West Ham Labour & Co-op Councillor | Newham Statutory Deputy Mayor | Cabinet Member for Housing. UNISON NEC Member (Community) | Branch Secretary | London Regional Council Officer | Chair of the Regional Labour Link Committee. Pension Trustee | Housing & Safety Practitioner. Centre-left and proud to be part of the Labour movement family. Strictly no trolls.
London UNISON "Labour Link" (APF) today decided to support Ken Livingston to be the Labour Party candidate for Mayor of London in the 2012 elections.
I chaired this part of the meeting and the decision by the elected Committee lay members was pretty one sided and there was a clear consensus. Everyone present said their bit.
I also reported that UNISON National Labour link had carried out a telephone poll of our levy payers and had found that Ken had 2:1 support.
A number of committee members spoke highly of the other candidate, Oona King, but we felt the person best placed to beat Boris in 2012 and work with UNISON was Ken.
After this decision we then had yet another really good wide ranging political debate about who to recommend to our national Labour Link delegate for London, Rachel Voller, for the Labour Party leadership. The result of which we agreed to keep confidential until after the meeting of the National Labour Link committee next week. This committee will decide who we should advise Labour link members to support (or whether or not to make any nomination). Again, everyone present contributed to the debate and we also watched on DVD the closing speeches of all the candidates at the UNISON Labour Link hustings last month.
Finally, on behalf of the committee I offered congratulations to the other Chair, Lollypop Louise, on her victory last week in defeating the Nazi BNP candidate, Richard Barnsbrook, in the by-election in Barking and Dagenham Council. Great news!
Members were also reminded of the West Ham Leadership hustings we are sponsoring (and to which local UNISON Labour link members have been invited) this Sunday evening at Stratford, E15. All candidates have confirmed that they will attend and we will be trying a "different format" than other hustings.
(picture of Ken at our London UNISON Regional Council in May with our Convenor Gloria and BA picket Nikki)
•Ayer, Paul - Conservative Party. Votes cast = 108
•Barnbrook, Richard - British National Party. Votes cast = 642
•Choudhury, Faruk Ahmed - Independent. Votes cast = 11
•Couling, Louise - The Labour Party Candidate. Votes cast = 881. Elected
•Manning, Nobby - UK Independence Party. Votes cast = 50
•Northover, Warren - Independent. Votes cast = 63
•Taiwo, Felicia - Liberal Democrat Focus Team. Votes cast = 136
Turnout = 25.29%
UPDATE: From Luke's blog "Last night's results - some very pleasing ones for Labour in London (suggesting the good borough results in May were not just down to the General Election high turnout) and Wales:
Goresbrook Ward, LB Barking & Dagenham. Lab hold. Lab 881 (46.6%, +3), BNP 642 (34.0%, +6.8), LD 136 (7.2%, -2.1), Con 108 (5.7%, -7.4), Ind 63 (3.3%, -3.5), UKIP 50 (2.6%, +2.6), Ind 11 (0.6%, +0.6). Swing of 1.7% from Lab to BNP since May this year. This ward returned 2 BNP councillors in 2006."
Yesterday afternoon I went to help out in the Goresbrook ward by-election in Barking and Dagenham. UNISON NEC member and long serving Lollypop Lady (aka "school crossing officer") Louise Couling is fighting it out with BNP Assembly member Richard Barnbrook for the seat. Louise had been elected as Councillor in May but due to a cock-up with the paperwork she had to resign and refight the seat.
Newham Labour members had turned out in the morning to help the campaign including Mayor Sir Robin Wales and East Ham MP Stephen Timms. The meeting point was the 3rd floor of “Transport House” which was only a few minutes walk away from Goresbrook Road. The Anti-fascists “Hope Not Hate” are based on the same floor and I met up there with my former branch secretary Jean Geldart who is spending part of her very busy “retirement” helping them out.
