UNISON NEC members meet up before meeting Wednesday 11.2.26

 

A few of us from the UNISON NEC managed to meet up on Tuesday evening at our national headquarters on Euston Road. It was a relaxed chance to catch up before the formal business began.

Our elected lay President, Catherine, is right at the centre of the photo in red. To her right is James, our senior Vice President, and to her left at the front is Debbie, our junior Vice President.

Some NEC members from the far‑left faction left the building when we arrived — their absence was noted — while many other Council members were still travelling down or due to join us the following morning.

On Wednesday we moved to the full hybrid NEC meeting in the Dave Prentis Chamber on the 9th floor. It turned out to be a very interesting session, and I’ll share more reflections on that soon.

Thank you from UNISON & Good Luck to Jamie Dickinson in the Labour Party!

 

There was a lovely informal "leaving do" this evening in the Unison centre for our former UNISON activist and national officer, Jamie Dickinson (front centre) . Jamie supported our International and Labour Link Committees. He is leaving UNISON to join the Labour Party. 

I have known Jamie since he was a young activist in UNISON and lately, as a member of UNISON National Labour Link Committee, I  have appreciated his officer support to us and also his enormous everyday cheerfulness and enthusiasm. 

UNISON's loss is the Labour Party's gain. 

I have no doubt he will be doing more than his bit as a Labour staffer to win the next general election. 

It was great to see our former General Secretary, Dave Prentis here to thank and wish Jamie farewell. 

UNISON National Labour Link Forum 2022

Picture collage from UNISON Labour Link National Forum which took place on Friday in York. This was the first "in person" Forum since 2019 due to Covid. "Labour Link" is the (voluntary) political fund in UNISON that is affiliated to the Labour Party. 

I was an elected member of the Greater London delegation. We had arrived the night before for our delegation meeting (followed by delegation meal). 

Forum started with a well deserved presentation to our former General Secretary, Dave Prentis, thanking him for his decades of service to the union and to Labour Link. Dave also spoke about the battle ahead to get a Labour Government elected. There was a minutes silence to remember UNISON members who had passed away since we last met. Followed by a report from the Standing orders committee and on our Annual report. 

Next we began to debate motions. I was really pleased that during the course of the Forum nearly all members of our delegation spoke. Some of them for the first time. I moved our regional motion on "Stop Workers Being Charged to have #DBS Checks When They Start Jobs" which was passed unanimously. I will post on this important campaign another time.

Before Lunch we had Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (and former UNISON activist who I remember well attending these forums) give the keynote speech. She started by breaking the welcome news that both she and Keir Starmer had been cleared by the Police over the so called "BeerGate" investigation. They had both pledged to resign if they had been prosecuted. A clear sign of integrity in contrast to the appalling behaviour by Boris Johnson. Angela gave a barnstorming speech, without any notes and dealt decisively with a range of questions during the Q&A. 

After lunch we continued to debate motions and managed to complete all 18 by 3pm. After a break, we had a MPs Panel. Four MPs & (and also UNISON members) spoke about their roles & took part in Q&A. Daniel Zeichner MP, Liz Twist MP, Bambos Charalambous MP and Chi Onwurah MP. 

I asked the panel the question about what would advise us to say to working class Tories when on the campaign trail for Labour? Some good responses about listening to people and showing them respect but also asking the question - do they feel safer in their communities under the Tories and are they better off financially? 

Our National Chair (and NHS nurse) Linda Hobson closed the Forum and we look forward to next year's (hopefully we will return to it being a 2-day Forum). 

UNISON Special Delegate Conference 2021: Day 1

 

Today was the first day of the virtual (for obvious reasons) UNISON delegate conference. It will finish on Thursday. Last year there was no conference due to Covid, so it seems a long, long time since we had our last conference. 

The "conference" is taking place in the TUC Congress House with the UNISON lay presidential team, a few officers and video technicians. Delegates and nearly all speakers joined virtually. 

The day started at 8.30am with an NEC pre meeting to discuss any urgent business.  That went quite smoothly. The conference kicked off at 9.30am and so far it seemed to have gone quite well with only a few minor electronic glitches.  

The President Josie Bird, gave a powerful and personal address, firstly thanking her family for all their support during her extended term while then making a direct attack on the Tory Government for all their failures over Covid and the recovery. 

I was pleased to see our current General Secretary Christina and our recently retired GS Dave Prentis, Dave was there to receive his award of honorary life membership of UNISON. 

I will blog further on SDC but was made up that it today passed the branch resource review motion and after 10 years of endless debate, we can finally move on and modernise the way we support our branches. 

UNISON says goodbye & thank you to Dave Prentis

 

At the recent UNISON NEC meeting many members thanked Dave for his 40 years of service to the union (20 years as our General Secretary), often giving emotional tributes and wished him well on his retirement. He was presented with honorary Life membership, a "man shed" present for his garden and a plaque that will one day be put on the 9th floor NEC meeting chamber at our UNISON centre - renaming the chamber after him. 

There is an excellent page on our website "Dave Prentis: a life in UNISON".   

