One of the 'Unison Four' now expelled

Onay Kasab addresses 200 trade unionists, community campaigners and service users marched in Greenwich borough, south London, against the local council's brutal cuts package, photo Lorraine Dardis   (Click to enlarge)

At 10.30am on 8 March, Unison made the decision to expel Onay Kasab from the union. This follows a witch-hunt that began back in 2007, which led to a two-year ban on holding union office for Onay as well as bans for Glen Kelly, Suzanne Muna and Brian Debus. All four are members of the Socialist Party.

A Greenwich Unison member

A recent Employment Tribunal found that all four had been unjustifiably disciplined by Unison. However, instead of accepting this decision, the union has chosen to divert attention and finance away from the fight against the cuts and launch an appeal.

This is despite the verdict of the tribunal being unanimous, damning of the union and also concluding that the four had in no way acted in a manner that deserved such disciplinary action.

The latest charge against Onay, which led to the decision to expel him, was that he has acted to Unison's detriment by being active in Unite. The reality is that Unison had not only banned Onay from being an elected representative, but Unison was also doing everything in its power to prevent Onay from playing any kind of role, even as a rank and file member.

The Greenwich Unison branch has been taken into 'regional administration'. No meetings ever take place, no communication goes out to members, calls to the office are not answered and all stewards and officers have been derecognised, not by the employer but by the union!

In light of the cuts being imposed in Greenwich, Onay joined Unite (while keeping his Unison membership) in order to continue to fight as a trade unionist.

Unison conference 2009: Brian Debus, Onay Kasab and Glenn Kelly,

At the same time and in disgust at Unison's witch-hunt, many Greenwich Unison members have left Unison and joined Unite. This should come as no surprise.

Hundreds wrote to Dave Prentis, Unison general secretary, saying they would do this if the witch-hunt continued. Now Onay is being blamed for these members resigning!

The disciplinary hearing itself was a travesty. No convincing evidence was presented to back up the charge.
The investigation was incomplete. No witnesses appeared to back up the union's case.

Confidential post was intercepted and used by the union, possibly breaching data protection legislation. The union's key piece of evidence was not even presented during the investigation.

In fact the standard of the investigation and the hearing itself fell below what most union representatives would expect from the employers. This expulsion sends the message to all Unison members that the union prioritises attacking its own activists over fighting the cuts.

More effort is spent fighting activists than the employers. Unison members in Greenwich will now question even further the value of continuing in Unison membership.

A fight has to be mounted for democracy in Unison. This can only come by replacing the current cowardly and witch-hunting leadership with a fighting, democratic leadership.

In Greenwich, Onay Kasab will be standing for the leadership of the newly merged Greenwich Unite branch, on the basis of building a member- led, united fightback union branch prepared to fight the employers.
In the fight against the cuts, we need democracy, not bureaucracy!

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Send messages of protest to Unison HQ: Unison, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ .
Telephone: 0845 355 0845
e-mail: d.prentis@unison.co.uk
Also send to: Defend the Four Campaign, PO Box 858 London E11 1YG.

Coalition steps up assault on NHS

RECENTLY, THE anti-cuts website False Economy published its findings from NHS Trusts which showed that well over 50,000 health workers' jobs will be axed. These job losses, as well as hospital A&E, ward and department closures, show that David Cameron's general election pledge, that spending on NHS services would be protected by the government, is just hogwash.

Roger Davey, Unison health executive (writing in a personal capacity), explains how the NHS is being systematically destroyed by the government, and what is needed to fight this assault on our health services.

Nobody should underestimate the scale and nature of the coalition government's attack on the NHS. If these proposals are implemented we will see the dismantling, destruction and eventual privatisation of the NHS. It will mean the end of free comprehensive care, and a significant move towards a US-style system.

This programme of privatisation was, of course, begun under the previous Labour government. However, the combining of an acceleration of privatisation with the biggest financial cuts in NHS history will result in a huge wave of ward closures and mass redundancies.

The government's proposals include:

• Giving £80 billion of our NHS money to GP consortiums who are supposed to buy care on our behalf. In reality these organisations are likely to be taken over by private consortiums, accountable to shareholders, who will put the need to make a profit above the interests of patients, and will seek to buy treatment from the cheapest possible provider in the private sector.
• To scrap the NHS as a provider of health care. All NHS organisations will move into or become Foundation Trusts (FTs), which in effect will act like private companies. They will be free to borrow on the financial markets, free to break away from national collective bargaining, and crucially will have the cap on the number of private patients they can treat lifted.
• It is also likely that the government will abolish the tariff pricing system for health treatment. This means that consortiums and private insurance can buy from the cheapest health provider irrespective of the quality of care.

All of this would lead to the growing domination of multinational companies in the provision of health. Increasingly these profit hungry giants will take over FTs and other former NHS organisations.

However, the government will face enormous opposition from NHS workers and the wider community in trying to implement this programme.

If the health unions lead an effective opposition the government can certainly be defeated. Unison members are prepared to fight in defence of the NHS and their pay and conditions. That is why the Unison health executive, feeling the pressure from below, overwhelmingly voted to oppose the Unison leadership's attempt to sign up to a completely inadequate deal.

We now have to harness the anger of Unison members in order to organise a struggle to defeat the government's plans. The first step is for a massive mobilisation of health workers to the TUC demo on 26 March. This needs to be a step towards a one-day public sector general strike in opposition to all cuts and privatisation.

3 March 2011

Unison witch-hunt: Reinstate the Four!

