Do you want to be a MP? Unison wants to hear from you.

"The recent general election saw Labour take a huge stride towards Downing Street.

As no party won a majority, the next election could be just around the corner. That’s why the Labour Party plans to select candidates for 75 of the most marginal seats in England in the coming months. Welsh and Scottish seats will be selected separately.

As a union that’s affiliated to the Labour Party, UNISON wants to see our members following in the footsteps of Angela Rayner and Eleanor Smith by getting elected to Parliament and changing our communities for the better.

Are you

• Active in your local Labour Party and our union?
• Someone with a strong track record of local or national campaigning?
• Keen to represent UNISON’s public service values in Parliament?

We’re seeking expressions of interest from potential Labour parliamentary candidates.

If you think you’ve got what it takes – or are eager to hear more – please send us a political CV outlining your experience, and which seat(s) you’d be interested in, to labourlink@unison.co.uk by noon on 31 August".

Hat tip @unisonpolitics

UNISON Greater London Black Workers Parliamentary reception

Picture collage is from last month's Parliamentary reception for UNISON Greater London Black Workers. The meeting was on behalf of Labour Mayoral Candidate, Sadiq Khan, was a great success and oversubscribed with a 150 names on the waiting list. Margaret Greer, the Regional Black workers Chair opened the meeting and introduced the keynote speakers

It was sponsored by UNISON London Labour Link (which was why I was there). Sadiq had a clash which meant he could not attend so our regional Political Officer, Steve Terry, read out Sadiq's speech.

First speaker was new MP, Rupa Haq, who described what it was like to be a newbie MP, the lack of black and female MPs in Parliament and the importance of staying in Europe and electing Sadiq as Mayor of London.

Next was Chuka Umunna MP, who asked the room why should they get involved in the political process? Because change will never come about if you do nothing. We all have to be part of working for change. He also stressed the importance of staying in the EU and supporting Sadiq.

Other speakers included Chair of National Labour Eleanor Smith, UNISON Race Equality officer Khadiee Campbell and London's very own, Conroy Lawrence.

Nearly everyone signed the yellow form (middle right) volunteering to help Sadiq in the forthcoming battle for Mayor. 

UNISON Labour Link 2015: Day 2 - meet the "Newbie" MPs

Day 2 of the National UNISON Labour Link Forum in Manchester started this morning with a "Parliamentary Panel" of MPs and  MEPS (see picture). It was inspiring to see 3 new MPs who come from our movement sitting for the first time alongside longer serving panel members. Former UNISON NEC member, Dave Anderson MP, spoke first about the risk to the union from indiscipline and how we must remain loyal and united to fight off Tory attacks on the union and the cuts.

Next was the first "Newbie" MP (as she described herself) former UNISON branch secretary and regional convener, Angela Rayner MP.  Angela described her first few weeks in Parliament as getting "constantly lost" and grappling with the often arcane practices and procedures. Especially when it comes to what she can and cannot say about her political opponents during debates. In her first speech to the House of Commons she spoke about her life experiences as a single Mum at age 16 and working as a home carer.

In a question from the floor about the proposed new trade treaty with Europe and America (TTIP) MEP Jude Kirton-Darling, promised to oppose it if it threatens any form of public services.

2nd Newbie was former UNISON regional officer, Melanie Onn MP, who told us about her joy at winning her seat (and defeating UKIP) and her sadness about resigning as a union official since she worries about her members, especially those facing the Tory cuts onslaught. She recalled how she was nervous about her first speech to the Commons  but she had carefully prepared a short timed speech only to be told immediately beforehand by the Whips that she had to pad it out to 20 minutes!

Not a newbie but always good to see and hear was Lilian Greenwood MP who told us how awful opposition is and how we need to go and speak and listen to the general public before we decide what to do next. We cannot just say to them that we were right and you were wrong.

Final "Newbie" was Daniel Zeichner who is a new MP but has worked for UNISON Labour Link for many years and has helped run this National Forum. Daniel thought we had 3 things to do. First, defend public services. Second, defend the union since the Tories are coming for us. Thirdly, we had to build an alternative political narrative for the public. He also described how unpleasant it was to be sitting for 7 hours a day in front of 350 Tories.

Final speaker was MEP Theresa Griffin, who defeated BNP leader Nick Griffin last year. She put down one reason for her success was ordinary UNISON members passing messages to other UNISON members.