At the traditional UNISON NEC/Staff Christmas quiz on Wednesday (sadly held virtually of course - but still fun) there was further testimonials including a suggestion that Dave's scoring at this quiz event had improved greatly in recent years due to Google!  

The new General Secretary of UNISON will be announced on the 11 January 2021. 

(hat tip Miriam for photo) 

Dave Prentis - A personal message

This morning UNISON NEC members received this email from our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, announcing his retirement.

"Dear Colleague

I’ve been so proud to serve as your General Secretary for 20 years. It has been the honour and privilege of my life to be able to represent our incredible public service workers from across our four nations, and never more so than in the last few difficult months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today I have advised the President that I will retire on 31 December 2020 when my current period of office comes to an end. In order to comply with trade union law, our NEC Development and Organisation Committee will meet this week to discuss a timetable to elect my successor and full details will be published once that is agreed. But I wanted you, the leading members of our union, to hear the news directly from me.

We have been through some tough times together. We’ve brought our union through the long years of austerity where we saw our public services decimated with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. But we stayed strong and we built the union.

We are now the largest union in the UK and the fastest-growing union in Europe. We have a vibrant lay democracy with activists like you in more than 50,000 workplaces. Our finances are strong and I hope we are now in a position to channel additional support and resources to our branches – where I truly believe that we organise and support our members best.

Every day for the past 47 years, I have been proud to serve this union and I have always been driven by a belief in fairness and justice for all our members. Never more so than in the past five months when I have seen our members and our public services rise to the challenge of the pandemic. In the worst of all circumstances, I have seen our union at its very best.

New members are joining our union faster than ever before because they value what a strong union can provide – support when they need it, strength to fight for change and a community that means that even in the most worrying times, you are never alone. Our enduring values of caring and solidarity will be more important than ever in the coming years.

As the health crisis turns to an economic crisis, we will face more challenges. I will be here to continue to lead this union until the end of this year – we still have a great deal of work to do together.

It has been my pleasure, my honour and an absolute privilege to lead our union, UNISON.

Thank you,

Dave Prentis

General Secretary

UNISON

(Above is my favourite picture of Dave taken on a very wet campaigning day in Chipping Barnet. Hat tip Miriam).

Community Executive NEC report: John Gray 4 December 2019

Firstly, apologies that I will have to leave this meeting early as I have to travel to Bournemouth today to attend a Pension Conference.

NEC 9 October 2019

This was the first full meeting of the new NEC at the UNISON centre. There was still problems in the centre following the recent flood which has damaged the lifts.

Following notice of obituaries, the General Secretary, Dave Prentis gave his report to NEC. He noted that UNISON is now the biggest trade union in the UK and that we have some 80,000 more members than the next biggest, Unite. Also, despite the fact that some consider us not to be a “militant” union we actually take more industrial action than all over unions put together! He spoke about our award winning legal services; our anti-racism work with “Hope Not Hate”; our support for WASPI pension rights; 100 years anniversary of Council Housing and UNISON’s ongoing support for the Durham Miners Gala.

Brexit is of course a huge issue and the prospect of a “No deal” could threat the peace process in Northern Ireland, cost private sector jobs, cut our income from taxes and therefore destroy public services. While a trade deal with Trump would mean the privatisation of the NHS. In the discussion I pointed out to the NEC that in the Community sector fears of Brexit had already caused housing associations to stop new housing projects and lay off staff.

There followed a debate about whether UNISON delegates at the recent Labour Party conference had followed or not our “policy” on Brexit. Delegation leader, Gordon McKay, made it clear that we had and apart from some silliness this was accepted by NEC. Dave spoke about the massive spike in our online membership during the conference debates on Brexit.

In a debate about the Climate change emergency I reminded the NEC of the absolute importance of ensure a “Just Transition” and that there are well paid and skilled “green” jobs to replace those currently dependant of carbon. If not this could derail change. Remember that Kentucky coal miner’s had helped Trump win in the USA and the French “yellow jackets” who had successfully wreaked increases in carbon taxes. Due to austerity many working class areas believe that they have been betrayed by society with low paid, insecure and exploitative jobs as well as rotten housing.

The debate on Brexit was I think the longest in my experience on the NEC with a wide range of views expressed but the vast majority of NEC members were supportive of UNISON on this issue while recognising that our members held a range of legitimate views.

The rest of the meeting had to be rushed. There was positive reports about recruitment and updates on our pay and industrial action campaigns.

The next NEC meeting was put back due to the General Election clash and will now take place 18 December 2019.

If any branch or regional Community branch wants us to attend any meeting or events (especially campaigns or industrial action) then let Denise and I know and if we can, we will attend.

Other NEC reports

Industrial Action Campaign Committee (IAC): As vice chair of this committee I have continued to support branches and services groups to take industrial action up and down the country. Note our record on action (Page 1 Para 2).

Staff Pension Trustee: Member of trustee board and Chair of Investment Sub-Committee. Attended trustee meetings and training including TUSO (trade union shareholders organisation).

PDCC I was unable to attend this subcommittee.

