I was expecting to attend UNISON’s Regional Council AGM as a branch delegate, having been elected to this post last year. However we hadn’t realised that the branch should have re-elected delegates before the AGM and registered them in advance. As this had not been done, UCL branch had no delegates registered and I was only permitted to attend as a visitor, that is an observer who is not entitled to vote on motions. This was a shame as there were several motions which UCL branch had a particular interest in, and our branch was not represented in the vote.
Of the four invited speakers, only one was able to attend on the day, messrs Dave Prentis (UNISON General Secretary), Trevor Phillips (Commission for Racial Equality) and Jeremy Corbyn MP all evidently having more pressing demands on their time. Fortunately this allowed plenty of time for the woman from the Rape Crisis Centre to give us an update on the withdrawal of vital funding for the Centre. (I believe UCL UNISON has already given a donation to the Centre to help it keep up its vital and unique work for women who have suffered sexual violence).
Various regional officers gave written and verbal reports to the AGM. Questions were raised about UNISON’s position on the Congestion Charge. The Press had reported that UNISON was against the charge, but this is not the case. UNISON’s (informal as yet) position is to agree with the charge in principle, but to campaign for more low-paid workers in the public sector (who often have to work shifts at times when there is no public transport) to be exempt from the charge, or to be reimbursed by their employers. It was argued that members had not been consulted about UNISON’s position. Delegates were invited to discuss it at branch level and propose a formal policy at the next regional committee.
There
was a report on the progress so far with the national anti-racism event to
be held in
Reports from branches included an update on the Local Government campaign for an increase in London Weighting. UCL members will be encouraged to learn that LG branches are also escalating their campaign of industrial action in pursuit of this. The long-running Hackney Libraries dispute has come to an end, with a compromise having been reached. The Saturday pay increment has been replaced with an increment awarded in recognition of enhanced IT skills, and workers will no longer be required to work on Saturdays.
A presentation was made to Candy Udwin to thank her for her years of dedicated service as deputy convenor of London Region UNISON. Candy, along with her colleague Dave Carr of UCLH, has recently been expelled from UNISON in what is widely believed to be an unjust, politically motivated and vindictive move by our union’s leaders. Candy and Dave are well known and respected as hard-working, dedicated branch activists. Their expulsion, and the failure of their subsequent appeal against the decision, has shocked UNISON members. Candy gave an impassioned speech in which she reaffirmed her and Dave’s determination to be accepted back into the union they have worked so hard for, and presented her membership application form to the red-faced officials on the panel. Several emergency motions in support of Dave and Candy’s case were submitted to the AGM, all of which were carried unanimously (see Motions, below).
All motions submitted to the AGM were passed with the exception of one. It is significant that the one lost motion was critical of the union leadership and was officially opposed by the regional committee. This was Bromley LG’s motion no. 6, “Funding new Labour – Let the Members Decide”, which argued that UNISON’s members should have the right to choose, via a ballot, whether or not their union should continue to finance and affiliate to New Labour given the government’s anti-union, pro-privatisation stance (as seen for instance in the fire brigades’ dispute). The motion was defeated.
The motions which were carried at the AGM are summarised below.
Motion
1 from Regional Women’s Committee:Amendment to regional rule book.
Motion to amend the constitution so that women members are represented proportionally on the committee. Two thirds of UNISON’s members are women, so from now on two thirds of the posts on the regional committee will also be women only.
Motion
2 from St Mary’s Paddington Health branch: Campaign against privatisation.
Calls for that UNISON’s NEC to demand that the TUC steps up the campaign against privatisation and PFI in the public sector, as existing campaigns have so far produced negligible results.
Motion
3 from Bromley LG branch: Pension Rights
Part-time workers have recently won a legal battle for full rights to employers’ pension schemes, but the Inland Revenue has refused to grant tax exemptions to backdated contributions, meaning that employees will have to fork out thousands of pounds in backdated contributions. The motion calls for the unions to demand compensation payments for this as part of any settlement negotiations.
Calls for UNSION Region to campaign against the US & UK’s drive to war against Iraq, to donate £500 to the Stop the War coalition and to promote their activities.
In response to the election of BNP councillors in Burnley, Blackburn and other towns last year, this motion resolves that the Region affiliates to the Anti-Nazi League and supports anti-racist/anti-nazi initiatives locally and nationally, especially the Promoting Harmony event in Manchester on 26th April.