After the panel we had a discussion and vote on the UNION Labour Link annual report followed by motions. First debate was on Local Government Finance. The mover brought alongside a jar of pickles to compare the value of former Minister Eric. There were other motions on Employment tribunals; engagement of young people; encouraging Black Labour Link officers; BME representation and equalities. Husband of Angela, Mark Rayner gave a passionate speech about the importance of doing every things we can to get more unison candidates to stand as Labour candidates in 2020. There was also motions on TTIP, "Fit to Work" Scheme, affordable housing and Union busting by UK Public Service providers and final one on human rights.

Chair Eleanor Smith closed the conference by hoping at next year's Forum following successful results in the elections in London, Scotland and local councils we will be in better spirits than this year.  

UNISON National Labour Link Committee with Sadiq Khan MP

This picture is from last weeks meeting of UNISON National Labour Link Committee next to guest speaker, Sadiq Khan MP, Chair Eleanor Smith and General Secretary Dave Prentis.

Assistant General Secretary, Liz Snape, gave us a briefing on the UNISON General Election Strategy. There was some fascinating information. Research shows that UNISON members are more likely to vote than average; at least half of our members are planning to vote Labour and that our GS, Dave Prentis, and local UNISON stewards, are far more trusted as a source of political information than politicians and the media.

Sadiq Khan MP gave a positive and uplifting speech about how elections will be determined by people talking amongst themselves. The role of the wider Labour movement will be vital to get the message out that people should not be just commentators but participants in the election. Ed Miliband is an exciting leader and while Labour is not totally Utopian the choice on May 7 is not Utopia but between Ed as Prime Minister or Cameron.

UNISON Labour Link: Public Services - time to pay fair! #Lab14

I am still catching up on Labour Party Conference posts. This is on the UNISON Labour Link political fund fringe on the Monday evening.

The Chair of UNISON Labour Link Committee Eleanor Smith chaired this meeting.

Jon Trickett MP the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office spoke first about the Tories declaring war on public services. They have cut staff, outsourced and slashed pay.

Their war is about "public bad" and "private good". We know what happens if a public service goes private. The pay of Chief Executives compared to their workers goes up from a ratio of 1:22 to 1:276.

The privatised companies make excess profits but they also don't pay tax, they don't deliver on contracts such as Olympics and the risk always come back to the public sector.

Labour Pledges to get rid of this "public bad" assumption. Also bad companies cannot expect to be on any future government procurement list. We need to reverse the dogma of market triumphalism like we did in 1945. 

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis, spoke about the many good things that came out of the  recent Labour Party policy weekend in Milton Keynes, such as no longer will the cheapest bid automatically win public contracts. The downside is the current international trade talks which are not about fair trade but about getting rid of collective bargaining and stopping public services which have been privatised ever being brought back in house.

The value of pay for public sector workers has gone down by 1/5th in 5 years. We have lost 800k jobs. We have 1.4 million on zero hours contracts. We need to fight for a living wage now and not one in 5 years time.

Paul Hunter from the Smith Institute spoke about their new report on outsourcing.  6% of the UK economy GDP is awarded to the private sector with little or no evidence and information that it is more efficient or saves money.

Public contracts are being run by driving down labour costs, not for value for money nor efficiency. It is a return to Compulsory Competitive Tendering. Pay, benefits and pensions are being driven down.

I asked a question to Paul about whether his report has looked at the huge administrative cost of outsourcing. Huge amounts of time and money is spent on drawing up contracts and specifications. Even more money is wasted on bids and due diligence . Legal costs alone are massive. Public bodies have to then evaluate the bids, meet any challenges and the cost of monitoring ongoing compliance. Paul said this was not within the scope of this report but it is obviously a key issue.

Sadiq Khan MP - Keynote speaker to #LabLink14

The keynote speaker to the National Forum was Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Minister for London Sadiq Khan MP.

Sadiq started off with a joke pretending he was a delegate from London region moving a motion at this forum then stated that there was no danger of the press trying to misinterpret his speech, since it will be published in full afterwards (another reference to the recent problem that Jon Cruddas MP experienced).

He introduced himself as the son of a bus driver, whose sister is a teacher and brother works in the NHS. He salutes our public services. Public institutions hold our society together.

Eleanor, (the Chair of Labour Link - Eleanor Smith) as a theatre nurse knows that the NHS is having now a summer crisis never mind a winter crisis. This shows you can never trust the Tories with the NHS.

Sadiq asked how many of us were Councillors? A number of us put our hands up. He thanked all Councillors for their hard work and pointed out that unless things change Councils will soon have to close all but statutory services.

The huge new fees on Employment tribunal applications is depriving rank and file workers justice. Cameron claims to champion the rule of law. Sadiq argued we must stand firm on further attacks on access to justice.

