The Decision of the Socialist Party to Stand a Candidate, Knowing They Had no Chance of Winning was Sheer Madness
Useless right-winger Christine McAnea is narrowly elected thanks to the self-destructive sectarianism of the left |
UNISON
has been controlled by the right-wing ever since it was founded. First Rodney Bickerstaffe and then the
insipid Blairite clone Dave Prentis were General Secretary. Under Prentis UNISON became a byword for
political corruption when he was found to have cheated,
enlisting paid union officials in London as part of his campaign.
A genuine working class activist who would have turned UNISON into the fighting union it should be |
Christine McAnea, a former
assistant general secretary, was narrowly backed by the National Executive polling
63,900 votes, 47.7 per cent of the vote. Paul Holmes, a genuine working class candidate
who promised to do the job on a workers’ wage, received the nomination of both
the South East and North West regions. Paul received 45,220 votes.
Roger McKenzie, the
soft left candidate who was supported by Jeremy Corbyn, came third with 14,450
votes and Hugo Pierre of the Socialist Party was last with 10,382 votes.
It is clear that a
single left candidate could have won. A combined left campaign could have made
the difference. If Hugo Pierre had pulled out pressure could have been put on
McKenzie to do the same. It was sheer sectarian madness, a classic case of building
the party at the expense of the class, which led to Pierre to stubbornly
refusing to quit despite having no chance whatsoever.
For 10 years,
throughout the years of austerity of Cameron, May and Johnson, Prentis did all
he could to damp down action against the Tories/Lib Dems savage cuts in local government.
Workers in Southampton Council having been betrayed simply switched to Unite.
I was suspended
for 3 years from UNISON for publicly
criticising Steve Terry, a London regional official who scabbed on Stan
Keable who was sacked when on a demonstration he argued, quite correctly, that
the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis during the war. A clear case of free
speech but Terry, being a right-wing Progress councillor on Walthamstow Council, refused
to give Stan any support and even acted to prevent me representing him at an
appeal hearing at Fulham and Hammersmith Council.
Despite failing to
give Stan any support he easily won his Employment Tribunal case, the appeal
for which is currently being heard before the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Dave Prentis - in a competition with Keir Starmer, its difficult to know who is the more charismatic - his only talent was for running the union like a mafia boss |
UNISON is a rich
union with at least £100 million in reserve. It is in an excellent position to
mount a fightback against the cuts in local government yet its only
achievements have been to feather the nest of its unelected, unaccountable
officials. When disciplinary action was first taken against me who did I deal
with but a Beth Bickerstaffe, the Executive Secretary.
It was I thought a
strange coincidence that she shared the same unusual surname with the first
General Secretary, Rodney Bickerstaffe.
But having inquired of her, without success, whether she was any
relation, I later learnt that she was his daughter-in-law!
I am sure that her
interview was one of those equal opportunities interviews, except that she
seems to have been more equal than the rest!
Either way the
General Secretary election was a golden opportunity to sweep the right-wing out
of the union and transform UNISON into a fighting union. Careerism and left sectarianism
have ensured that the right-wing narrowly retains their hold.
There will be fresh
elections in 5 years time. I just hope
that the Socialist Party has learnt its lesson and doesn’t split the vote again
for narrow sectarian party building purposes. The purpose of left groups it to
increase the fighting capacity of the working class not to let the right-wing of
the trade union movement retain their grip.
Tony Greenstein
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