Recognises and applauds the escalating strike action which has been taken by UNISON members. Instructs Regional council to submit the following to the National Delegate Conference:-
“It is
vital that our Union backs members who are forced to take strike action in
line with the Union’s rules. Conference believes that UNISON must ensure that
it has sufficient resources to back our members with strike pay. This Conference
therefore instructs the National Executive Council to ensure, with effect
from the UNISON financial year 2004, that a minimum of 3% of the union’s gross
income is paid annually into the Industrial Action Fund maintained in accordance
with Rule 0.5”.
(see also Emergency Motion on London Weighting strike pay)
Motion
8 from Westminster LG branch : Westminster privatisation – the role of UNISON
and anti-trade union laws
The original motion was extremely critical of full-time UNISON officers’ role in the Westminster council workers’ struggle against privatisation, and accuses them of “shame and total cowardice” . For example, UNISON nationally did not publicise or support the dispute, or send any officers to meetings or pickets, and imposed alternative, less effective industrial action over the strike action for which the branch members had voted democratically. Members subsequently felt that they had been “sold out” by their union, and this motion called for UNISON to take a stronger stand in support of members who strike to protect jobs and services. The Regional Committee put forward an amendment which toned down the motion, removing all critical references to the union and its affiliation with the Labour Party. The amendment was carried, rendering the motion largely meaningless.
Instructs Regional committee to investigate ways in which UNISON may assist the Rape Crisis Federation to secure adequate funding from the Government in order to keep the vital services of the Rape Crisis Centres running, and to refer this to the National Executive Committee.
Motion
10 from Lambeth LG branch : Democracy in UNISON
Opposes the “unnecessary and restrictive guidelines” issued by the National Executive Council on union democracy, and calls for Regional Committee to develop a critique of these guidelines and to propose and promote a more positive alternative.
Motion
11 from Waltham Forest LG branch : London Hazards Centre
Notes the threat from the Association of London Government (ALG) to cut funding to the London Hazards Centre (LHC) (to which UCL UNISON is affiliated). Calls for UNISON regional council to lobby the ALG Grants committee (including using its influence on Labour Councillors via the Affiliated Political Fund), and to affiliate to the LHC.
Motion
12 from Hackney LG branch : Fight Racism
Notes the victimisation of the 3 Hackney UNISON branch officers who have been sacked following their exposure of racism within Hackney council. Resolves to demand their reinstatement, to publicise their case, and to support any industrial action taken by Hackney members in support of their sacked colleagues.
Motion
13 from LFEPA LG branch : Stop these political prosecutions now
Notes the arrests of 42 anti-capitalist activists in Italy following the peaceful European Social Forum event in Florence in November 2002. All of those arrested were involved in organising the highly successful international forum. The motion instructs Regional Council to write to the Italian Ambassador to express UNISON’s concern over these political persecutions.
Emergency
Motions
There was no time to debate the emergency motions, but a vote was taken on each one without any debate, and all were carried.
London Weighting Strike Pay (from Camden LG branch)
Instructs the Regional Finance Team to allocate over £95000 to a fund to support members who take strike action over London Weighting. Also instructs Region to submit a motion to National Conference demanding the union’s full support, including financial support, for claims for Regional Cost of Living Supplements and for industrial action taken in pursuit of these claims.
Conflict in Iraq (from Islington LG branch)
Instructs UNISON to join other national unions in calling for a special TUC conference on the Iraq crisis, and for UNISON to use its influences within the Labour Party to call for a special Labour Party Conference on the war.
Dave
Carr and Candy Udwin
Both Camden and Islington LG branches tabled emergency motions in support of Dave and Candy following their expulsion from UNISON. Camden’s motion instructs Regional Council to send a message of support to them, to write to Dave Prentis and the NEC expressing outrage at their expulsion, and to circulate a petition for their reinstatement. Islington’s motion calls for UNISON to conduct an investigation into their case, to support them in the event of further victimisation by their employer, to reinstate their membership, and to publicise their case nationally.
Finally, the AGM voted on which two of the above motions would be taken forward by Regional Council to the National Delegates’ Conference. The two motions chosen were no. 3, Pension Rights, and the emergency motion on London Weighting Strike Pay.
14/03/03