It’s Time for Real Change in UNISON

rs21 members in UNISON explain why the elections currently underway are so important, and hold out hope for a radical shift in Britain’s biggest union.

UNISON, which organises workers across public services, is widely perceived in the movement as right-wing and a bit useless. The reality is more complicated.

Since the left took control of the union’s leading body, the National Executive Committee (NEC) a few years ago, they have moved the union towards an organising and campaigning approach rather than just providing services to individual members. UNISON has been growing both its membership and activist base for the last few years, as well as being involved in quite a few strikes, helped by increased strike pay.

Christina McAnea, like her predecessor Dave Prentis, is a centrist bureaucrat who backs the Labour Party leadership, and so are the bulk of UNISON’s huge bureaucracy of paid staff. Their control over the apparatus, resources and union communications means that reforming UNISON faces obstacles at every turn.

Two key elections this year

This year sees two key elections. Members have been sent ballot papers by post to vote to elect a new NEC, with voting closing on 21 May. The left is mainly organised through Time for Real Change (TfRC), and activists should campaign to elect the TfRC candidates. This time TfRC and the Socialist Party (SP), who are standing several candidates, have managed to agree not to stand against each other. The right-wing or pro-bureaucracy faction is Members Together. They have stood aside to give some candidates in the North West who claim to be ‘independent’ a free run against TfRC in several seats. These so-called independents are now branding themselves the ‘organised left’ and it is disappointing to see some good activists working with the right against TfRC.

One of the reasons this year’s NEC election is so important is that it will be followed by a General Secretary election, with voting taking place from 29 October and 28 November. Andrea Egan is the left candidate. In 2020 there were four candidates and McAnea won with 47.7% of the vote. This time Egan is expected to be the only left candidate and has a good chance of winning.

On big political issues such as Palestine, climate or trans rights, UNISON’s policies are often to the left of those of unions like Unite which are generally seen as more radical. However, the right’s control of the machine often leaves policies democratically decided by conference delegates as little more than words on a page.

As UNISON members work in public services, politics plays a big part in many industrial issues. UNISON suffers from a ‘Labour link’ structure that makes its relationship with the Labour Party largely unaccountable to the membership as a whole. The bureaucracy often prioritises relationships with Labour over the interests of members, obstructing effective campaigning. Egan, who was witch-hunted from Labour, has been outspoken in her views on issues including benefit cuts, trans rights, public ownership, austerity, and Palestine – a big contrast with the approach from McAnea.

The turn to organising still has a long way to go. UNISON, like Unite and GMB, has generally been unable to hit the turnout thresholds in the big bargaining units in local government, health and higher education. Activists are routinely denied access to the information and resources they need to campaign effectively. Ballot and industrial action processes are slower and more cumbersome than in many other unions.

Bureaucracy undermines democracy

There are some objective reasons why UNISON might be more bureaucratic than some other unions. UNISON branches get a much higher proportion of subs than in many other unions, bringing resources closer to members – a real strength. But UNISON is dominated by large branches, often with thousands of members. These often have their own staff alongside elected branch officers doing union business full-time, so the boundaries between activists and the bureaucracy of staff employed by UNISON is blurred with a big ‘lay bureaucracy’.

UNISON’s bureaucracy seriously undermines its democracy. A huge proportion of motions get ruled out of order, often on ludicrous grounds and unshared and paranoid legal advice, at every conference, denying members the opportunity to debate and decide their own policy. This reflects both the bureaucracy trying to control union policy and treating protecting the union as an institution as a higher priority than protecting members.

Defend trans people

This week has seen a prime example of the bureaucracy undermining democracy. UNISON’s women’s conference earlier in the year passed great policy on trans rights, stating that ‘Trans women are women and trans men are men’, ‘women’s rights are not diminished by Trans people having more rights’ and ‘when we unite and organise together, we can often win more rights for all’. After the supreme court decision, many branches and activists shared images like the one below highlighting this. The left-led NEC asked for a national statement. Eventually the bureaucracy put out this dismal statement taking for granted that UNISON would accept the new ruling rather than campaigning to overturn it in line with democratically agreed policies and giving ground to a framing of the issue that pits trans, non-binary, intersex and gender queer people against cis women. A desire to avoid conflict with the Starmer government is likely a factor in this passive response. TfRC activists are busy working to assert member control over policy and to push back on the statement.

TfRC isn’t perfect. It is very focused on winning elections within UNISON and doesn’t pay enough attention to democratising the union. Though supportive of the rank and file against the bureaucracy, TfRC doesn’t really have a rank-and-file orientation and would benefit from more space for discussion and democratic decision-making. The more successful we are in getting candidates elected into positions, the more important it is that the left organises democratically to hold them to account and help them stand up to the pressures that come with high office. Nonetheless, it would be a huge step forward for the movement if the left can win both the NEC and General Secretary elections in UNISON. Help make it happen.