UNISON National Delegate Conference 2024: Day 2 Wednesday

 
Day 2 started again with the usual NEC meeting at 8.30am then I joined other activists to hand out leaflets outside the conference hall to publicise the Labour Link rally and campaign session being held that that evening. I was back on the NEC platform for the 9.30am start. After the normal S.O.C bun fight, we continued debates including a very important composite motion on a National Care Service. 

At 12 noon we stopped conference business for the keynote speech by our General Secretary, Christina McAnea. Christina gave a powerful and wide ranging speech celebrating our union successes during the past 12 months but also making it clear after 14 years of Tory failure "Our members need a Labour Government". 

During lunch I attended the the Greater London fringe on "Tackling HIV Stigma in our workplace" chaired by London activist Anu Prasher. In the afternoon there was a very powerful debate  (Motion 39) on "Domestic Abuse:Access For All" where survivors of abuse shared their experiences. 

Another important debate (motion 56) was "Tory Cuts to Police Funding Harms Community Safety". Conference was generally very supportive but some speakers incredibly spoke against this motion and even appeared to call for further cuts. One claimed that research showed that there was no benefit from the jobs of her fellow UNISON members - low paid Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). So I suppose she wants them all to be sacked? As an inner city housing officer who has worked with such staff for many years I can say this is completely untrue. 

Dreadful comments, no wonder that our Police Civilian staff members present were so upset. The overwhelming vote in favour of the motion by conference showed what real trade unionists thought about these remarks.  

After close of conference, I attended the Labour Link Rally where Labour Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavillion, Tom Gray (no relation) spoke before we were organised into canvass teams and went door knocking for Labour. The canvass went pretty well with a clear majority of Labour supporter but it was mostly flats which were difficult to get into. One person I spoke to was not on the electoral register but he was holding some sort of political banner. He explained in an American accent that he was off to a Revolutionary Communist Party rally. He and all the other people were friendly and pretty keen to engage even if they did not support Labour. 

UNISON #UNDC24 "stop the exploitation of migrant workers"

One of the best speeches on Tuesday was by my NEC colleague Glenn Carrington. Glenn is a paramedic and he shared with conference a recent shocking experience.

See this article based on his speech " Glenn Carrington, chair of the East of England Ambulance Service branch, raised the issue after his eyes were opened over a bank holiday weekend.

“On the Friday I had a call to this nursing home. Helping the patient, I got chatting to this nurse from India, she looked dead on her feet.

“I was back again the next day on another call. I joked with her: ‘Don’t you ever go home?’ She said she lived upstairs.

“I went again on the Sunday and there she was again. She said whenever someone doesn’t turn up they call her because she’s so close.

“She’s scared to say no — her manager had threatened to sack her if she refused the work. She’d need to find a new sponsor but there’d be a black mark next to her name and she’d probably be deported.”

Glenn was shocked, even more so when he found out she wasn’t being paid for the extra 20 or 30 hours a week and wasn’t allowed to bring her family over, while earning around 20% less than her British colleagues and having to pay back sponsorship fees.

“I was embarrassed by my naivety to be honest but I talked to some other friends in care homes and found out it’s pretty common across the board.”

He was compelled to act: “I got a sort of generational trauma, it reminded me of what my parents went through in the Windrush.

“It just seems like slavery to me — it goes against everything UNISON stands for.”

His awakening became UNISON Eastern’s motion, committing the union to keep promoting the migrant workers’ network, supporting branches organising among migrant workers and maintaining UNISON’s relationship with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

Glenn hopes the union can make a real impact for some of the most exploited workers in the country.

“I just can’t believe we allow this to happen. Our union already takes an important stand on this but we need to keep up the pressure.”. The motion was passed. 

UNISON National Delegate Conference 2024 - Greater London regional meeting

 

This evening I attended the London Regional meeting in advance of the start of our UNISON National Delegate Conference (NDC) in Brighton. Our Regional delegate Yvonne Green, aided by our Regional Secretary,  Jo Galloway, briefed around 100 of our delegates on conference arrangements and events. 

UNISON NDC is one of the largest independent trade union conferences in the world. There are thousands of delegates and visitors from hundreds of branches, regions and nations, service groups and self organised groups, representing 1.3 million members. It is a huge and immensely complicated event, 

Jim Mansfield, who is our elected London representative on the conference Standing Orders Committee (SOC) gave us a briefing on their report. The SOC runs the conference business and timetable in line with our rule book and legal obligations. 

Some delegates, no doubt genuinely, find it difficult to understand these processes. So do I at times, despite being a conference veteran. But it needs to be run in line with our rules and the law. It is not a "free for all". 

At the end I gave a plug for delegates to attend the UNISON Labour Link meeting on Wednesday evening where Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Tom Gray (a well known musician and no known relative!) will talk to us then lead canvass sessions in Brighton Pavilion. Also, we passed around an information sheet on how London delegates can register to find out further information on how to campaign for Labour in London.

I am at conference as an elected member representing the Community Service Group (Housing Associations and voluntary sector) of UNISON National Executive Council and will look forward to listening to the debates, fringes and guest speakers and of course, meeting and listening to my members.

NEC pre meeting 8.30am tomorrow morning.