Looking out of the back windows of the building you can get some idea of the problems that have faced this community in recent years. Next door are some decaying Ford buildings. The Ford motor car factory at its peak use to stretch for as far as you could see. An incredible whole 1 mile by 3 miles and employed 40,000 workers. It even had its own railway station and ferry. No wonder there has been huge difficulties - but let’s not forget that (a much smaller) Ford still produce a million car engines per year at this site.
The voter ID session actually went very well. People were in general very positive and promised to support Louise and Labour - and to keep Barnbrook out. We didn’t see any BNP canvassers although their Führer "I hate Londoners" Nick was supposed to be about. But complacency and a low turn out is a big, big risk and we need to get everyone out for Thursday.
Ring 07540 079 685 if you can help out this week and especially on polling day (this Thursday 8 July).
UPDATE: email from Margaret Hodge "Campaign HQ for the day will be 34 Amesbury Road RM9 6AB, Dagenham, which will open at 6.45am and close at 10pm. It's a two minute walk from Becontree Underground Station, on the district line. However, the District Line caught fire at Barking on Friday, so we are not sure if it will be up and running again. If it's not, we will lay on minibuses from Barking Train Station throughout the day.
Barking is on the c2c line, which runs every ten minutes or so from Fenchurch Street, West Ham and Limehouse - it takes a maximum of 15 minutes to get here. Look out for people in 'Lollipop Louise' t.shirts. If you need directions, more information or want to let us know you are coming, please phone 07540 079 685 or e-mail back (margarethodgebarkingATgooglemailDOTcom).
UNISON NEC member Louise Couling who won the election last month has had to resign and re-run in a by-election on 8 July.
BNP assembly member Richard Barnbrook is standing against her. I also received this email from local MP Margaret Hodge.
"We now have just over two weeks to go until polling day. This election will be vital in determining whether we have truly seen the back of the far right in our Borough.
Please do come and help us if you have time over the next few weeks.
We will be campaigning this Saturday 11am-3pm at Transport House 50-52 New Road, Dagenham RM9 6YS. We'll provide lunch, training for anyone who is new and of course a warm welcome. The nearest train station is Dagenham Dock, trains run from Fenchurch Street (Tower Hill) and West Ham every half hour and it's a five minute walk from the station to Transport House.
This Thursday and Friday we will be delivering postal vote GOTV letters, this is crucial to our strategy of getting all of our Labour promises out to vote.
Please put Saturday 3rd July in your diary - it is the final Saturday before polling day and we will be holding a big final push to make sure we speak to all of our promises before July 8th. We will be meeting again at Transport House at 11am. I do hope that you will be able to join me".
If you can help with any of our activities or have a spare hour or two, please do call Jen on the campagins hotline on 07576 323 109 or e-mail me at margarethodgebarking@googlemail.com".
Promoted by Jennifer Oliver on behalf of Louise Couling all at 304 Hedgemans Road, Dagenham, RM9 6DA.
Not forgetting for a moment that we were beaten nationally and are facing the awful prospect of a Tory/Liberal coalition government. I will congratulate Labour comrades in Newham and across London for some magnificent results.
In Newham as I have already posted here our two MPs were re-elected with massive and increased majorities and there was a swing from the Conservatives to Labour!
Our Labour Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, was elected on the first ballot with an equally huge majority and nearly 65,000 votes (68% of turnout).
While we also won all 60 Councillor seats in Newham Council with thumping majorities - defeating the last remaining Respect Councillor and seeing off the simply dreadful CPA by over 600 votes. The Tories came closest at Royal Docks ward but still lost by over 400 votes.
I was really pleased and very proud to be elected as a Labour Councillor with Ron Manley and Freda Bourne for West Ham ward. Freda came top with 3290 votes, Ron next with 3048 and I was the 3rd elected member with 2906. The 4th non-elected candidate was a Conservative who polled 886. There was another 6 opposition candidates.
Arguable it was "65 - nil" since our London Assembly member John Biggs and our MEP Claude Moraes are both Labour as well. Check out Newham results here.
