Turn out was not great (14%) but similar to other internal national elections and to many people, it is a no-brainer that unions should have campaigning political funds.
"UNISON members in England, Scotland and Wales have voted overwhelmingly to retain the union’s political fund, which enables UNISON to take part in political activity.
Of the 187,598 members who participated, 96.7% voted to keep the political fund.
UNISON’s political fund has two sections: Labour Link and the campaign fund.
Labour Link takes the union’s campaign objectives into the Labour party and supports members to become MPs and councillors.
The campaign fund provides all the resources for our pro-public service campaigns, our equalities campaigns and the work that we do to combat the far right. Members choose which part of the fund to support – and can also pay into both.
UNISON is required to hold a ballot every ten years under anti-trade union legislation first introduced by the Thatcher government in 1984, which was designed to silence the campaigning voice of working people and defund the Labour party.
The 2024 ballot was open for one month, between 15 July and 16 August 2024.
In response to the results, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The ballot result is an overwhelming vote in favour of keeping our members’ campaign voice and I want to thank everyone who took part.
“The reason so many members voted to keep the fund is because they see the difference it makes.
“Be it securing Labour commitments to the New Deal for Working People through our Labour Link or supporting UNISON’s work with Hope not Hate and Show Racism the Red Card through our campaign fund, both funds have never been more important. I am proud that our members value this part of our work so highly.”
Soon we should get major change in the way we run union elections since the Labour Government has committed to allowing us to bring our elections process up-to-date with modern electronic and workplace voting. This should increase participation and turnout.
Hat tip UNISON votes to renew political fund | Article, News | News | UNISON National"UNISON members in England, Scotland and Wales have voted overwhelmingly to retain the union’s political fund, which enables UNISON to take part in political activity.
Of the 187,598 members who participated, 96.7% voted to keep the political fund.
UNISON’s political fund has two sections: Labour Link and the campaign fund.
Labour Link takes the union’s campaign objectives into the Labour party and supports members to become MPs and councillors.
The campaign fund provides all the resources for our pro-public service campaigns, our equalities campaigns and the work that we do to combat the far right. Members choose which part of the fund to support – and can also pay into both.
UNISON is required to hold a ballot every ten years under anti-trade union legislation first introduced by the Thatcher government in 1984, which was designed to silence the campaigning voice of working people and defund the Labour party.
The 2024 ballot was open for one month, between 15 July and 16 August 2024.
In response to the results, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The ballot result is an overwhelming vote in favour of keeping our members’ campaign voice and I want to thank everyone who took part.
“The reason so many members voted to keep the fund is because they see the difference it makes.
“Be it securing Labour commitments to the New Deal for Working People through our Labour Link or supporting UNISON’s work with Hope not Hate and Show Racism the Red Card through our campaign fund, both funds have never been more important. I am proud that our members value this part of our work so highly.”
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