Branch Labour Link News: Leadership; London GLA & National Committee elections

NEWS

To APF payers in Greater London Housing Associations Branch

With so much going on I thought this would be a useful time to update APF payers in the branch on recent Labour Link activity.

·         LABOUR LEADER & DEPUTY LEADER ELECTION

The National UNISON Labour Link Committee met on Wednesday and decided to nominate Jeremy Corbyn for Leader of the Labour Party, with Yvette Cooper as second choice.    For Deputy Leader UNISON will nominate Angela Eagle with Stella Creasy as second choice.

This was after consultation with all regions.  In London APF payers were sent an electronic survey and encouraged to give their views on their preferred candidate for both Leader and Deputy Leader (as did the branch survey). 

In the past all UNISON APF payers would have received a vote in the ballot to elect the Leader and Deputy but following the Collins Review this has changed.  Now only members that have signed up to become a UNISON Affiliated Supporter will be eligible to vote alongside Labour Party members.

Anyone who supports Labour's aims and values is entitled to sign up.  You don’t need to be a Labour Party member it’s free, quick and easy to do.  To register and find out more go to http://support.labour.org.uk/.   The deadline to register is 12 noon on Friday 12 August. 

UNISON’s decision to nominate Jeremy and Angela is a recommendation and members are of course free to cast their vote as to who they think should lead the Labour Party.

·         LONDON MAYOR & GLA CANDIDATES

UNISON Affiliated Supporters who register will also get a vote in deciding Labour’s London Mayoral Candidate and Greater London Assembly members. UNISON London Labour Link decided to make no recommendation for London Mayor but there are three UNISON members standing who will make excellent candidates and I would urge registered affiliated members to consider supporting either Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan or David Lammy. 

UNISON have nominated GLA candidates Murad Qureshi for City and East and Ivana Bartoletti for Havering & Redbridge who have been nominated and will be on the ballot paper. Members eligible to vote in may wish to consider supporting these UNISON candidates.

·         NATIONAL LABOUR LINK COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

The London region has one representative on UNISON’s National Labour Link Committee.  A process is currently underway to elect the London rep for the next two years. 

Our branch nominated Deirdre Costigan to represent the views of APF payers across London.

Within the next day or so you will receive a ballot paper to your home address.  I would encourage you to use your vote and return it without delay in the pre-paid envelope.  The ballot will close on Friday 25 September. 

If for any reason you do not receive a ballot paper by 18 August you should contact the ballot helpline at UNISON Direct on 0800 0 857 857.

·         GETTING MORE INVOLVED IN LABOUR LINK

You are receiving this email as an APF payer in the branch.  If you’d like to find out more about getting more involved in UNISON Labour Link or representing the branch at your CLP (if you are a Labour Party member) please get in contact.

·         JOIN THE LABOUR PARTY

Finally, if you are interested in joining the Labour Party you can do this for a reduced trade union rate of just £1.96 per month by going to https://join.labour.org.uk/

If anyone wants to clarify any please email me or ring.

Regards

John Gray

Branch Labour Link Officer

UNISON supports Jeremy Corbyn & Angela Eagle in Leadership elections

"UNISON has decided to nominate Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party leadership contest and Yvette Cooper as its second choice at the union’s National Labour Link committee today (Wednesday).

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said:

“Jeremy Corbyn’s message has resonated with public sector workers who have suffered years of pay freezes, redundancies with too many having to work more for less.

“They have been penalised for too long by a government that keeps on taking more and more from them. Their choice shows a clear need for change towards a fairer society where work is fairly rewarded, and where those living and working in poverty supported.

“Today’s decision is a recommendation and our members are of course free to cast their vote as to who they think should lead the Labour Party.”

Notes to editors

UNISON represents 1.3 million workers in the UK.
430,000 have actively opted-in to the union’s political fund.
In the region of 28,000 UNISON members are members of the Labour Party in their own right. And around 15,000 are registered to vote in the leadership contest.

The union’s National Labour Link Committee has 23 elected members from across the UK. The decision was taken following a thorough consultation with all the regions".

(UNISON also said it would nominate Angela Eagle in the deputy leader contest, with Stella Creasy as its second choice).

Check out report from BBC. 

West Ham Votes for Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson

A little late but last Thursday West Ham CLP narrowly nominated, Jeremy Corbyn, as Labour leader ahead of Liz Kendall, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper. Tom Watson, was nominated as Deputy leader beating Caroline Flint, Stella Creasy, Angela Eagle and Ben Bradshaw. Local boy Unmesh Desai was also comfortably nominated as the City & East GLA candidate ahead of Murad Qureshi, Howard Dawber, Abdal Ullah, Ashton McGregor & Feryal Demirci.

It was one of the largest West Ham meetings (122 members) I have attended and took place in the Vicarage Lane Community centre in my ward. All members were invited to give speeches and make nominations. I think probably a fifth of those present spoke including young and new members. The speeches were often quite passionate and waiting for the results was tense and rather exciting.  Everyone behaved themselves (even Red Tel) and  I think we did our CLP proud.

As a Party member I nominated Andy Burnham for leader and spoke in favour of Stella Creasy for Deputy. As a UNISON delegate I nominated Murad Qureshi for the GLA seat who has the support of Greater London UNISON.

Afterwards there was food and the traditional Labour Party raffle. When everything was cleared up a few die-hards went down to the Black Lion to further analyse in detail the results and debate the merits (or otherwise) of candidates.

UNISON Selection of Labour's Leader and Deputy Leader Candidates

This survey below has gone out to all UNISON members in Greater London region who pay a voluntary affiliation levy to the Labour Party.  We did a similar survey for the London Mayoral candidate and got an excellent response.

I hope to be able to attend the UNISON National Labour Link leadership nomination meeting as a re-elected NEC Member (NEC will elect the same day - fingers crossed). It will be good to get the views of London on who we should nominate. I will also consult with my branch and Community Service Group colleagues. 


APF MEMBERS
 
 Dear UNISON Member,

Selection of Labour's Leader and Deputy Leader Candidates - UNISON Members Canvassing Survey

Following the recent General Election and the resignation of Ed Miliband the process is now underway to elect a new Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.  UNISON is eligible to make a nomination and is seeking your views so these can be considered by the National Labour Link Committee when they meet next week.  All members are encouraged to participate and have their say. 

We would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to answer a very quick survey (there are only 3 questions and it should take just a moment). Just click here to start: (Survey Monkey link on email only).    The survey will close on 12 noon on Tuesday 28 July.

The four candidates standing for Labour Leader are Andy Burham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corby and Liz Kendall.  In accordance with the agreed process UNISON London Region encourages you to support candidates who have shown a commitment to UNISON values by joining our union.  These are:

"         BURNHAM, Andy
"         COOPER, Yvette
"         CORBYN, Jeremy 

The five candidates standing for Deputy Labour Leader are Ben Bradshaw, Stella Creasy, Angela Eagle, Caroline Flint and Tom Watson.  In accordance with the agreed process UNISON London Region encourages you to support candidates who have shown a commitment to UNISON values by joining our union.  This is:

"         EAGLE Angela 

To view opening and closing statements from the candidates at a hustings event at UNISON's National Labour Link Forum please go to
http://www.unison.org.uk/news/labour-contenders-make-their-pitch-to-unison-members

The responses of the survey will be forwarded to the National Labour Link Committee who will make the nomination.