I will post further on the campaign and the ordeal of the Counts another time.
Congratulation to Barking and Dagenham comrades (and “Hope not Hate”) who wiped out all the BNP Councillors and also took all the Council seats (51 – nil). Special mention to UNISON NEC member and Lolly pop lady, Louise Couling, who DID defeat BNP Assembly member Barnbrook.
I was also ecstatic that Team Labour was elected in Tower Hamlets. Rushanara Ali was elected MP for Bethnal Green & Bow, Respect were practically wiped out (only one seat left) and the utterly loathsome (and now exposed as cowardly) Mr Galloway, was soundly defeated by Jim Fitzpatrick in Limehouse and Poplar.
I understand that Labour will now control a majority of “London Councils”.
Finally Commiserations to all Labour Parliamentary and Council Candidates who were not elected. We must not be carried away with our relative local successes but must concentrate now on getting the National Party in shape, revitalised and re-organised in time for a probable general election coming some time soon.
This is a little late but picture is from this month’s Greater London UNISON Labour Link Committee meeting. Former Housing minister and UNISON member Keith Hill gave the Parliamentary report. Keith has now retired as MP for Streatham and spoke very highly of Chuka Umunna who is standing to replace him.
In the Q&A I brought up the Notting Hill Housing Strike and also asked Keith (who is still Chair of Lambeth Homes) if he thinks we need a Labour Party public housing forum in London to win the “Battle of Ideas” over housing policy.
He gave positive but diplomatic answers to both questions.
The committee formally thanked him for his contributions to our committee and wished him well in “retirement”.
In this photo there are 6 members of the committee who are standing as Labour Party council candidates including Louise Couling (8th from left) who is standing against the fascist BNP Barnbrook in Barking and also Rachel Voller (1st left) who is the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Romford. There was also at least one other PPC in the room at the time.
Yesterday afternoon after the West Ham Labour Party stall in Green Street I went off with a long serving CLP member to Barking to help out with Margaret Hodge and the local Labour Councillor campaign.
The campaign headquarters is in a local Baptist church and is very well run and organised. Soon after we arrived, we were properly briefed and given materials (and grabbed some tasty sandwiches) and sent off to fight the good fight.
We went off with quite a large canvass team to Parsloes Ward which I believe has currently two BNP councillors and one Labour. I thought that the canvass went quite well. People didn’t seem to me to be at all hostile. The international Rugby match was on and two people apologised that they could not speak because of this as they rapidly closed the front door. Fair enough. I didn’t actually get anyone to admit that they were BNP supporters. I had two decent “political” conversations with local residents. The key issue was not immigration but the shortage of affordable housing. A divorced grandmother who was looking after her daughter’s home explained how she was stuck in an expensive private sector flat on the dole since the very high rent meant that she could not work. In another home another resident who worked for the local Council complained that she would have to move since her children could not afford to live locally. Interestingly both of them volunteered that they recognised that the real reason for the housing shortage was a direct consequence of the “right to buy”.
At the end of the session we had mugs of tea and biscuits waiting for us. I was also able to meet my new Facebook friend Graham Letchford. I love the shirts! Graham is standing with our Louise Couling in Gorebrook ward against the fascist Barnbrook.
Photo with Margaret and team outside Labour battle bus. It was a good day.
The Labour Party's Louise Couling will be challenging the BNP's Richard Barnbrook for his seat on Barking and Dagenham Council in 2010. Good luck Louise! Icepicker100.
Great video Icepicker! - check out this report here about UNISON NEC member Louise and her campaign. Louise is a true Brit - anti-fascist, trade union, Labour Party loyalist.
The other Labour Candidates standing in Goresbrook ward are Graham Letchford and James Clee.
UNISON London NEC member (and local School Crossing Officer) Louise Couling, is to stand against the fascist BNP Councillor and London Assembly member, Richard Barnbrook in next year’s local council elections in Barking and Dagenham East London.
