By Steve McKenzie
The outcome of most of the Unite executive council elections were announced on 27th April and they show a large majority for the left. The old guard right wing are nowhere in sight, and in fact, not having had a slate, didn’t even show up.
It would appear that the slate supporting General Secretary, Sharon Graham, has won just over twenty seats out of 63, slightly more than the slate of the old United Left, renamed (although with the same personalities involved) Members First. Of the remaining seats filled so far, a few have been won by ‘independents’ not on any slate. Three NEC places, in the civil aviation section, are going to have to be re-balloted because of irregularities in the processes.
Even among some of the seats declared, there were some irregularities and “human error” was admitted and although corrections were made, those errors could have affected the outcome. In some cases, union members did not get the correct ballot papers, and some did not receive any ballot paper at all. Apologies by Civica Election Services, who were the firm running the elections, that there had been mistakes due to “human error” does not make up for the fact that the error may have affected the outcome, despite ‘corrections’ being made.
No traditional count with scrutineers
Clearly there needs to be much more rank and file scrutineering of the election process, so it is taken completely out of the hands of full-time officers, some of whom are supporters of one slate or another. There is widespread concern, that for the first time ever in Unite, there was no traditional count that candidates could attend. For the first time ever the counting was done electronically, beyond the scrutiny of candidates or members, raising eyebrows in many quarters.
The blatant irregularities, that have already led to reruns, the admission of mistakes and “human errors”, and widespread suspicion with the counting procedure, are causes for great concern. However, perhaps the greatest cause for concern was the extremely low turnout, somewhere between 4 and 6 per cent.
How can we be a truly membership led-union, when over nine out of ten members cannot see the relevance of voting in an election of this importance? They are either unable to access the ballot or they are so uninspired and unmotivated by the process that they don’t bother to vote.
Either way, it is a condemnation of the so-called United Left who have controlled the union for years, often relying on ‘deals’ and ‘agreements’ between officials over the heads of members and – almost as a matter of policy – minimising member involvement.
Years of United Left control of the union has led to a breakdown of union democracy. This is the inevitable outcome of the centralisation of power and control, where power is concentrated in the hands of a few senior officers and where a few officials use the ‘nominations and ‘support’ of moribund, inactive or dead branches. Ordinary shopfloor members and active branches are effectively shut out of involvement in the union.
Persistent use of organisational manoeuvres
As explained in an earlier article, only a select few members have access to the UNITE national conference, the executive council and the other industrial and regional committees, that on the surface run the union. The rest of us are locked out almost completely. Whatever it claims to be, in reality Unite is anything but a membership-led union. It is clearly a senior officer-controlled union.
The old ‘United Left’, now ‘Members First’ grouping is supported by many full-time officers. Unfortunately, it has been characterised by a persistent use of organisational manoeuvres and deals to avoid confronting and openly discussing uncomfortable political issues. They have shown an obsession with retaining control, whatever the cost and it is not any kind of broad left that can have any appeal to rank and file union members.
There is a need for a genuine, open, and democratic broad left in the union. It needs to have an open and democratic regional and national structure, with regular meetings and open discussions on policies and the way forward. Slates for candidates for regional, industrial, and national bodies should be decided in open debate in hustings and meetings, not through deals made behind closed doors. This is the only way we will be able to make real changes we need and build a truly membership led union.
The old-guard right wing have been utterly crushed in these NEC elections. But if the so-called ‘left’ make no serious efforts to involve members more openly and democratically, they will leave the door open for the return of the right wing in the future, and that is something no-one on the left wants.
