General Secretary being on a worker’s wage. My current salary with the council is £32,000. I would remain on that. I would not take the current General Secretary renumeration of £130,000 plus. I would give the extra £100,000 to a lay member committee to donate to UNISON’s Welfare Committee and Strike Funds
*Unified pay claims across sectors with a minimum wage of £15 per hour
*An anti-austerity campaign for decent jobs and pay, proper training and affordable homes for all
*Using this campaign to help fight the scourges of racism, sexism and all discrimination
*A green agenda for UNISON; including an audit of the use of company cars by the union and the promotion of green travel
*A racism audit of UNISON, taking inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement, and so the allegations at the heart of the Labour Leaks scandal can be dealt with
*A leadership school with real investment so we can bring on a new generation of leaders from our young members and SOG groups
*Selling UNISON’s 2 ‘prestige’ office buildings in central London and re-investing the proceeds into branches and organising, and a new more functional HQ in the Midlands with good transport links
*50% of members’ subscriptions income going to the branches. Give branches the resources they need to do the job: whether that be funding or lay-directed officers
*A fully-funded, massive plan of action, driven by the branches, to improve collective bargaining rights in the community/private sectors. This will replace the current system where our members in these sectors are often hard to service by branches who themselves are under pressure with not enough resources
*A clear dividing line between elected officials and employed staff. This can best be implemented
It is significant that neither of the two full-time officer candidates mention the Labour Party in their manifestos, except McEnea, but only then to mention her own personal membership. For years representatives of this union on Labour’s NEC have voted with the right wing and have participated in the campaign to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, despite the fact that the Unison membership overwhelmingly endorsed him as leader. At regional and national conferences of the Labour Party the delegates representing Unison have voted against Open Selection, against the reinstatement of Clause IV and other socialist policies.
In his own manifesto, Paul Holmes makes his position clear. He is a socialist, he says, and a “believer in UNISON’s Labour Link being used to ensure that Labour representatives reflect UNISON’s values and will fight for our members’ interests”. We would go further even than Paul has argued – the Labour Link ‘section’ is that part of the union representing 400,000 members who have voluntarily agreed to pay a political levy to the Labour Party. It has its own meetings, structures and national conferences. Unison Labour Link should be the only part of the union that nominates delegates and representatives to Labour Party conferences and committees. There should be no question of members of other political parties – political opponents of the Labour Party – having any say in making such nominations, as happens at present through the Unison NEC and regional committees.
Contemptuously dismissing 400,000 affiliates
We haven’t mentioned the fourth candidate, an ultra-left who, at the Broad Left hustings a few weeks ago, only mentioned the 400,000 members affiliated to the Labour Party to contemptuously dismiss their affiliation as unimportant. This candidate was roundly defeated by Paul Holmes in those left hustings, but inexplicably decided (or his party decided) to continue to stand, receiving only four votes on the NEC and two out of well over a hundred in the North-West region, for example. We would hope that as the campaign continues, he will have an attack of common sense and withdraw. Otherwise, he will only draw votes away from the only left candidate capable of winning.
One of the worst features of the present campaign has been a whispering campaign against Paul Holmes personally. He has apparently been suspended from his employment over allegations of bullying and harassment. But unless these charges are brought out into the open and dealt with transparently and fairly, Unison members will be forgiven for seeing them a personal attack aimed to undermine the strongest rank and file candidate challenge for decades.
NEC defies previous past practice
The Unison right wing is so afraid of the challenge from Paul Holmes that it was only by a last-minute manoeuvre that the union NEC nominated McEnea. Going completely against all past practice the chair opened the recent NEC by announcing that the nomination from the NEC would be determined by a Single Transferable Vote system. Clearly anticipating a majority for Paul Holmes, it was felt necessary to rig the vote.
NEC last minute voting ‘innovation’
Paul Holmes did indeed with the most votes in the last-but-one round, beating McAnea, by two votes, with Roger McKenzie coming third. In the final round, only one of McKenzie’s votes went to Paul, so McEnea won the NEC endorsement by 29 votes to 26, with five abstentions. This vote was revealing, not only because the right wing were forced into an administrative ‘innovation’ to stop him winning, but also because it showed that whatever Roger McKenzie feels personally, most of his supporters would rather see the continuity of the present right-wing leadership than have a lay member elected to the top office.
Unison members will need to be alert to rules being bent or broken in this contest. There was only a slap on the wrist after union officers in London were caught breaking union rules to campaign for Dave Prentis in the last GS election. Some members are already questioning the arrival of unsolicited posts in their social media feed, in support of Christina McEnea, posts that can only be paid-for advertisements.
But the manoeuvres on the NEC have not stopped the momentum behind the Holmes campaign. The biggest service area group committee – Local Government backed him, as have dozens of Health Service and local government branches around the country. The regional committees – even closer to the membership than the NEC – have also shown strong support for his campaign.
North-West region backed Holmes
Three days ago, he registered a big victory – and by a long way – in contest’s Unison’s biggest region, the North West. At this very large committee meeting he got twice as many votes as the other three candidates put together, with almost five times as many as his nearest rival. This is the second region to back Paul Holmes, that in itself being a milestone for a lay candidate. These regional representatives are overwhelmingly lay members, shop-stewards, reps and branch officers, who are in close contact with the daily lives of the union membership. Their support for Paul Holmes is extremely significant and now needs to be carried into the membership.
Paul Holmes is clearly offering a real hope for change to the rank and file of the union and is the candidate socialists should support and supporters and readers of Left Horizons will fight for votes for him.
Most significant election for decades
This election contest may turn out to be the most significant turning point in the trade union movement for decades. It is inevitable that ten years of austerity, of squeezed living standards, worse conditions at work and growing insecurity in housing education and health will begin to have an effect on the outlook of millions of trade union members and millions more workers yet to join a union. It is significant that at the present time many unions are increasing their membership as workers come to realise that, as the saying goes, “the best PPE is a union”. What is happening in Unison today will happen tomorrow in the GMB, Unite, USDAW, the NEU and in all unions. It is something to be welcomed with open arms.
September 24, 2020
