Friday 16 May saw two unconnected judgements that
have put a spoke in the wheel of the UNISON bureaucracy’s witch hunt against
prominent lefts in the union. The Certification Officer, that guardian of the
Anti Trade Union laws – handpicked to interfere in union internal business –
has issued rulings in the case of Tony Staunton, the ex Plymouth branch
secretary, who has now been expelled from the union, and also in the case of
Yunus Bahksh, a member of the Health Service Group Executive and a branch
secretary in Newcastle who is, as we have reported previously, suspended
from the union at the moment. In the Plymouth case, UNISON acted outside of its
own rules in disbarring Tony Staunton from standing for the NEC while he was
only suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. The ruling seemed to indicate as
well that, had the case been lodged earlier, the suspension itself
might have been ruled out of order. In Yunus’s case the Certification
Officer found that UNISON had acted illegally in suspending him from
office. The decision means that Yunus should be allowed back immediately
onto the SGE and have his suspension lifted.
While Marxists wouldn’t ideally want to place any
faith in the Certification Officer (the official responsible for sequestrating
union assets) it’s clear that these rulings have revealed the way in which
individuals are being effectively forced out of the union by the UNISON
apparatus with scant respect for the rules. As we have explained before the
UNISON leadership have a responsibility to stand up for the members - not
to waste their time policing the membership and attacking some of the best fighters
that the union has in its ranks. The members deserve better than that. We need
a fighting democratic union.
Stop the witch hunts!
For the election of all union officials!