The Tories simply fail to understand public services and this is just as damaging as cuts. There is no accountability as you can see from the privatisation of the Probation Service. The next Labour Government will face massive debts but Labour and Ed Miliband are up for it.  The attack by Ed on Murdock and the Energy companies shows this. The Tories however attack the player and not the ball. Remember what happened in 1992 and expect further personal attacks on Ed.

He praised Ed's plan to devolve power and money away from the centre and empower our great cities and councillors. Sadiq promised not to sign any contract to privatisation which are on his desk as Justice Minster in 2015 and his first task will be how to unpick existing contracts.

He looks forward to working with us to kick out the Tories and the Lib Dems in the next 10 months. UKIP in the recent London elections went from being 20 out of 2000 Councillors to only 12.  We must tell people that UKIP leaders pledge that they want to keep alive the spirit of Thatcherism. They want to privatise the NHS. Get rid of maternity rights.

Labour elects Councillors that reflect the community.  We went from control of 15 to 20 London councils. We even won the Tory flagship Council of Hammersmith and Fulham on a "Save our NHS" campaign.

During the Q&A Sadiq said we ask tough questions at UNISON conferences. "I knew I should have gone to Unite". (a joke) In a question about how to combat Islamic extremism Sadiq pointed out that there are only tiny number of extremists out of the 3 million UK Muslims. Muslim values of respect, faith, family and working hard are the same as traditional British values.  The people he breaks bread with to end his fast have nothing to do with those who go to fight for ISIS and we shouldn't tarnish all Muslims with the same brush.

Hat tip picture my NEC colleague Chris Hanrahan

Keeping our Voice! Winning the Political Fund Ballot fringe #uNDC14

"...don't be confused. The ballot is a vote about having a political voice and not on affiliation"

This fringe took place yesterday lunchtime (Wednesday). Chaired by Vice President Lucia McKeever. Assistant General Secretary Liz Snape was also present.

Eleanor Smith, the Chair of UNISON National Link political fund spoke first. She made it clear that our political funds are our union's voice. That is why the Tories hate them. 

Every 10 years we now have to ballot all members about whether or not to keep our political funds. Eleanor listed the successful campaigns that the funds had run in recent years and this is why we need that voice.

The Labour Link fund is a key voice for union. It means we can take up the big issues of pay and resources and other specific issues such as social care and privatisation. The recent Labour victory in the West Midlands saw the collapse of biggest ever Police staff privatisation programme. Never forget that gay marriage was delivered by Labour MP's. The ballot is not about the relationship with the Labour Party, it is about being able to campaign and speak out.

James Anthony, the General Political Fund (GPF) Chair spoke next. UNISON has a unique political fund structure but other unions may adopt our model soon.

The recent Government "Lobbying Bill" was intended to target UNISON. The law is in place but we are waiting for guidance from the election commission. We can communicate with our members outside the Bill. It is important to have the GPF since many of our members members do not support Labour and vote for the Tories or don't vote at all. 

Nearly all conferences motions need to have a political voice. It would be pointless to try and campaign without this . It works best when the GPF campaigns in tandem with Labour Link. Without a political fund we would not be able to promote causes such as equality, self organised groups, Pride, Durham Miners Gala. The fund also help us make the best arguments by funding research.

Without the political fund we would not be able to ask voters not to vote for racist parties. Remember how we helped defeat the BNP fascist. Pay is a huge issue. We need to take forward a political message. We will only win strike action if we win the support of the public as well as our members.

If the political funds were not so successful, the Tories would have not tried so hard to get rid of them.

Jean Geldart from "Hope Not Hate" spoke last. Jean is of course a retired UNISON activist and former NEC member.  She reminded us that in 1993 the first ever BNP Councillor was elected in Tower Hamlets in a by election. The GPF gave £30k and bank rolled the campaign to get rid him.  Which 9 months later we did at the full Council election. You can only campaign against a political party if you have a political fund.

There used to be 2 BNP European Members of Parliament and 57 Councillors with 12 in Stoke and 12 in Barking and Dagenham where they formed the opposition. We didn't listen to those who said "ignore them they will go away". HNH paid for organisers to work in Barking & Dagenham.  The BNP is now finished. They have only 2 Cllrs left. This was due substantially due to funded campaigning.

We now have UKIP. Again, some people are saying "ignore them and they will go away". The UNISON campaign in North West region against the BNP & UKIP involved over a million bits of paper. Only 6 UKIP Cllrs were elected in that region. Which is far less than other similar parts of the country.

