Union conferences

UCU Congress dodges Ukraine

Leeds University UCU pickets with Ukrainian flag The worst aspect of the University and College Union (UCU) Congress, 1-3 June, was the arrangement of motions that led to any discussion of the invasion of Ukraine falling off the agenda (along with all motions on “International and European work”) — despite two separate branches and the NEC submitting motions on Ukraine and a series of other branches submitting amendments. The Russian imperialist invasion of Ukraine is perhaps the most significant event in Europe in the last three decades. It is also the subject of much internal debate in the...

Union conferences should hear from workers, not bosses

“To introduce the debate about making work better we thought it would be really good to organise a bit of a panel,” said GMB National Officer Mick Rix at the start of the third day of the GMB union congress (13-16 June). The panel members were Paul Bedford (Deliveroo), Emma O’Dwyer (Uber), and Carl Lyon (Evri, formerly Hermes). These are not GMB activists. They are senior members of management in the three companies. The discussion was set up on the congress podium as a cosy round-table discussion. According to Rix: “The gig economy does not have to be the Wild West of workers’ rights. I do...

Left NEC under attack at Unison conference

See also: "How to get real change in Unison" A rocky start for the new left-led National Executive Committee (NEC) elected for a two-year term in 2021 was expected at the national conference of the public services union Unison (14-17 June). The conference spent lots of time discussing and passing motions of no confidence. It reversed six decisions agreed by the NEC last year. It condemned the NEC for being unrepresentative with its presidential team (three members) and the seven chairs and seven vice-chairs of its sub-committees including no members from the Black workers’ self-organised group...

GMB: still a way to travel

A cut in branch commission — the proportion of members’ dues paid to branches — from 10% to 7.5% was the main item of controversy at this year’s GMB union Congress, 13-16 June. The cut had been approved by the union’s Central Executive Council (CEC) last October, with the backing of the newly elected General Secretary Gary Smith. Nearly 20 motions denounced the decision and the decision-makers. Technically, the motions had a point. Branch commission is fixed in the GMB Rulebook, and only GMB rule-change congresses can make a rule change. But with membership falling for nearly a decade and no...

Dispute could be central at RMT AGM

The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers (RMT) will hold its Annual General Meeting on 3-8 July in Birmingham. RMT’s AGM is proportionally smaller than most union conferences, but in some ways relatively more open and democratic: debates on motions continue until everyone who wants to speak has done. As well as debating resolutions from branches and other union committees, the AGM often has to make decisions on industrial disputes. If an offer from an employer is received during an AGM, it is up to AGM delegates to debate and decide on whether that offer is accepted...

How to get real change in Unison

Last year the left in public services union Unison, mainly organised through the Time for Real Change grouping, won a majority of the national executive committee (NEC) of Britain's biggest union for the first time. At the 2022 conference (14-17 June, Brighton), however, the old right-wing leadership had a majority of delegates, and used it to viciously attack the left and constrict democracy in the union. We will report on the conference in detail soon. On 14 June Time for Real Change held a meeting attended by about three hundred delegates, and hearing from a range of Unison activists as...

Debating tactics for local government pay fight

The local government conference of the public services union Unison on 12-13 June was dominated by discussion on how to win ballots for strikes on pay. A ballot on the 1.75% pay offer for the year from April 2021, done between 5 December 2021 and 14 January 2022, fell flat with a turnout of only 14.5%. 50% minimum turnout is required for strike ballots in public services under the Trade Union Act 2016. For the year from April 2022, unions in local government (Unite and GMB as well as Unison) put in a claim on 6 June for £2,000 or RPI-matching increases (around 11%). A response from the...

Workers' Liberty bulletins for Unison national delegate conference and local government conference

Public services union Unison is holding its first physical national delegate conference since 2019 in Brighton 14-17 June. Before that the union's local government sector conference meets 12-13 June. • The bulletin our supporters will be distributing at the local government conference can be read here (double-sided). • The bulletin we'll be distributing at the national delegate conference can be read here (4 pages). See here and here for articles from our newspaper Solidarity previewing the issues at the conferences. We'll also be producing a bulletin on Ukraine. And we are supporting this...

Support sex workers' rights and safety - support Unison conference motion 55

A motion is going to the national conference of public services union Unison (Brighton, 14-17 June) to change its policy to supporting full decriminalisation of sex work and sex workers' fight to organise and assert their rights. The text is below; all motions to the conference here . (You can read the union's existing policy from 2010, supporting the "Nordic model", here .) As stated in our bulletin for the conference, Workers' Liberty strongly supports motion 55 and urges delegates to pass it. Check out the feminist/labour movement oriented campaign Decrim Now . And for some wider socialist...

Unison right wing plans pushback

The first face to face conference of the public services union Unison for three years meets in Brighton on 14-17 June. It is also the first since Unison’s first-ever election of a left National Executive Committee (NEC), the first since Covid hit, and the first since campaigns on 2021-2 pay went badly in Unison’s two biggest areas, local government and health. On 6 June the union, jointly with GMB and Unite, announced its pay claim for local government: the current rate of RPI inflation (presently 11.1%) or a minimum of £2,000. Downsides: the claim comes late, for a pay award that was due in...

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