Labour Link Committee - General election 12 December

I respect the fact that UNISON has members from all political parties and traditions. However, I will say that this is a really crucial election to all union members, especially those in Community. In my view not only is the future of our public services such as the NHS under threat but our voluntary sector and our trade union will find it difficult to survive if we have a Uber right wing government in power for the next 5 years.

Please go out and campaign in marginal seats for candidates who want change. (I think members of the SGE can guess who I want them to campaign and vote for).

John Gray
Community NEC email: JohnDOTGray2012ATicloud.com

Dave Prentis: "This election is the fight of our lives"

Hat tip UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis blog: "Election day is less than five weeks away – and this election is the fight of our lives. After a decade of Tory austerity, public service workers know better than anyone the terrible toll that austerity has had on our communities, the services you provide and on your own lives.

That’s why I’ve been getting out on the doorstep and campaigning for public services – and for a Labour government. So far I’ve been supporting Labour candidates, and UNISON members, Bambos Charalambous and Emma Whysall, and I’ll be out campaigning across the country in the weeks ahead. It really is vital that everyone who wants to see a Labour government gets out on the doorstep and campaigns for Labour – and tells their friends, family and colleagues why they’re voting Labour too. Whilst Boris Johnson may have the money and the media on his side, Labour has something stronger – people.

There’s something else Labour has though – common sense ideas that can changes our country – and the lives of UNISON members – for the better. So it was great to see Labour announcing plans to extend maternity leave, offer real help on childcare and rebuild vital sure start centres. The same goes for giving every family the chance to have a warm home and an affordable energy bill. We have the oldest and most poorly insulated houses in Europe and we need practical measures to address this. Again – this is just the sort of change our country needs.

I know that in the days and weeks ahead, Labour can win this election where it counts – both on the streets, and by showing it has the best plans for working people. I promise you our union will be playing our part – and so will I".

West Ham on tour: Peterborough, Hull, Cities & Westminster and Chipping Barnet

This morning West Ham Labour members met up outside Stratford Station to go to the launch rally of Labour candidate, Gordon Nardell QC, in the Cities and Westminster seat. This was a packed rally with guest speakers, Shami Chakrabarti and Kier Starmer.

The Labour Party has asked West Ham to support Cities and Westminster in the General election and our Chair of West Ham CLP estimates that we had about 25 of our members attending the rally and the canvass afterwards.

After the canvass I went to the "Big Unions Campaign" launch with West Hammer UNISON member Mumtaz Khan, in Chipping Barnet, of trade union lawyer, Emma Whysall, who only lost out by just over 300 votes in the 2017 General election.

Our UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, was there as well as London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. After this rally I went on a UNISON canvass team with our General secretary, Assistant General Secretary, National Labour officers and National Chair of Young Labour, Miriam Mirwitch. We got absolutely soaked but had a successful canvass in (believe it or not) "Union Street"!

My last call was to a resident who was a traditional Labour supporter who felt very torn about who to support this time. However, she was so impressed that the Party had turned up on her doorstep on such a wet and horrible day that she was willing to give us the benefit of doubt and vote for Emma.

Result!

Our West Ham Labour Candidate, Lyn Brown, had also been out "on the knocker" supporting Labour candidates in Hull and Peterborough.

"Labour MPs backing UNISON members taking strike action for fair pay. Solidarity with the Addaction strikers"

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, tweets his support & thanks Labour MPs Jo Platt, Yvonne Fovargue and Lisa Nandy for being on the picket line

Background to strike on UNISON NW Regional website

Drug and alcohol support workers employed by London-based charity Addaction in Wigan and Leigh have intensified their strike action in a dispute over pay.

Thirty staff are beginning three days of strike action today (Wednesday) in their third round of industrial action within the last six weeks over what they say are Addaction’s broken pay promises.

The striking workers will hold a public rally at 12noon on Friday 11 October at Market Place, Wigan, WN1 1QS.

The staff were previously employed by the NHS but the service, commissioned by Wigan Council, was transferred to the national charity, which has come under fire for its handling of the dispute.

Workers continued to receive pay rises in line with those of NHS employees and were given assurances by the organisation’s managers this would continue into the future.

But when the 1% pay cap in the NHS was removed from April 2018, Addaction refused to implement the promised wage rise. The decision, which will cost each support worker around £1,000 per year, was taken without any consultation or discussion with staff.

After exhausting the internal grievance process, staff were balloted by their trade union UNISON and there was a 100% vote in favour of strike action.

To date, three rounds of Acas talks have yielded no resolution to the dispute- which has rumbled on since August. Drug and alcohol support workers claim that Addaction bosses have failed to engage meaningfully with the negotiation progress, refusing to share or discuss information about the cost of resolving the dispute.

UNISON North West regional organiser Paddy Cleary said:

“Addaction have let down their hard-working staff and are now withholding a long-overdue pay rise from support workers who deliver vital services to the community in Wigan and Leigh.

“What’s more, Addaction bosses have attended three rounds of talks with no intention of resolving the dispute, and in fact have done all they can to delay, divert and distract from the issue at hand.

“The employer’s defence seems to be that the promised pay rise would be ‘unfair’ on the group of staff it pays even less than those who used to be employed by the NHS. There is a simple solution to that problem, which is to pay all Addaction staff the full NHS rate for the job.

