Greater London UNISON Labour Link Delegate Elections 2015

I was pleased last week to hear that I had been elected unopposed to this year's UNISON Labour Link National Forum with Jonathan Slater and James Beckles.

There is still an election for female delegates to National Forum and Labour Party Conference.

I would recommend (in a strictly personal capacity) that Greater London Branch Labour Link's consider  supporting :-

National Labour Link Forum FEMALE SEATS Green Ballot Paper (5 Votes)

ALASIA, Sanchia
BENTLEY, Lynn
GREEN, Yvonne
HANSON, Gloria
SILVER, KIM

Labour Party Conference 2015 GENERAL SEAT Red Ballot Paper (1 vote)

GREEN, Yvonne

Ballot papers have been sent out to all London Branches and have to be returned by 12 Noon this Friday 27 March 2015. 

Picture above is of Yvonne Green (featured in the Independent Newspaper) who has also this year been elected (by a massive majority) to be the London UNISON Convenor.

Below is their joint election statement

"We are all seeking election to represent the views of APF payers in the London Region at the National Labour Link Forum.

We support the link we have with the Labour Party. Labour in National Government has delivered real improvements for our members. We do not know what will be the result of the General Election but for the sake of our members, our NHS and our union, we need to do whatever we can to defeat this ConDem Tory Government in May

Labour needs to appeal to their core Labour vote and champion trade union issues to help them win. We want to move our members concerns up the Party political agenda, using our influence to promote Labour movement values such as:-

• Reinvestment in public services
• Increase public sector pay and keep defending our pensions
• Access to fair and affordable housing for public sector employees and their families
• A fairer taxation system
• Government policies that promote growth and jobs.

You want delegates who will be listened to and not be afraid to argue for change within the Labour Party but who also realise that the only alternative to Labour is another dose of Clegg and Cameron.

It is vital that we ensure that Labour Link becomes more visible within the union. We need to encourage APF members to join local Labour Constituency Parties and be elected to positions of responsibility in order to further the progressive agenda.

Next year London will also be electing a London Mayor and new Assembly and we need to play our part in this election. But we now must unite around the Party and work to bring down this ConDem Government on May 7"

Motions on Economic Policy for the 2015 General Election & Composite on Living Standards and Pay #LabLink14

First motion debated at UNISON National Labour Link Forum was "An Economic Policy for the 2015 General Election". London delegate Sanchia Alaisa spoke in favour of this motion. Sanchia is also a Labour Councillor in Barking and Dagenham and stood as a MEP for London during the recent Euro elections. The motion is all about Labour giving people reasons to vote Labour.

London delegate Jonathan Slater spoke on behalf of the Region in favour of composite 1 which was "Living Standards and Pay".  He got cheer when mentioned he was newly elected Councillor in Lewisham. This composite incorporated our London regional motion on the need for wage councils in vulnerable employment sectors.

Next business was our first guest speaker Jon Cruddas MP.  For some reason or other there was a BBC camera crew present. I wonder why?

Lilian Greenwood MP & UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link AGM

I think this is a great picture from last month's Branch Labour Link AGM held at the House of Commons.  Our guest speaker was to have been Shadow Housing Minister, Emma Reynolds MP but she had to pull out at the last minute due to a family emergency. Emma has offered to rearrange for the near future.

Top UNISON member and MP for Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood (see picture 4th on left) stepped in at the very last minute to be our guest speaker. She gave a marvelous off the cuff speech on her background, her values and what she wants to achieve as a MP- then she took part in a wide ranging Q&A.

Afterwards UNISON Voluntary Organisations Branch Labour Link Officer Jonathon Slater (2nd from left) spoke about the importance of winning the Local and Euro elections  in May. Jonathon is standing as a  Labour Candidate for Whitefoot ward in Lewisham.

Our Regional Branch organiser Colin Inniss spoke about how vital it is to recruit more members, stewards and to campaign to defend jobs, terms and conditions.

As the Branch Labour Link officer I also asked for active support for Labour candidates in the forth coming battle in May (I am also standing again as the Labour Candidate for West Ham ward in Newham).

I made the very simple and obvious point to everyone present that while politics should not be about personalities - listening tonight to Lilian about her background and values as well as her obvious decency you should decide who you want to be a part of future government that rules over you - Lilian or David Cameron?

I think it is fair to say that none of us wanted David Cameron.

Afterwards we went to our traditional social at the Weatherspoons in Whitehall.

I will post more pictures of event on Facebook.

