Unison local government conference delegates
On the eve of the expected election of a new Labour government, after 14 years of savage Tory cuts to services, jobs and pay, delegates met for the local government conference of Unison, the biggest public sector trade union.
At first it looked like it could be the ‘usual’ conference with little or no debate, carefully crafted by the leadership through standing orders. Socialist Party members intervened from the very start of conference.
Motions calling on the union to develop an anti-cuts strategy – to call on councils to implement no-cuts needs-based budgets and for national strike action to win a £4 billion emergency government funding package, as well as funding lost through austerity – were ruled off the agenda by the right wing and not even printed. Conference overwhelmingly backed our calls to have the right to debate them, but the right wing-dominated Standing Orders Committee continued to rule that they should not be debated due to the spurious alleged risk of ‘legal jeopardy’.
A lunchtime official Unison fringe meeting organised by the Local Government Service Group Executive (SGE – led by the ‘Time for Real Change’ group, TFRC) explained the horrors facing local communities, but only proposed a limited strategy to fight for funding for our councils. Many speakers from the floor made the point that our conference was not being allowed to discuss a full strategy. They wanted to know ‘Where is our union’ in fighting against the most brutal cuts under S114 notices, especially under a Starmer government. We cannot just accept that the devastation of local government continues.
Packed fringe meeting
On the biggest issue facing local government members, there was a clear mood to fight. This was reflected in the fringe meeting on Monday lunchtime, organised by Nottingham City, Surrey County, Carmarthenshire County and Southwark branches, and sponsored by Hounslow, Knowsley, Hackney and Dundee. The speakers raised the strategy that couldn’t be heard on the conference floor to 80 delegates and visitors from a wide range of branches. Delegates signed up to campaign over the next year to challenge the official position and fight for jobs and services now.
Socialist Party members identified two motions that required immediate challenge. The first came in the SGE motion on including the Foundation Living Wage as part of a pay strategy. If agreed by conference, it would have meant adopting a policy that accepted that the lowest-paid council workers would be on not just less than the current Unison claim, but even on less than the current pay offer, which Unison members are being asked to reject in the national consultation!
Delegates from Knowsley opened up the opposition debate and shifted the conference. The motion was defeated by an overwhelming majority.
Fight all cuts
The other motion we opposed was proposed by the national Black Members’ Committee. It was moved with good intentions: to protect Black workers who have faced a disproportionate impact of austerity.
However, the lack of leadership, often blocking real attempts to fight the massive scale of cuts, can lead to a section of the most oppressed members sometimes look to equalising the harm. Unfortunately, while exposing the genuine problems faced by Black members, the motion text accepted the need for cuts. It could also potentially lead to workplace division, placing priority for one section of the workforce over another when impacted by cuts.
Surrey and Hackney delegates raised these points from the rostrum, calling for a united front against all cuts, to warm reception from a layer of conference delegates. The TFRC-led executive was left searching for speakers in favour, and at the end of the first day of conference a point of order was placed to end the debate.
The motion was narrowly passed but once again showed the limitations of the TFRC leadership. As Socialist Party members have consistently warned, if the left-leaning leadership does not put up a fight, it risks losing its majority to the old right wing of the union, as members will not see a real difference.