“Public service workers who have been outsourced should not be out-of-pocket. The people of Wigan and Leigh will not accept a London-based organisation driving down pay and working conditions in their local area. If that is Addaction’s intention then they should hand the contract back to the Council.”

Addaction support worker and UNSON rep Kathryn Herbert said:

“We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from the local community in Wigan and Leigh including from local people who use Addaction’s services.

“We did not plan to go on strike and we did not envisage taking six days of action, but we voted unanimously in favour of striking because we know that we have been treated unfairly. The support we have received from communities across the North West has only served to further strengthen our resolve.”

Local MPs are in support of the workers. Leigh MP Jo Platt said: “Drug and alcohol support is an essential service across the borough.

"It not only supports people to come off drugs and alcohol, but it treats the underlying causes, assisting them with mental health concerns and helping them get into employment and turn their lives around. Their services are needed now more than ever.

"After the public service squeeze of the last nine years we shamefully see 22 per cent of the country living in poverty today, with 1.6 million people living in poverty in the North West alone.

"You only have to walk through our towns to see the effect that this has. Austerity, poverty and addiction go hand in hand. It ruins lives, it fuels crime and affects communities.

"Addaction should know better than to risk their crucial service. The way the staff have been treated is appalling. For a promised pay rise to be reneged on is totally unacceptable. If Addaction cannot afford the staffing costs, they should never have bid for the contract in the first place.

“I will be working with colleagues from across the borough as well as trade unions and staff affected to rectify the situation and honour the promises made to the incredible workers who are losing out through no fault of their own.”

UNISON National Labour Link Forum 2019 - Day 1

I arrived yesterday morning for a pre meeting of the National Labour Link Committee where we agreed policy towards toward motions and agreed our speakers. In the evening I chaired the London regional delegation meeting, after which 11 of us went for a meal in a local curry restaurant.  

Forum started at 9.30am with a report by Standing Orders committee followed by debates on motions. I spoke on motion 2 "Cuts in Local Government" on behalf of the National Committee.  Next was a speech and Q&A by Richard Corbett MEP, leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party. Richard is quietly spoken for a politician but gave an impressive and good humoured analysis of the Brexit crisis. I just hope he is right that backing a second referendum will not damage Labour's election prospects.  

After more debates on motions, our Keynote speaker was our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, who pointed out that there is no such thing as a "left wing No Deal" Brexit. "No deal" will be hugely damaging. 

Lunch was followed by a workshops and at 4pm there was a panel of MPs who used to UNISON activists,  Melanie Onn,  Liz Twist and Daniel Zeichner. Mel told Forum that our Party needs to unite and get its act together to defeat the Tories and "stop the nonsense" (to loud applause). 

Later that evening there was the famous Labour Link meal for delegates at the hotel. A good time was had by all. Forum restarted 9.30 sharp the next day. 

One wage for all ages

Great photo of our former UNISON Housing Associations branch manager & organiser, Josephine Grahl, with Jez and Dave Prentis, celebrating 20 years of National Minimum wage (and campaigning for all workers to be paid the same) 

Josephine is now the national officer for UNISON young members.

#OneWageAnyAge

Record recruitment figures announced at UNISON NEC meeting (and I am standing next year for another term)

I really enjoyed this UNISON NEC meeting and I thought the debates and discussion was mostly excellent. I had to leave slightly early to go to LAPFF Pension conference but was pleased that we managed to grow as an union and that we should have a fairer NEC election process in January.  We cannot allow people who are not members of UNISON to influence our internal NEC lay led democracy.

In the debate on our Grovember campaign I shared with the NEC a story about successfully recruiting a new UNISON member via a mobile phone (while in a pub - but alcohol did not play a meaningful part in this process - honest).

I will be putting my name forward as a candidate again for the UNISON Community NEC General seat 2019/2020. The nomination process starts next month.

"UNISON’s final NEC meeting of 2018 opened with “good news to end the year on and a great way to start 2019”.

A report on the month-long campaign for growth that the union ran in November – or Grovember as it was dubbed within the union – showed every region and every service group in growth.

Assistant general secretary Liz Snape reported that November was a record recruitment month, with 18,000 people joining the union. And 75% of them joined online in a process that now takes less than three minutes.

At the same time, 12,380 members left, giving a growth of just over 5,700 members in November and put the union firmly on track for “gradual, consistent and sustainable growth” topping 6,000 for the year.

That is an incredible achievement for a union that has been up against it for a decade, the NEC heard.

It dispels the myth that unions aren’t popular and that young people won’t join – with young members featuring strongly among our new recruits.

Going into next year, the union will also set up a project looking specifically at retaining members so the union doesn’t just grow through increased recruitment but also through better retention.

General secretary Dave Prentis acknowledged the hard work of branches and staff in delivering this. “It’s a great result – I can’t thank the people involved enough. This shows what our union can do when we all work together.”

In his report to the NEC, Mr Prentis said the union had to continue to challenge the government’s narrative that austerity is over. “It is not,” he said. “It is a wrecking ball that continues to ruin our members’ lives.”

