16 April 2025 NEC Report

The Committee received the General Secretary Report and the Presidential Team Report. The President highlighted the success of inviting striking workers to conferences, with the recent Health Care Sector Conference being a good example. The striking workers there included the Mental Health workers from Greater Manchester Mental Health services, which is an ongoing dispute.

The main issues of the meeting was to debate and to plan the National Delegate Conference (NDC) business, and in particular, to agree the recommendations from the NEC committees on provisional policy motions and proposed NEC amendments to motions for NDC.

This was always going to be a contentious discussion, and turned out to be a heated debate that exposed the immense chasm between the left on one side, and the Right-wing & bureaucracy on the other. A number of motions became battlegrounds for the competing perspectives on the future of our union.

With the General Secretary election later in the year, and the NEC elections imminent, the NDC in June has taken on a greater significance. This conference is going to be a battleground itself, withright-wing attempting to push back the progressive changes  Time For Real Change (TFRC) and the left have been successful introducing into the union. But also the NDC will present a further opportunity for TFRC to continue on the trajectory of reforming the democratic structures of UNISON and putting it on a more fighting footing, which threatens the bureaucracy. It seems that the stakes are getting higher, and the right-wing and bureaucracy are getting more desperate in their attempts to push back on the gains that we  are making in transforming the union.

The more controversial motions included:

Motion 65 – “Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance`s Working Definition of Antisemitism”. This motion had to be amended by the left to make clear that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” We believe that the trade union movement has a crucial role to play in resisting the oppression of Palestinians and solidarity demonstrators as we have with so many other instances of repression. The idea of this being anti-semitism is a gross insult to workers of all backgrounds and trivialises the struggle against legitimate instances of anti-semitism. The left were able to get our amendment passed.

Motion 67 – “Welcoming the Employment Rights bill and Building for a Stronger Future” amendments were made and it was deferred back to the Policy Development and Campaign Committee (PDCC). The right-wing wanted a motion that ignored the shortcomings within this Act which does not include a  ban on ‘fire and rehire’ practices, limited movement on zero-hour contracts, climb-downs on employment rights from day one and so on. These are dangerous precedents, with the current Labour government’s moves towards delaying the suspension of the Minimum Service Levels, its attacks on welfare and minimal action on the high cost of living pointing towards a general balance in favor of the bosses not workers. 

Motion 79 – “Justice For Palestine. UNISON Solidarity in Action” amendments were made that strengthened this motion. The left were able to add to this motion.

Motion 88 – “Fund UNISON Welfare”. This motion exposed the cynical and almost comical approach of the right-wing and bureaucracy, as they tried to use this motion as a “political football” to portray TFRC as not caring about our members` welfare. The debate included bullying and personal attacks on Socialist Alternative members and TFRC supporters, as the right-wing made spurious and unfounded attacks on TFRC, but NEC voted to withdraw this motion. The bureaucracy had created a logistical nightmare by having the motion presented to two committees, which had some overlapping membership, with the committees taking opposing views on the motion. With collective responsibility operating in the committees, it was strong chairing, by the President, that was able to cut across the potential confusion. To those present in the room, it was obvious that the right-wing had strategically used this motion to use as a weapon at NDC. They failed.

Motion 40 – “Police Staff Cuts”. Another controversial motion that the right-wing wanted to get on the floor at NDC, as a weapon against the Left and TFRC in particular. There was a heated debate on the different perspectives on the Police, and the differences with Police Staff. There was an agreed position on the wording, so that “Police Staff” was used when referring to our members and not “Police Service”.

We moved on to NDC Agenda Priorities, where TFRC wanted to scrap the usual practice of selecting 12 NEC motions for discussion at NDC, and include other motions from branches that would not likely get a voice at NDC in order to further the campaign for increased lay democracy within UNISON. This process of amplifying rank-and-file voices within the union was opposed by the right-wing and bureaucracy, including the Communist Party members on the NEC. They tried to derail this innovative and inclusive approach proposed by TFRC, and they simply exposed their own sectarian and conservative political perspective. There was a pettiness and an obvious attempt to frustrate change within the union, that seemed to expose the dearth of political ideas within their camp.

During the NEC meeting a Socialist Alternative comrade raised a question on whether the general secretary was planning to respond to the Supreme Court’s horrendous attack on the Trans Community shortly after it was announced. UNISON has to take a lead on this issue. 

The NEC meeting was an important victory for the Left in UNISON in the face of a fierce push by the right-wing and the bureaucracy. TFRC were able to remove or postpone the key motions that the right-wing were wanting to use at NDC as vectors of attack on progressive change within the union, but a few of these struggles have been delayed rather than resolved, and will resurface at the next NEC meeting in May.

The next NEC meeting is 21st May, and will likely see an intensification of the tensions and struggles. It will remind us to redouble our efforts to build the Left and particularly SA in UNISON, as we move from the NEC elections towards the General Secretary election, likely to be in the last quarter of the year.