At this morning’s London UNISON regional committee it was announced that Louise the no nonsense east end grandmother and committed anti-fascist will be one of 3 Labour Party candidates in the Goresbrook Ward who are standing against Barnbrook and his fellow (IMO) Hitler worshiping cultists. Louise describes herself as an ordinary working class trade unionist who fiercely represents her predominately low paid women members. She is also a super proud true Brit who hates fascism.
At the meeting Louise called for support from all parts of UNISON in the upcoming battle in all those communities who are facing the scourge of fascism. I’ll post details soon on how you can help Louise, the local Labour Party or the non partisan anti-fascist “Hope Not Hate”.
Despite some members of the committee not being, let us just say "over fond" of Labour the overwhelming majority were really pleased and wholly supportive that a leading London UNISON female activist was directly taking on the fascists.
It was a shame but also somewhat amusing that while we were trying to be positive and inclusive the East Sussex member of the committee who should have known better, decided to launch an ultra left sectarian and divisive rant about New Labour being the real cause of BNP in East London. To which I heard one person quip none too seriously under their breath “this is the first time I’ve ever heard the Barking and Dagenham Party described as “New Labour”. Picture of our Louise (hint, hint - the one in the bright yellow with our General Secretary Dave Prentis).
I am just back from a great meeting at the House of Commons of young Newham people from West and East Ham. They had been invited by local MPs Lyn Brown and Stephen Timms.
New electors whose date of birth was on the Newham electoral register were invited. The meeting was about participation in the electoral process and about 120 turned up.
Newham Young Labour provided volunteers to help out and ran a mock election with a ballot box and voting papers. There were stalls on the work of the House of Commons; what major political issues are important to young people and how the political process works.
UNISON sponsored the cost of snacks and soft drinks. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown sent his apologies with a message of support and best wishes. The event was also well supported by many Parliamentary guest speakers who turned up to address the gathering – John Denham MP, Yvette Cooper MP, Andy Burnham MP, Iain Wright MP, Dawn Primarolo MP, Sion Simon MP and Mike Grapes MP. Also in attendance was Deputy Leader of the Commons, Chris Bryant, and Lord Young (former deputy GS of the CWU).
All of them did address the audience about the problems over expenses and allowances but I think still successfully encouraged everyone to still get involved in politics because politics really matters. Politics is about health services, about jobs, about education and about life chances. Many mentioned that they first got involved in politics as young people themselves because they wanted to “change the world” and how they still want change it.
UNISON Regional Convenor Gloria Hanson (and Newham resident) spoke about the importance of trade unions in the democratic civic process and about her own experiences growing up in Newham. How she is also a mother whose own children were educated in Newham who have now gone on to gain first class honours degrees and how she is also proud to be the first black female regional convenor in UNISON.
Group tours were arranged around the House of Commons.
Afterwards the volunteers were invited by Lyn and Stephen to Strangers Bar for a sherbet.
I was pleased that Housing Minister Iain Wright accepted my invitation to address Labour Link members of UNISON Housing Association Branch on Public Housing in the near future (subject to diary commitments).
I went to a similar event organised by Barking MP Margret Hodge. UNISON NEC member and Barking CLP Louise Couling helped out in both. Many thanks also to Lyn and Stephens Parliamentary staff for all the hard graft in organising the event.
LABOUR LANDSLIDE – as they came into the room the young voters were given a ballot paper to complete secretly and place in ballot box. Of those who voted the result was an absolute landslide for Labour. Labour 48; Tories 6; Lib Dem 5; Green 2; Respect 5; Spoilt 2.
What a great event on Tuesday at the Attlee rooms in the House of Commons. Over 200 young people who had become 18 and were registered on the Barking electoral register were invited by local MP Margaret Hodge and turned up.
There was a series of events in the hall organised by local young socialists to engage with these young people around equality, voting participation and democracy.