And he paid tribute to UNISON branches who were fighting and winning disputes through industrial action across the UK.

The NEC also:

• agreed an updated policy on Brexit to oppose Theresa May’s proposed deal as not meeting the union’s six tests and calling for a general election
• received an update on pay campaigns and industrial action across the union’s service groups;
• agreed the union’s objectives for 2019;
• agreed the budget for 2019 and approved the management accounts for the past 10 months;
• approved the election procedures for next year’s NEC elections;
• agreed policy on motions not reached at the 2018 national delegate conference.

Hat tip UNISON 

My UNISON NEC Report to Community Service Group Executive October 2018

"Dear Members

Firstly, my apologies for not attending the last SGE meeting and for submitting this written report late but you may be aware that in May I was appointed to a new position which has proved to be an exciting opportunity but also challenging and time consuming.  

Instead of my usual report on my activities as one of your NEC members, I thought it would be useful to expand on national themes and topics relating to our community service group and the national union

Our National Delegate Conference (NDC)

The Conference was on many levels very successful and I was pleased to see Community delegates speaking on many debates, however, I was very disappointed that the NEC motion calling for a wholesale review of what UNISON does was defeated by conference.

It is the 25^th anniversary of the creation of UNISON and bearing in mind the huge (and ongoing) changes to our sector over the years, such a review is long overdue and delaying it by (hopefully until next NDC 2019) is at best a setback at worse an own goal. Especially for our Service Group but also for the whole union.

While I understand the long and proud tradition of “platform bashing” at NDC (being suspicious and sceptical of everything and anything your elected lay NEC proposes) we cannot afford to put off accepting that our world has changed and we need to be prepared to make difficult decisions.  

In our Community Service Group world we desperately need change. We need to sort out how we fund and support our fragmented and diverse structures to make a process that will serve all branches with community members, whether or not they are Community specific, whether they are small, large, national or multi-employer branches.

We need support for branch officers and understanding that facility time is difficult to obtain and often impossible for multi-employer branch activities.  For such branches we need paid organisers to support workplace stewards and paid managers to supervise and support these paid workers.

 Those staff who are employed by branches deserve the same rights to effective line management and personal development that we would demand all employers to provide.

All Community members deserve not only excellent advice and representation but also the opportunity to play a full part in the democracy of their union. Sadly, despite the fantastic work that our stewards and staff do day in and day out and the real difference they make to the member’s lives at work, too often neither happens.

Let’s not wait until next NDC. Let’s start the debate now for Community, on what we need to organise effectively in 2018, work out what works and what doesn’t work and how we can pay for it. Let’s just do it!

NEC Meeting 6 June 2018

(Paragraph deleted P&C UNISON matter)

The General Secretary, Dave Prentis in his report to NEC passed on the thanks from the TUC for UNISON participation in the TUC demo not only for our numbers on the demo but for all the noise we made while marching.

(Paragraph deleted P&C UNISON matter)

Check UNISON public report on meeting below

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/06/nec-report-5/

NEC Meeting 11 April 2018

I spoke against a motion calling for a national conference for social care since Community members find it more difficult than some other service groups to get time off to attend motion based conferences than seminars. There had also been successful seminars for care workers and of course the whole point of National Delegate Conference, our annual Parliament, is to discuss such motions and decide upon campaigns. While I personally enjoy attending conferences UNISON holds a large number of expensive conferences already and I didn’t think that the case had been made to hold yet another. The NEC by a large majority decided to oppose this motion.

On a motion calling for changes to branch funding I said that supporters of this proposal have to be honest about consequences since if we take money away and give it elsewhere then that will have to be paid for by, for example, sacking unison staff, closing regional centres, stopping our international work etc.

Check UNISON public report on meeting below

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/04/unison-25-years-strong/

As a NEC member I am also on the Policy & Development Subcommittee, Welfare Trustee, Staff Pension fund trustee and Vice Chair of the Industrial Action Committee.

I am more than happy to discuss with SGE members or anyone from UNISON Community service group (Housing Associations and Voluntary sector) my work as their NEC member.

John Gray

General Seat UNISON Community NEC member

(hat tip picture with my UNISON Housing Association branch delegates at NDC)

“Why Labour must adopt the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism”

I agree with UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, in this article published yesterday in the NewStatesman where he calls for the Labour Party to adopt the "full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism including all the examples" 

As an experienced trade union rep who has been defending members accused of breaching discipline procedures and codes of conduct for many years I cannot see a problem with the “examples”. As an elected lay member of the UNISON National Labour Link committee, I voted with colleagues to support the definition and include the examples. 

I understand that many members do not have confidence in the internal Labour Party discipline process but that is a very different (but still important) issue.  This lack of confidence is being tackled by the NEC and the new General Secretary, Jennie Formby. 

Time for us to move on and unite around attacking the Tories and not giving our enemies sticks to beat us with.

"The language of priorities is the religion of socialism”. Seventy years on from the establishment of our NHS, those words resonate just as loudly today as when the great Nye Bevan first said them.

Public services are in crisis. Our NHS faces year-round crises, not just a winter crisis. Local government has been cut to the bone and beyond, with the mismanaged mess of Northamptonshire Council emblematic of austerity’s logical end point.

