A victory for ‘continuity’ for the right.
The largest union in the TUC, Unison, has announced that Christina McEnea, an assistant general secretary, has been elected as new general secretary, to take over from Dave Prentis. She was effectively the continuity candidate for the right wing currently in control of the union apparatus.
There will now be a thorough post-mortem on the left of the labour movement, as to why she was allowed to win – with less than 48% of the votes cast – against three other candidates standing to her left. The inability of the left to find a unified candidate is the prime reason for this result.
Four months ago, the right wing of the union introduced the ‘innovation’ of an exhaustive ballot on the NEC to make sure that the leading body of the union nominated its own candidate and had there been a similar exhaustive ballot or a system of transferable voting for general secretary, it is entirely possible that the second-placed candidate, Paul Holmes, would have won. That would have meant the first lay member elected to head a leading trade union for generations. It would have meant the beginnings of significant change in the stance of the union as regards its affiliation to the Labour Party, where it has two members on the NEC.
Seriously overworked Unison members
More importantly, it would have given the union a fighting leadership, at a time when its members are seriously overworked and underpaid, including those risking their lives day in and day out in the NHS and in care homes. It would have offered the chance of a serious fight back where public sector ‘pay rises’ consist of a weekly applause at the doorstep.
Although she got the highest number of votes, even those cast for Christina McEnea represent only 5.4% of the membership, not exactly a ringing endorsement for any candidate. It is possible that the pandemic may have affected the turnout, but at 11 per cent, it is clear that only the most active members of the union voted. That in itself is a criticism of the union and should be put at the feet of the current leadership.
The main culprit for the split of the left vote lies squarely at the feet of the lowest-placed candidate, Hugo Pierre, who won less than 8% of the votes cast, and less than 1% of the votes of the membership. Pierre himself and the party that pushed him into standing, the so-called Socialist Party, rightly deserve the opprobrium of the whole of the left. This piddling sect is clearly more concerned about its own prestige, such as it is, than the greater good of Unison or its million-plus membership. With what can only be described as jaw-dropping hypocrisy, its website tried to explain away the result. “…the potential has been shown”, it says, “for the union’s right wing to be defeated”. Absolutely true, but not when their candidate deliberately split the left vote.
Disgraceful decision to remain on ballot
Last year, both Paul Holmes and Hugo Pierre participated in a hustings of Unison lefts where they both put their case for support. Afterwards, Paul Holmes clearly won the vote and should have been the sole left candidate. Inexplicably and disgracefully, despite losing the vote at that meeting, Pierre decided to remain on the ballot paper.
“Hugo,” the Socialist Party says, “was the only candidate to question the union handing over millions of pounds to Starmer’s Labour Party…” Indeed, the writing was on the wall at the hustings, when he contemptuously dismissed as an irrelevancy the fact that 400,000 Unison members voluntarily pay a political levy to the Labour Party.
Left Horizons supported Paul Holmes for the general secretary’s position and we make no apologies for that. In the end, he got nearly twice the votes of the third- and fourth-placed candidates put together. There is no guarantee, even as a single left candidate, that Paul Holmes would have won, because a portion of the vote that went to Roger McKenzie, another assistant general secretary, was composed of the softest of ‘soft lefts’ – the kind who prefer a right-winger to a rank-and-file left candidate. But if there had been a single left candidate – and the three to the left of McEnea won 52.3% of the votes cast – we must conclude at the very least that there would have been a good chance of the left winning.
Tired, frightened and over-stretched
In a statement issued after the results were announced, Paul Holmes thanked his supporters, saying this: “In the real world our members are faced with a world of work which is becoming increasingly tiring, frightening and over-stretched. The NHS has 100,000 vacancies and 15% of staff are off work for Covid-related reasons. We have seen the fiasco in schools. The vaccine programme is complicated by government incompetence.
“Employers like British Gas and Tower Hamlets council are increasingly looking to ‘fire and re-hire’ tactics. The government is looking to slash local government pensions/statutory redundancy payments. The need for our union to organise, ‘shout from the rooftops’ and ‘up its game’ has never been greater.
“We are at a crossroads”.
Paul Holme is absolutely right in setting the scene for the coming months and years. Other than vague promises about “meeting members’ needs”, there was nothing concrete in the election manifesto issued by McEnea, but she will not have an easy ride. Her 1.2 million members, overwhelmingly women, will put her under far more pressure than anything experienced by her predecessor and there will be an expectation that she will provide leadership and direction in their fight for decent pay and conditions.
In the short term, the lesson for the left is that greater unity is far more effective than division. The left will probably stand against the Socialist Party candidates for the upcoming NEC elections – even their sitting NEC members – and who can blame them, given their disgraceful behaviour in the GS election?
In the longer term there is a need to build a viable and vibrant Broad Left, rooted in every Unison branch and every workplace where there are members. It must be a Broad Left that is democratic and open to debate and discussion, but which operates as a unit in elections and campaigns. That is the only answer to the utter failure of leadership on the part of the union right wing and the destructive sectarianism of the ultra-left.
January 12, 2021
