On the
first day of this year’s Unison annual conference in Brighton,
Dave Prentis, general secretary of the public sector union, stirred angry
delegates to their feet with his keynote speech. After decrying the MPs and
their expenses scandal he went on to outline the horrors of life for ordinary
people trying to get through the current economic crisis and in the face of the
‘lunacy’ of the government’s policies. He said that those MPs who claimed to
have broken no rules had indeed broken rules: the rules of decency. He
ridiculed the aborted Blairite rebellion and those who thought that the
problems of the Labour government could be solved by bringing in someone who
‘had a better smile on facebook,’
Prentis
went on, however, after attacking the ongoing government policy of
privatisation, to take the conference by surprise by calling on the Unison
Labour Link (which is responsible for the handling of the union’s political
levy cash) to suspend all constituency development payments to local Labour
parties.
He explained
that Unison should only support and work with MPs who in turn support the union’s aims and policies and
oppose outsourcing, privatisation and cuts. He then went on to say that Unison
would not call on members to vote Labour without real change. He said that the
campaign ‘A Million Votes For Change’ would be the biggest campaign the union
had ever launched.
Back in
2003, Prentis made a speech where he defended the Labour Link, arguing that New
Labour was the “cuckoo in the nest” in the Labour Party. He rejected calls for
a new workers party saying “we already have one – we need to take it back!”
Socialist Appeal supported that call but we were to see little sign of it being
implemented by the Unison leadership.
Six years
on, it seems that Dave Prentis may now be acting on that rhetoric. But rhetoric
which brings about standing ovations in conferences is of little help if that
is all it is. In practice the proposals on funding will have little effect by
its self since the union affiliation fees will
still be paid and the development cash for this year has already gone
out, meaning the next amount will be due after the next election. We should also
remember that we have had fighting talk from union leaders before who have then
gone on to shore up the Labour leadership, including the pushing through of
Brown as unelected leader.
Unison activists must now use the Labour Link
and put in place a programme to take back the Labour Party for the working
class on the basis of socialist policies. John McDonnell has already responded
to Prentis’ speech by calling for Unison to work with him and the campaign
group in supporting Left Labour MPs. That call should not be left on the table.
Eyes will now be on the National Labour
Link Forum meeting in Manchester
in July and the elections for the National Labour Link Forum over the summer.
The task is to ensure that the forum begins the task of defending and promoting
unison’s aims inside the party rather than being a prop for Brown and the rest
of the New Labour clique. Unison can lead the way with other unions and genuine
party activists in throwing out the disgusting New Labour careerists onto the
street and ensure that the damage they have done is repaired as soon as
possible. This should go hand in hand with ensuring that Unison responses to
the coming massive attack on public services with a programme of clear
militancy.