Police staff, care workers and teaching assistants are under incredible pressure – continually forced to do more with less. Global challenges abound such as climate change, conflict, the refugee crisis and the rise of far-right populism.

Meanwhile, our departure from the EU looms on the horizon, just over six-months away. Yet this bungling government still can’t guarantee your rights at work or the security of your pension. Whether medicines will still be available in our hospitals, or whether food will be available in supermarkets.

Truly, 2018 feels like a year for strict prioritisation of the national to-do list. And yet what is it that fixates the Labour Party? It is – somewhat remarkably – an attempt to rewrite a widely-used, internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism.

Two years ago I was warning that “a small but significant minority engage in misogyny and anti-Semitism” in the pages of a national newspaper. It’s hard to argue that subsequent events, regardless of their intention, have lessened those concerns. Either in the Jewish community or the country at large.

This issue is already costing Labour votes, as I saw for myself when campaigning in Barnet this year. But worse than that, it's harming Labour's historically close relationship with the Jewish community. And it's costing us the moral high ground from which to oppose all forms of racial hatred and oppression.

Racism is a deep scar on our nation’s soul. Many would like to pretend that it’s in decline, but that’s not the case. Whether whipped up online by often anonymous trolls or marching through our streets, buoyed by the success of Trump and the alt-right, the racists are on the march. Those of us on the left need to meet them head on wherever they appear, but we also need to be beyond reproach when it comes to tackling race hate in all forms.

Instead, when Boris Johnson shed his court jester act this week to engage in flagrant Islamophobic bigotry, too many of his supporters were able to wave away criticism of the former foreign secretary by saying “what about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party?”.

For Labour supporters – the overwhelming majority of whom are lifelong anti-racist campaigners – that response, even when used as a deflection tactic, should be a cause for genuine sorrow. As John McDonnell has said: “how have we got ourselves in this situation?”

Yet it isn’t too late for the party to chart a different course and begin repairing that damage as Jeremy Corbyn is clearly attempting to do. Anti-Semitism in Labour didn’t start under Jeremy, but I am confident that under his leadership it can be dealt with once and for all.

UNISON’s position on this is clear. Our National Executive Council earlier this year spoke with one voice against all forms of racism and, explicitly, anti-Semitism. We have committed ourselves to oppose it in all its forms - all of the smears and tropes that come with it – within our union, our movement, our party and in wider society. Our Labour Link committee, made up of Labour members and activists from across our union, has adopted the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, with examples, and supported calls for Labour to do the same.

Of course, in this debate, there is always an elephant in the room – the oft-repeated assertion that you can’t criticise Israel without being accused of anti-Semitism. I hear it a lot, but I’m not buying it.

I’m not buying it as a regular critic of the Israeli government, settlements, expansionism and the blockade of Gaza. I’m not buying it as general secretary of a union that has always been committed to the rights of the Palestinian people, proudly supports the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supports Palestinian trade unionists as they face daily oppression.

I’m not buying it as someone who has repeatedly called out the murder of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army – including the shooting of unarmed civilians earlier this year. I’m not buying it, because it’s not true. If you’re not capable of criticising Israel without being anti-Semitic, then you’re an anti-Semite – and we should make no special exceptions for you.

The truth is, this should never have become such a divisive issue, an unnecessary schism in a party that on so many issues is genuinely united.

A Labour Party that has so much to prioritise must always make winning the next election our number one goal. It’s the only party which can be trusted to stand up for the many yearning for change against the few who profit from poverty and decline.

Right now, adopting the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism including all the examples, removing those guilty of racism from our party and putting the issue of Labour and anti-Semitism to bed as quickly as possible is critical to doing so".

Dave Prentis is the general secretary of UNISON

UNISON's "Goodbye and so many thanks" to Rodney Bickerstaff

On Thursday I went to a packed out memorial in the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster to celebrate the life of our former UNISON General Secretary, Rodney Bickerstaff. The meeting was compered by UNISON National officer for Equalities, Gloria Mills, who had worked with Rodney for many years. We had marvellous music by the Dodworth Colliery Band and the UNISON staff Choir.

The first speaker was an old friend of his, former MP and deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. John praised Rodney for understanding that we need both the political (the Labour Party) and industrial (trade unions) wings of the Labour Movement to protect our people. 

Rodney "always left everyone with a smile". Not only a "union man" but a fighter "for social justice in Britain and across the world".  He was a man "For the many not the few". 

Next our UNISON President, Margaret McKee,  a catering assistant from Belfast, who gave a fantastic and moving speech about how Rodney was openly on the side of working people and especially a champion of low paid women. He was also very warm and personable, who loved  swooping stories and to "enjoy the craic".  She finished with a message of support and love to his family. 

Current UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, reminisced about his former "friend and boss". "If you knew him you loved him... To his bones he was collectivist....A voice for the voiceless driven by a burning sense of injustice" 

The actress, Maxine Peake, spoke about meeting Rodney at the People's History Museum in Manchester and made the comparison in looks to him and Buddy Holly but also compared him to Fred Astaire! 

