The backing of the leadership of the union’s largest occupational group must be a major boost for Paul’s campaign and one that, I suspect, will not be universally welcomed on the lay NEC (along with associated officers) as they approach decision time on their own nomination.
It would be foolish to just put the nomination down to the varying influences of the usual factions on the 40+ strong committee or a vote split between the two full-time officer candidates. That would ignore the disaffection many have felt over recent years due to the growing gulf between front line activists (of all politics and none) and the Euston Road bubble.
As a recently (and thankfully) retired activist of almost 40 years - and one who backed current general secretary Dave Prentis in each of his elections - even I had latterly become more and more frustrated by a growing centralism and control culture in the union that veered more to the right than its leftist policies would suggest.
It is indeed time for change. And of course all the candidates so far are promising that. In my humble view, the three main candidates (barring any last minute deals) are likely to be Christina McAnea, Roger McKenzie and Paul Holmes (see below for other expected candidates).
I haven’t indicated a preferred candidate but would make one comment that I think is very important. Christina and Roger rightly focus on organising and building a more responsive union and steer away from specific policy issues which are matters for the union’s lay democracy to decide. Paul Holmes, while standing to be a full-time officer on a ‘lay-led’ platform, lists a number of new policy and bargaining promises which of course he could not (or should not be able to) deliver just as general secretary.
In the lay-led union I have always fought for, policies are matters to be decided by members via the lay service groups and the lay national conferences, not the general secretary. That especially goes for the formulation of pay claims (not forgetting that most of these are devolved in Scotland) and issues like elections of assistant general and regional secretaries (the latter rejected for lots of reasons by national conferences). Mind you, having set the policies, we expect our general secretariat to see them through. That is the nub of the issue.
In Christina McAnea (https://votechristina.org), a union where women constitute the vast majority of its members has the opportunity to elect its first woman general secretary.
Currently an assistant general secretary, she relates a proud working class history but has been branded as the ‘continuity candidate’, somewhat underlined by support from ‘continuity’ lay leaders as far as I can see. The problem for Christina is that many who want change see them as part of the problem rather than the solution.
However, her support goes wider than that and from what I am hearing she will pick up lots of support in Scotland branches, many of whom are far from continuity supporters. Her specific recognition of devolution as an issue is important in a union where 300 years after retaining our own legal system and 20 years after winning our own parliament, we in Scotland still have to ‘tartanise’ so-called national - but all too often England-centric - UNISON campaigns.
Like all of the candidates, Christina is promising more support for branches and that is a major issue especially in local government with the plethora of employers due to outsourcing and privatisation. I have been at the rostrum at National Conference on numerous occasions making this argument and getting motions passed with not much to show for it on the ground.
To be fair, it is a complex issue but the union has been quick to recruit and slow to recognise the representation and organising challenges. Branches need resources to support lay activity and organisation and may not see centrally appointed and controlled local organisers as the best ‘lay led’ solution to the problem. However, any structural redistribution of resources would need to be a Conference decision. See the review agreed in 2019 at https://www.unison.org.uk/motions/2019/national-delegate-conference/resourcing-our-branches-a-unison-priority/
She is also standing on a platform of building a more organising union and a UNISON college for education and training. Detail is short on this and while welcome, I would hope this would not adversely affect the lay tutor system.
Roger McKenzie ( https://www.roger4gs.co.uk ), also an assistant general secretary, lists more support for branches, organising, and member and activist education high among his priorities. He also has the important backing of Jeremy Corbyn which is even more significant than it may seem. UNISON’s national conferences took Jeremy to its heart with warm words from the platform and standing ovations from delegates. This contrasted with some of the less than supportive words and actions outside conferences.
Roger, although part of the current leadership, has not been tainted with the ‘continuity’ label and is touted as the mainstream candidate of the left - and the one with most chance of winning and effecting change.