Four Socialist Party members, unjustly suspended from office by Unison, have won a major victory at an employment tribunal. On the eve of the Unison national executive last week, a public meeting was held.
The four explained how, after a three-year battle, they have been vindicated. Unison should never have banned them from office. The victory has definitely lifted the morale of Unison activists.

Those present were well aware that the Unison bureaucracy may want to overturn this decision and therefore appeal against it.

Unison branches should pass the latest Defend the Four motion (below) calling for the bans to be lifted and send it to Unison general secretary Dave Prentis.

A noisy lobby of the Unison executive took place the following morning. Around 30 people demanded justice.

Those executive members who have supported the witch-hunt were left in no doubt that the campaign goes on till the bans are lifted.

This Branch welcomes the ruling of the outcome of the recent Employment Tribunal between Glenn Kelly, Onay Kasab, Brian Debus and Suzanne Muna and Unison.

The Judgement stated: "The unanimous judgement of the tribunal is that all the claimants were unjustifiably disciplined contrary to section 64 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidated) Act 1992."

This means Glenn Kelly, Suzanne Muna, Onay Kasab and Brian Debus should never have been disciplined let alone barred from holding office.

This follows a determined campaign by the four and their supporters which has lasted for over three years in which it was widely recognised that the persecution of the four was because they challenged the union leadership and had nothing to do with the disgraceful smear of racism.

We call on Unison to immediately lift the ban on the four from holding office and to end the "regional supervision" of the Bromley, Greenwich and TSA Unison branches.

Unison should desist from spending any more time and money trying to bar these members from holding office.

For more information visit http://www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk/

3 March 2011

Defending jobs in South Wales

Trade unionists, community campaigners and young people from all over South Wales will descend upon Pontypridd on 19 January for a demonstration called by Unison. We will be protesting against cuts to public services and jobs in Wales, specifically those being made at Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council, a Labour run authority.

Jamie Davis, Vale of Glamorgan Unison, personal capacity

Following on from a similar move at Labour controlled Neath Port Talbot council last year, the workforce were told their contracts were to be terminated, and that they would be given the option of signing new contracts with worsened terms and conditions.

After the joint trade unions formally registered a dispute, the council announced they were not prepared to participate in mediation with the joint secretaries of the Welsh Local Government Association and the trade unions.

The Unison and GMB branches have subsequently initiated a ballot for industrial action.

At a question and answer session for Labour Party members last weekend, Ed Miliband's advice to council workers in RCT was: "Blame the Tory government" - little comfort when trying to pay the bills.

Labour councils willing to wield the axe of Con-Dem cuts against their workers and community must be made to understand that they will face the full might of not just the trade union movement, but all those whose lives will be devastated by the programme of destruction that they allow to happen.

16 February 2011

No to Cutts!

Nottinghamshire county council Unison is balloting for strike action against the Tory administration of councillor Kay Cutts. On 24 February Unison hopes to strike and will be organising a demonstration to the budget setting meeting at County Hall.

The council leader has the right name - £87 million of cuts are planned for this coming year and £154 million over three years. The council is prepared to spend £60 million to make 3,500 workers redundant!
Against these attacks Notts Unison has fought a long hard battle. It has conducted a twelve week work to rule, three indicative ballots and is now in its second formal ballot for action. Scores of workplace meetings have taken place.

Greater support is now being offered to the branch from Unison regionally and nationally. But this has only been after a lot of pressure was exerted.

Some members feel isolated and can't see how to overcome the council's butchery of jobs and services. This can be overcome by Unison linking all local government struggles together: to use our collective strength in wide-scale coordinated industrial action.

By a Unison member

16 February 2011

Scottish Unison members oppose leadership's sell-out

Just days before councils across Scotland meet to slash public services, the February meeting of Unison Scottish Council was presented with a paper for debate entitled The Public Sector Workforce Framework.

A Scottish Unison member

The paper, marked "strictly not for publication" was the product of continuing discussions between the Scottish government, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).

The paper's stated aim was "the pursuit of the goal of no compulsory redundancies in exchange for agreement to real and meaningful working practices that allow employers to generate the package of savings required to fund this goal".

Social care workers on strike in Scotland, photo Duncan Brown   (Click to enlarge)

An hour before the full council, the union's Scottish Committee meeting had debated the paper and, on a narrow vote of eleven to eight, recommended acceptance.

The document represented a thinly disguised attempt by a section of the Unison Scottish leadership to overturn the Unison council's position for coordinated industrial action to defeat cuts, as proposed by the Glasgow City Unison branch and agreed at the council's previous meeting in December.

Also agreed in December was the call for councils to set needs budgets and to call on elected politicians to refuse to make cuts. However, the proposed document shows that the Scottish leadership accepts cuts are inevitable.

The debate was sharp and protracted with many delegates opposing on two counts: firstly, over being 'bounced' into making a decision without time to consult members; secondly, that the content of the proposal represented a 'sell-out' of the membership in advance of any struggle against the employers.

Branch delegations that had consistently supported the leadership previously were split, in one case providing speakers both for and against the motion.

It was unfortunate that some delegates who consider themselves to be on the left were pushing for acceptance, arguing for the 'new reality' of reduced council budgets.

One delegate, a member of Socialist Appeal, explained that his branch had adopted a similar approach twelve months ago when it became clear that the council would be heading for a crisis.

Speaker after speaker condemned, not only the intention of the proposal, but the signal that it would send to employers who would use it to undermine local action.

If carried it would also represent a severe blow to the morale of the membership who are looking for a firm lead from the union at this time. After over an hour of debate the meeting voted to reject the partnership framework by a big majority.

This represents a victory for Unison members who want the union to have a clear strategy to defeat the cuts.

10 February 2011