John Sheldon, the former joint General Secretary of the civil service union PCS described Rodney's quick wit which he used to disarm opponents and his implacable opposition for many years to Margaret Thatcher banning workers at the GCHQ becoming trade union members. 

We then all stood up and sang "The Red Flag".

Next speaker was Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn MP. Jeremy was a former official of NUPE (a predecessor union of UNISON) when Rodney was its Head of its NHS members. He reminded us that Rodney had done so much to bring about the National Minimum Wage and how the next Labour government will bring about a real National  Living Wage. Jeremy said that Rodney would love the the fact that there was a colliery band and a choir at this memorial. He recognised that we need "Bread and Roses".  

Final speaker was his son, Philip Bickerstaffe, who spoke of the pride his family had in him and he had in his union. His dad described himself as a "Journeyman ranter" who always knew that UNISON grave diggers and cemetery workers would eventually get their hands on him. He finished with the famous Shakespearean quotation which he used to describe this 1970s trade union leader and adopted Yorkshireman "Now is the winter of our discontent. Made glorious summer by this son of York"

Our final song sung was the "The Internationale".

While I had met Rodney on a few occasions over the years and he had been a strong supporter of my UNISON branch, I regret that when I bumped into him a few years ago in a cafe before a regional  AGM he invited me to meet up for coffee and a proper chat and I never took him up on it. My loss. 

"Remembering Irene Stacey – a stalwart of our union, and a friend"

A fitting tribute from our General Secretary, Dave Prentis to Irene.

Throughout her time in UNISON – and through her illness – Irene’s bravery was clear to everyone who knew her, and an inspiration to all of us who worked and campaigned alongside her. She will be a huge loss to our NEC, her branch and our union.

Irene Stacey, a long-standing member of our NEC representing low-paid members in London, died earlier today after a long illness.

Irene was a stalwart of our union. Someone universally admired and respected by members, activists and staff alike. Formerly the branch secretary of UNISON’s local government branch in Newham, Irene served with the dedication and passion for which she was famous.

Her enthusiasm for our union was infectious. A passionate recruiter of new members, Irene was rewarded by the TUC for her efforts, and never stopped encouraging people to join UNISON – even when she was being treated in hospital. Yet if she was passionate about getting new members into the union, she was equally as strident when it came to standing up for them. To Irene, our members were amazing people who needed all the support they could get, and who deserved the best – and she saw it as her role to ensure that was the case.

The Labour Party was another organisation through which Irene fought diligently for better public services, better rights at work and better pay for all those who work for our communities. Irene sat on our Labour Link committee, always keeping conversations grounded in the realities of our members experiences, and represented UNISON at many Labour conferences, including in 2017. Irene was undergoing treatment at that time, but she would not let that stop her from playing a full role in the delegation.

Yet her dedication to the Labour Party never stopped her from holding the party to account. I will never forget Irene, about to be awarded a gold badge by the TUC for her recruitment work by Gordon Brown, taking the opportunity to upbraid the then Prime Minister over widow’s pensions.

That was typical of Irene. Throughout her time in UNISON – and through her illness – Irene’s bravery was clear to everyone who knew her, and an inspiration to all of us who worked and campaigned alongside her. She will be a huge loss to our NEC, her branch and our union.

Our thoughts today are with her beloved daughters Jo and Mandy, and her wider family.

RIP Irene – our friend.

Report on UNISON NEC meeting 18 October 2017

"This report is intended for members of the UNISON Community Service Group Executive and for branches with Community members. Please circulate it to anyone who may be interested.

UNISON National  Executive Council (NEC) is elected biannually by our 1.3 million members via a secret ballot.  

I have been the elected “General Seat” representative for Community members (Housing Associations and Voluntary Sector) since 2011. I work for a large English Housing Association.

The NEC meets in the conference chamber of the UNISON centre in London usually 4 or 5 times per year (and daily during our National Delegate Conference).

On 18 October there was 60 NEC members present (and 6 apologies). 12 NEC members teleconferenced in from elsewhere in the UNISON centre and one member via video conference from SW England (pilot).

The UNISON President, Margaret McKee chaired the meeting and welcomed NEC members and National UNISON officers.

Our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, started this meeting with a tribute to the former General Secretary, Rodney Bickerstaffe, who had passed away earlier this month. Dave described Rodney as a very close personal friend and a “Giant of the trade union movement” whose greatest achievement was the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and who also helped found UNISON. There will be a private family funeral  but UNISON will celebrate his life at a future event.

The NEC stood for a minute's silence in memory of a number of colleagues who had passed away since the last NEC meeting.

Next was a positive report on organising by NEC sub-committee Chair, Chris Tansley. Despite all the problems of cuts and redundancies it looked likely that UNISON would have net growth for the year.

A majority of the growth was in the private and voluntary sector (including Community).  They recognised that it was difficult to organise in that sector. But it is not all doom and gloom compared with some other unions who are facing massive losses in membership.  The number of our young members is also beginning to grow. 

In the general debate on the report I made the point how difficult it was to organise in the Community sector even in large employers, who may have staff spread thinly in hundreds of different locations all over the UK, across all UNISON regional and branch boundaries.  Former president Maureen Le Marinel said Community will be biggest service group in union if outsourcing continues.