While he is a Labour member and activist he has also made a clear call that we should demand of Labour and the TUC “an organising-centric approach that prioritises what our members need or, if they can’t or won’t change, then we should review our level of contributions.” ( https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/organising-against-great-recession-come )
Roger is known for his organising credentials and many see him as an inspirational speaker. His platform includes bringing the union closer to its members, setting a target of 100,000 activists and 5,000 learning reps - a welcome focus on lay involvement in education. He wants a much higher public and media profile for the union and it is fair to say we have underperformed in that area at a UK level.
While all of the candidates rightly prioritise the fight against growing racism and inequality, Roger (along with Hugo Pierre) can point to first hand experience.
Paul Holmes ( https://www.facebook.com/Paul4GenSec ) is a lay NEC member and a branch secretary of 30 years standing in Kirklees. He is UNISON Action Broad Left candidate - although as usual that is not so simple, see http://jonrogers1963.blogspot.com/2020/08/unison-general-secretary-election-what.html
Paul, who last stood in the 2010 general secretary election, has the backing of the union’s local government executive, ex shadow chancellor John McDonnell and celebrated actor Maxine Peake. He is standing for election as a lay member and pledges to take only £32k of the general secretary salary, donating the rest to UNISON Welfare and strike funds. He would address the organisational challenges I’ve mentioned above by “a fully-funded, massive plan of action, driven by the branches, to improve collective bargaining rights in the community/private sectors”.
He is promising 50% of subs to go to branches and for all assistant general secretaries and regional secretaries to be elected. He also promises unified pay claims across sectors with a minimum wage of £15 per hour. However, in a lay led union, I would suggest that these are issues for the lay conferences to decide (see 2019 conference decision on funding) , not the general secretary, and that, for me, undermines Paul’s candidature and ‘lay-led’ message.
Change
Of course discipline is needed in any organisation and especially in one based on a collective response to the powerful forces of neo-liberalism. But in recent years there has been a sense of new and unnecessary obstacles to lay activity and control, especially in my field of communications, seemingly appearing out of nowhere or from the mysteriously unaccountable ‘Presidential Team’. Key national lay leaders were either complicit or unable to address this.
Despite the annual sport of platform-bashing at Conference over the years, delegates in the main tended to back the NEC position when it came to votes on policy. That is, until 2018 when, unexpectedly, delegates voted down the keynote 25 year review of the union’s organisation.
Of course there were many reasons for this. In analysis later it was clear that some branches just plainly misunderstood the motion. It also didn’t help that the speakers for the motion seemed unable to divert from their prepared (or prepared-for-them) speeches to address the developing debate on the floor. But overall, the issue was one of trust, or lack of it. It is an issue that both the full time and lay leadership need to take responsibility for.
I make no apologies for organising as a lay activist against the chaotic and destructive antics of ultra-left over the years but I fear some of that may have been at the cost of taking the eye off the dangers of the right. The lack of a fully functional and genuinely non-sectarian broad left has left a serious gap.
While understanding the frustrations of many activists at all levels about the recent direction of the union, it is important to drive for positive change and avoid a knee-jerk response. It is tempting to go for a nuclear option to shake things up to address what many see as a long term malaise.
But that risks instability at a time when maximum unity is needed. Difficult though it may seem in the current climate, building a positive working partnership between lay and full-time leadership is essential to the union’s functioning. I’ll be voting for the candidate I think will be best placed to do that - and best placed to deliver that from the full time structure especially.
As I said, it is time for change. More importantly, given the abysmal turnout in previous elections, it is time to actually vote. But in an organisation as big and as important to us all as UNISON, it will be important to vote for a uniting and positive change - and resist the temptation of ‘a plague on all their houses’.
….………………………………………….
Other candidates who have announced so far include
Margaret Greer https://www.kent.ac.uk/unison/documents/gensec2020/Candidate%20info%20Margaret%20Greer.pdf
Peter Sharma (cannot identify any link to his candidate’s statement)
The election
The nomination period for candidates runs from 10 August to 25 September 2020
A ballot would run from 28 October to 27 November 2020.
Election procedures are at https://www.unison.org.uk/about/our-organisation/lay-structure-democracy-and-elections/current-elections/general-secretary-elections-2020/
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