UNISON Labour Link bought them all a free drink, which of course went down quite well! A number of Labour MP’s arrived to help out and speak to everyone and afterwards, there were free tours of the House of Commons.
I can’t wait to help organise something similar for West Ham CLP. Thanks to Gloria Hanson and Louise Couling from Labour Link for helping to recruit people to the union and the Party.
The London Regional Convenor, Gloria Hanson made this (title) comment at the close. I must admit that it was the most sensible and constructive regional committee meeting that I have ever attended. This was a relief after the rather weird and wonderful antics at the recent Regional Local Government meeting.
This committee is made up of elected lay Regional Council officers (the “Executive”), Regional Committee members and representatives from UNISON Service group committees and self-organised groups. London UNISON elected National Executive Committee members can also attend and speak (but cannot vote). Senior full time UNISON employees such as the Regional Secretary are also present.
UNISON’s democratic structure is - how can I put it? Somewhat complex....if you are a UNISON member and want to find out more about how your union is organised then there is a very good course (and aptly named!) called “Lost in UNISON” which I would thoroughly recommend.
I attend as a lay elected Regional Council Officer and as Regional finance convenor I presented the finance report to the committee.
There was a report on recruitment and organisation. In London region we have 130,000 UNISON members. Some 10% of all UNISON members are in our region. On September 5 there was a very successful and well attended “Organising our Future” event. The event launched the “Branch Resources Recruitment Stick”. This clever idea is a computer memory stick for branches which holds core resource and recruitment information. It contains key website links, for recruitment material as well as model templates for letters, flyers, induction power point presentation, guides for newsletters etc. This is a really exciting development which we think is unique to London region.
There was a sober and wide ranging debate on pay negotiating and bargaining. The campaign continues but we must examine what has happened so far and learn lessons for the future. Discussions have been re-established in the local government pay dispute.
Members in Probation are about to be balloted for strike action over a disappointing pay offer and the failure to implement last years award in full. In Further Education a 3.3% offer has been made and this will be balloted on with members.
The Regional Secretary reported on Pension governance. Work in the region has begun on mapping the existing governance arrangements. Once competed there will be targeted briefings for current and potential (YES!) trustees and member nominated reps. This is really good news. Investment Governance is now starting to be mainstream.
On diversity issues there will be an Equalities seminar on 22 October. Where a new regional Equalities Award will be made. The focus will be on training and preparation for the Single Equality Bill. There was an update on the Stephen Lawrence Action Plan.
The report on Political Campaigning concentrated on the important work the region carries out on campaigning against the Far Right. The local UNISON branch in the GLA has received a lot of support following the election of the Nazi BNP member, Richard Barnbrook.
It was reported that the BNP are standing a candidate in a Camden Council by-election next week (September 25th)
UNISON regional Labour Link (APF) is working with TULO on the European elections next year and the borough elections in 2010. It is also helping to fund the Labour campaign organiser against the Far Right in East London. The London Labour Party regional Biennial Conference will take place on 22 November (I’ll be there).
The Regional Policy day will take place on 21 October (Trafalgar Day). This is a training day and will evaluate the regional plan, identify next year’s priorities, working with other unions and budget planning.
There were useful discussions about UNISON national consultations on a branch and regional structure review, reserved seat consultation (those NEC seats reserved for low paid female workers), the national minimum wage target, branch representation at National Delegate Conference.
The sad news about long standing UNISON activist Joyce Conway (Health) who passed away on 17 August resulted in all members standing for a minute’s silence. UNISON was well represented by branch and regional officers at her funeral. “She will be missed”.
My Finance report went ok (pretty boring and mostly for noting).
The arrangements for the next regional council Meeting on 9 October were discussed.
Reports from Self organised groups, retired members (David Jones putting the rest of us to shame with his full and detailed report), sub-committee reports (I gave one on behalf of Europe/International and health & safety committee).