This country would be going in a different direction if not for the GPF which embodies Union values.

In Q&A I asked Jean (I use to be the assistant branch secretary of Tower Hamlets Local Government branch when she was branch secretary) What impact the lobbying bill will have on Hope Not Hate?
She said not as much as on the GPF since their total income is relatively small but the biggest problem is the 10k limit per Parliamentary Constituency. That means for example that UKIP will out spend us in their target seats since you just don't just pay for the paper in leaflets but also the pay of staff who design it.

Liz Snape concluded that this ballot is not about a particular party but about the funds. We want a big yes vote."... don't be confused. The ballot is a vote about having a political voice and not on affiliation"

There was a good question from a delegate that Labour Link should be doing more to point out its successes since he was fed up with the extreme left whinging about the Labour Party during every opportunity at conference.

Lucia reminded us about the threat that UKIP poses.  In her home in the north of Ireland she had lived through 40 years of racism and sectarianism. This has got to stop. There are now 3 UKIP Councillors in Northern Ireland who had all left unionist parties due to their extremist views.

Trade Unions Together Parliamentary Training School

Picture of Labour Party Deputy Leader Harriet Harman MP at the House of Commons last month with members of the TULO Training School for trade unionists interested in becoming Parliamentary candidates. It was an excellent course both in terms of delivery and the standard of participants (I obviously had slipped in somehow).

There were HGV drivers, postmen, supermarket check out staff, theatre nurses, taxi drivers, plasterers, care assistants, health inspectors, (and even a housing officer)....

I will post further on the course but I think it is fantastic that the affiliated trade unions are not just complaining about the unacceptable absence of working people in Parliament but are taking concrete and practical steps to do something about it.

UNISON NDC 12: End of Conference

At 3.45pm on Friday the UNISON National Delegate conference begins to wind down with the traditional motion of thanks for our  President. Who this year was Eleanor Smith, a

NHS theatre nurse from Birmingham (see photo left).

The general idea is to gently tease the President with embarrassing reminisces and photographs from childhood.

Eleanor was in tears when her two daughter's spoke to conference about their Mum and how proud they are that she had been UNISON's first black President.

At the NEC meeting on Friday Morning Chris Tansley, a child care social worker, from Nottingham who did such a great job as Chair of the Local Government Conference debate on pensions, has been elected as the new president of UNISON together with Maureen le Marinel and Lucia McKeever as our vice presidents.

I don't think that you can really understand UNISON if you haven't witnessed the end of national conference. Anyway, roll on NDC 2013 which will take place I understand for the first time next June at the fair City of Liverpool!

UNISON NDC 2012

I took this picture this morning on route to the UNISON National Delegate Conference in Bournemouth. This is my first conference as a member of UNISON’s National Executive Committee. So it feels very strange to be on the “platform” and not part of the branch or regional delegation.  

At 8.30am we had a brief NEC meeting on conference housekeeping. Then I went to meet my branch (Housing Association) delegation before the conference started at 10am.

The President, NHS theatre nurse, Eleanor Smith opened conference. First was the usual formal reports and Financial Statement. Followed by motions. The first was an excellent debate on Health and Safety. 

There is a live blog at the UNISON website here and even a Live Stream. Twitter hash tag #undc12

I’ll try and post on key debates and fringes as and when.

UnisonActive take on defeat of London trots

Check out UnisonActive report : "UNISON London Region's existing leadership team, led by Convenor Gloria Hanson, saw off an attempt by the SWP and its sympathisers to take over at yesterday's Regional Council AGM. This is the seventh victory in a row for London grass root union activists who soundly defeated the challengers at the ballot box.

UNISON President Eleanor Smith was a keynote speaker together with Labour Party candidate for Mayor, Ken Livingstone. A motion attacking Boris and supporting Ken and Labour Assembly members in the election in May was passed unanimously. Motions calling for "Secure and Affordable Housing" and "Why income equality at work matters to everyone" were passed and prioritised as regional motions for National Delegate Conference.

Jessie Jackson 70th Birthday Party in UNISON HQ

Last night UNISON hosted a 70th Birthday Party in honour of Rev Jessie Jackson at the UNISON Centre in Euston, London. Our President Eleanor Smith introduced Rev Jackson and Keith Vas MP. Labour Leader Ed Miliband was the keynote speaker.  This fantastic song was sung live by the Rev Jackson's daughter Santita. In the video background are my fellow London UNISON Regional Council colleagues Gloria, Monica and Conroy (and a few other UNISON faces).

Update: if you have trouble opening video check youtube