Labour Party vision for the Voluntary and Community sector

Guest post by Jonathan Slater, UNISON Labour Link officer for the London Voluntary Organisations Branch on the Link meeting last week at the House of Commons with Shadow Minster for our Sector Gareth Thomas MP.

"As a Labour Party and UNISON member who works in the charity sector, where I represent the needs of voluntary and community sector in Lewisham, I have long wanted to hear the Labour Party’s response to the ‘Big Society’ agenda of the Coalition Government, which for many in the sector has become toxic with the enforced cuts and experiences of charities taking part in the work programme where they were used as ‘bid candy’ by private sector organisations, as well as gagged from going public about its failures.

When I got elected last year as the Labour Link Officer for UNISON’s Community and Voluntary Organisation Branch which represents members who work in charities across London and who pay the political affiliation, I was very keen to bring them together to hear what the Labour Party’s position was nationally on the voluntary and community sector.

Therefore I invited Labour’s spokesman on civil society and also Chair of the Co-operative Party Gareth Thomas MP to address my members on Tuesday 29th January in Westminster. In his speech to my members he mentioned the increased demands of charities in supporting the most vulnerable members of our communities through the welfare changes, which include the important role they had to play in campaigning for them which makes them distinctive such as the Child Poverty Action Group, regardless of whether they are in receipt of public funds.

Also he highlighted that the current 160,000 charities are under huge financial pressure because of the enforced cuts by the Coalition where according to Charity Commission figures 7,394 charities shut down last year where they are suffering a triple hit with cuts of over 45 per cent in central government funding, local councils being forced to cut their VCS budgets, and a significant reduction in donations from the hard-pressed public.

According to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations recently estimated government cuts to the sector at £3.3bn by 2015. Gareth also touched upon the empty rhetoric of the Big Society where the Coalition Government has talked up the opportunities for charities to win contracts to provide government services. In reality he said it appeared that many charities are not able to compete on a level playing field with bigger private sector businesses able to take on more risk when they bid for the same contracts such as the work programme.

 In terms of Labour’s approach procurement would be designed in a better way to allow smaller charities to bid for public services where if awarded them wouldn’t be publicly gagged. A particular focus though would be on legislated to require banks to reveal where they lend to community organisations and those who don’t compelling them to lend to local financial organisations which benefits the community based on the Community Reinvestment Act passed in the United States. The Act encourages commercial banks and savings associations there to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods.

Finally Gareth said Labour would enforce the living wage across the board. Despite this he encouraged charities to look to become social enterprises which were more financial sustainable where they wouldn’t be reliant on central or local government, where when Labour is returned to government in 2015 they will be facing much more challenging economic circumstances than in 1997.

The other speaker was John Gray, who is the Community representative on UNISON’s National Executive Committee, who talked about the importance of members who pay the political levy to become active in the Labour Party as activists and to stand as local Councillors and MPs in order to argue and campaign against Austerity, both at a national and local level, as well as for decent pay and conditions.

John also argued that employers who don’t recognise trade union shouldn’t have access to public funds and for businesses to have worker representation on their boards. Finally he urged Gareth to think about moving towards sectoral pay panels, particularly those for low paid workers.

Overall I felt this event was not only positive in bringing my members together where we can start to campaign for some of the issues highlighted at the event as well as against the austerity cuts but also to know that the Labour Party are the best option for the voluntary and community sector in being able to deliver public services on behalf of the communities they represent. At the same time the sector need to appreciate that the economic circumstances will be challenging in 2015 and therefore need to find other non-public sources of funding to become more sustainable and independent for the future.

(afterwards we had a social in the Weatherspoons in Whitehall. I will post my speech sometime soon)

UNISON Labour Link CVO Branch Parliamentary Meeting

UNISON Greater London Community and Voluntary Organisations (CVO) branch are holding a meeting in the House of Commons with Shadow minister of Civic Society Gareth Thomas MP on Tuesday 29 January 2013.

I am also speaking at the meeting as the Chair of Regional Labour Link.

Afterwards there will be a reception at a local hospitality (Pub!).

The CVO Labour Link Officer, Jonathan Slater, is organising the event. Attendance is for UNISON Labour Link members and strictly by invite only.

Jonathon has opened the invitation to all UNISON Housing Association Labour Link members and I will be sending out an invite to them tomorrow.

We may also be holding a Parliamentary lobby for UNISON member's on another issue earlier that day. Details to follow.

Many thanks for Jonathan for organising what what looks like to be an interesting event. Labour Link officers   in all branches should think about organising something similar. We need to get our ordinary members, who are bearing the brunt of the attacks against not only their pay but the the services they provide, to tell their story to their local MPs.