The final item was a report on the Labour Link committee by its Joint Chair, the indomitable (a School crossing officer or lollypop lady - from Barking and Dagenham) Louise Couling.
Louise talked about the importance of campaigning against the BNP, not only in her borough but else where in London “the plague is spreading”. Louise is a top to bottom, grass roots, trade union activist and Labour Party diehard supporter. She recognised that the party was going thorough difficult times and that it had made mistakes (public sector pay) but she was passionate in her conviction that we had to support the Party to defeat our natural enemy, the Tories.
It was a bit of a shame that in the Q&A afterwards, one committee guest who claims somehow to be a Labour party supporter, was practically dribbling in his excitement at the prospect of the Party losing the next election. He also asked Louise, I assume sarcastically, how could she contribute to Labour winning the next General election? She immediately replied “by voting Labour” which brought claps and cheers by the non-defeatist majority of the committee.
As Gloria said “A good meeting”. May there be more of them as we play our bit.
(this is of course my own very personal interpretation and report back on this meeting and is not intended to be an official regional record or minutes in anyway – BTW - since this is not a radio advert you do not need to read this quickly)
By co-incidence this morning was the quarterly regional meeting of London UNISON Labour Link Committee (or APF - the voluntary political levy that many UNISON members pay that promotes members views and UNISON policies within the Labour Party).
It was a good opportunity to meet up with comrades from across London and different parts of UNISON to discuss the recent campaign and election results. I think that everyone was “disappointed” (to say the least) with Ken losing the mayoralty and the BNP gaining a seat. Despite the current circumstances it was a very positive, thoughtful and forward thinking meeting. An extra Labour seat was won and we did increase the Labour vote in London
This was the first meeting since the re-election of the committee; the first item was election of officers. Louise Couling and Bill Beekoo were elected Co- Chair’s while Gloria Hanson and I were elected Co-Vice Chairs.
The Greater London Assembly report was by newly re-elected Assembly member for Enfield and Haringey, Joanne McCarthy (see picture).
Joanne is a UNISON member and has been a regular visitor to London Labour Link meetings. The committee congratulated Joanne on winning her seat. It had been a key Tory target. She gave a short verbal report then answered questions.
Joanne started off by admitting that the loss of Ken had been a disaster not only for London but also for the Unions. Ken had an “open door” to the unions which Boris is not expected to follow. She thanked UNISON and the other affiliated trade unions for their work in the election. If the unions had not rallied around Labour in London in the way they did then the results could have been far worse.
There is a problem that since the Tories now control more than 8 seats in the Assembly, then Boris’s budget proposals cannot be blocked. But, since the Assembly Chairs of Committees are decided by a simple majority of members, then it is likely (not confirmed until the Assembly AGM) that a coalition of the minority Parties may be able to control the all important committees. These “Scrutiny committees should be able to monitor what Boris is up to and try to stop him from damaging London too much. Boris can also be held to account to a degree by formal “questions” to the Mayor.
Labour Link had tabled a special report analysing the overall BNP vote in the 2008 elections. We discussed this and Joanne reassured committee members that the BNP will not get the GLA money and resources that some have claimed following the election of Barnbrook. To be recognised as a “Party” in the GLA you need at least 2 seats. So it is likely that he will only get enough to employ one paid member of staff (too many). There was as we say a "wide ranging discussion" on means to combat the BNP while ensuring that GLA staff are protected. We need to careful, since Barnbrook will be using his position as a platform for the European elections next year and will thrive on confrontation and publicly. Apparently, if he does something stupid (as elected BNP councillors are prone to do) and is kicked out, then the BNP can replace him with another list candidate.
If in London we could have raised the turnout from 45.3% to 49% then the BNP would have not been elected. They only increased their total vote by just over 0.5% from 2004.