This was followed by an update report on Service Group Pay campaigns and  National Industrial Action. The TUC/UNISON lobby of Parliament the previous evening had been largely successful and UNISON had written to Tory MPs in marginal seats reminding them that there was more union member in their seats than their June 2017 majority.  The “Pay Up Now” campaign is being coordinated across all service groups. There are separate political and industrial  campaigns.

During a long (and at times rambling) debate on the pay campaign, I pointed out that it should be possible to carry out successful industrial action in support of more pay but only if we do the groundwork first and explain, encourage and organise our members. UNISON has a number of large well organised and well led branches up and down the country, who can deliver effective action However; we also have poorly organised branches with very low membership densities. We want to run a successful campaign like the Public Pension dispute and not the last disastrous 2 day local government pay strike. 

It was agreed that we need to measure what action members are up for but also ask where are the other unions?  

The NEC finally decided to offer “advice” to service groups to consider consultative strike ballots. The sectors have autonomy over pay claims and rightly the NEC cannot instruct them.

After a short lunch break there was a finance update which was generally good but we are still but losing higher paid members who pay more in subscriptions.

In his General Secretary report, Dave Prentis reported on the many victories that UNISON had achieved recently in various parts of union. Such as a successful outcome to the Glasgow Janitors dispute which saw a 6% pay rise. A victory in Salford which saw an 11% increase for Social Care workers. A recent resolution of a difficult Teaching Assistant dispute in Derby which had just been accepted by a 62% ballot and course the fantastic UNISON legal victory over employment tribunal fees.  

He warned us that there is still a serious threat to UNISON over changes to DOCAST (union subscriptions taken out of pay) and to the political funds which must remain a top priority.

Afterwards there was a discipline report and verbal update on our insurance partner UIA. Minutes of the last meetings approved and committee reports noted.

Next meeting 6 December 2017.

John Gray

UNISON Community NEC member

John.Gray2012@icloud.com

Hat tip ace photo of NEC top table to my Yorkshire & Humberside colleague Tony Green Blog.

(Please note that this is my personal report only. If you are a Community member and wish to discuss this report or any other issue with me then please email me. Also, if you want me to come and speak at any branch or regional meeting about Community issues then let me know and if I can, I will )

From London UNISON Regional Secretary to London Labour Councillor

Last week I went to a packed out retirement function for UNISON Regional Secretary, Linda Perks. This is her leaving message to staff and members.

“I write to advise that I will be retiring from UNISON on 30 September after working for the union for over 34 years and being a member since 1979. As many of you know, I came to the Greater London as a Regional Organiser in 1990 and, following working in the South East, Head Office and East Midlands, returned as Regional Secretary in 2004. 

 I have very much enjoyed my time in the region, and greatly appreciate the support given to me by so many of our activists, branch officers, senior lay members and staff. Together we have worked hard to build and sustain strong trade union organisation in London’s public services, and I believe we have been successful in building a union to be proud of. 

I will remain a retired member and intend to continue being active in the Labour Party, so hopefully our paths may cross in the future. Steps are being taken to fill my post, in the meantime Stephanie Thomas will continue in the role of Acting Regional Secretary. Any queries should be sent via Nick Turnbull.

 With very best wishes, 

 Yours Sincerely 
 Linda Perks” 

 Our UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis was there and spoke about the debt that UNISON owed Linda for her dedication and service to the union. He tweeted “Absolutely packed house to thank Linda Perks, one of our longest serving regional secretaries. We will all miss her”

I read out a message of thanks from Yvonne Green, the UNISON London Regional convenor (who was aboard on holiday), to Linda and I also told a little known tale of her cleansing the route of trade union marches in London from unnecessary litter.

 We will miss Linda but wish her well in her retirement and having been recently selected as a Labour Councillor candidate in Greenwich, wish her well in the 2018 elections and we will watch this space.

UNISON wins another important legal case over employers who fail to consult unions

Following on from the victory over employment tribunal fees on Wednesday.

"UNISON has won a landmark court victory today (Friday 28 July) that makes it much harder for employers to ignore staff when making major changes in the workplace.

The Court of Appeal ruling means that for the first time employers will be obliged to consult with unions around any workplace issues that affect their members.

Until now, unions only had the right to be consulted where the law required this, for example in TUPE regulations where employees transfer from one employer to another, and in redundancy cases.

The ruling means employers will also have to involve unions in issues such as those around working hours and holiday pay.

It will benefit thousands of employees whose rights at work are under threat and means that employers will face greater scrutiny over their treatment of staff, says UNISON.

The victory came about after the union took up a case involving parks police who were made redundant by the London Borough of Wandsworth.

The Court of Appeal ruled that UNISON had the right to be consulted by Wandsworth over the job losses.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “This is the second major legal victory in a week for working people. It means that employees in any workplace where there’s a union will now benefit from greater protection at work.

“The message to bosses is they will have to treat their staff more fairly over pay and working conditions. If they fail to consult unions then they will be acting unlawfully and could be taken to court.”