After Joanne left there was a general debate about the election, lessons learnt and planning ahead for the European elections in 2009, Council elections in 2010 and of course at some time in the next few years there will be a general election. The Tories clearly mobilised their supporters to come out and vote better than Labour. National political sentiments did not help Labour in London. However, a capable and experienced progressive candidate on the left of the Labour Party was clearly defeated by a centre right wing Tory.
There was widespread agreement by committee members over the desperate need to defeat the Tories and the vital role that trade unions can play in the coming battles. We need to remind our members of what happens when Conservatives are in power, locally and nationally.
We need to organise between now and next time to win.
Every evening this week I have come home there is at least 2 or 3 letters or large documents in the post from the Party or UNISON Labour Link about the conference next week. This is my first Labour Party conference. Things are also a bit hectic at work, so I have a massive pile of reading to work my way thorough somehow before Saturday evening. Not very green but I suppose it is necessary.
I am one of the two (elected) UNISON Labour Link (APF) delegates from Greater London region. The other delegate from London is UNISON NEC member, Louise Couling, who is an old hand at these things. London NEC member Irene Stacey will also be there. The accommodation is booked (and confirmed thankfully), but there is a mass of invites, passes, security warnings and tickets to all sort of different meetings and fringes.
Congratulations to London lollypop lady, Louise Couling, who was re-elected, new blood Kim Silver, elected for the first time and elected unopposed, Irene Stacey. Well done all of them.
Louise and Kim beat both female candidates from the SWP controlled “United Left” faction. A resounding victory!!
Sadly, top health rep Conroy Lawrence was defeated by the narrowest of margins in the male seat (less than 650 votes) but this is a great result for a first time candidate!! Formal and very sincere congratulations to United Left Jon Rogers.
Overall, despite a few casualties and losing some good people, nationally we had victory across the board. Most importantly, the union is safe; the NEC is still in the hands of ordinary members who want the best for UNISON and who will pursue real trade union policies rather than calling for permanent revolution and other such nonsense.
Stand Up and Vote for Democracy Conroy, Irene, Louise & Kim are standing in the forthcoming UNISON NEC elections.
A vote for them is a vote to put the interests and participation of our members first. It is a vote to celebrate diversity and independent thought and to build the respect of the membership through progressive policies.
With the election of a new regional convenor 12 months ago things have begun to change in the London region. We have a more representative and democratic structure with the disproportionate influence of a vociferous minority reduced. We have also witnessed record membership recruitment across all service groups.
Now we must build on our success by ensuring London’s elected representatives on UNISON’s NEC, the ruling body of the Union, genuinely reflect our members views. The London region must not be held to ransom by the politics of extremists, with their narrow opinion on what the union should do for its members.
We believe all members should have equal access to our union. Those with the loudest voices should not be allowed to dictate the agenda. We believe in dialogue and negotiation, not confrontation.
Our members’ needs must be paramount and our priorities are:
• campaigning for improved wages for London’s public sector workers • defending the NHS in London against cuts and marketisation • opposing the privatisation of London’s education, social services and utilities and not abandoning our members who have been transferred to private companies • defeating the far right particularly the BNP, because there is no place in our community for views that turn brother against brother, sister against sister • building union organisation and membership • promoting equality for all across the union as more than two thirds of our members are women, a third of members in London are black or from an ethnic minority.
“Support your union. Support collective responsibility.”
You will receive a ballot paper at your home address shortly. Please take the time to complete and return. Have pride in being a member of a strong union that defends public services and provides quality support for its members. Vote for Conroy, Kim,Louise and Irene.
“We believe in openness, democracy and participation not self -interest.”
Stand up and vote for Democracy
Conroy, Kim, Louise and Irene are standing in the forthcoming UNISON NEC elections. A vote for them is a vote to put the interests and participation of our members first. It is a vote to celebrate diversity and independent thought and to build the respect of the membership through progressive policies.
Unison National Executive Council elections 2007 VOTE FOR: Conroy Lawrence - London Male seat Kim Silver - London Female seat Louise Couling - London Female seat Irene Stacey - London Low Pay seat
