Defend the 4 Appeal      |      Defend the 4 Letter      |      Defend the 4 Petition

16 June 2008

Leaflet for Unison conference 2008

Click on the link for the leaflet produced to defend the four at Unison conference

The disciplinary investigation

In June last year the Unison bureaucracy launched a disciplinary investigation into five union officers for daring to print and publish a leaflet attacking the union leadership for blocking the union conference’s right to debate issues such as the funding of the Labour Party, the election of fulltime officials and control over strike action.

A third of all motions were ruled out of order last year and there is growing anger that nearly half of all motions have been ruled out for this year’s conference.

Four of the five under investigation - all Socialist Party members - are now facing a disciplinary hearing. These are - Glenn Kelly, NEC member; Onay Kasab, Greenwich branch secretary; Suzanne Muna, Housing Corporation branch secretary and Brian Debus, Hackney branch chair.

(Continued below)

20 May 2008 update

After three days of hearings at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, at which Glenn Kelly argued his case, the Union ruled that the hearings will continue after the 2008 Unison conference.

Video of lobby

Video of the lobby on the 14th May can be found here

How you can support the four and defend union democracy.

1. Ask supporters to make personal donations to (cheques to 'Stop the witch-hunt' )

2. Make sure supporters sign the petition or letter to show their opposition.

3. Please use the Defend the 4 Appeal, the Defend the 4 Petition, and the Defend the 4 Letter

(Continued...)

All four have a proud record of standing up for their members and leading struggles against their employers and are fully supported by their branches.

"No racist intent" now accepted

Having argued that the leaflet contained discriminatory material the investigation now accepts that there was no racist intent. The four are now being attacked for producing and distributing a leaflet questioning the decisions of the Standing Orders Committee.

This is an outright threat to democracy if members and branches cannot campaign against union decisions.

If our employers had behaved in the way the union has in handling this case there would rightly be uproar. However senior officers of the union are happy to employ the methods of the worst employers in order to silence opposition in the union.

Witch-hunt

The union leadership should be putting their effort into leading a struggle for a decent wage rise and not witch-hunting hard working and respected branch officers.

This is not just an attack on these four. Other activists and branches who stand up to the leadership and challenge decisions have also been disciplined.

A message is being sent out – if you stand up to and challenge the leadership and organise opposition to Labour’s policies then be prepared for being witch-hunted.

September 2007 archive

Defend the five campaign

This campaign has been launched because of the attack by Unison’s leadership on four London branches and five officers of these branches.

The attack began at the June Local Government and National Delegate Conference in Brighton when these branches sought to challenge why our conferences are constantly denied the right to debate issues by the standing orders committee just because some see them as too controversial.

This year we couldn’t even debate the pension’s dispute at our local government conference!! The five officers, under investigation are Glenn Kelly NEC member and Bromley branch secretary, Onay Kasab, Greenwich Branch secretary, Brian Debus and Matthew Waterfall, Hackney branch chair and secretary respectively and Suzanne Muna, housing corporation branch secretary.

Despite the fact that the rules of the union protect the democratic right of members to campaign they are being investigated for producing and handing out a leaflet (below) that complained about the manipulation of the conference agendas by the standing orders committees.

Despite the leaflet making no derogatory remarks about any individual member of the standing orders committee, the former president announced an investigation and then allowed and supported an unsubstantiated and unjustified attack of alleged racism without giving the branches the right to respond.

Well known proverb

The leaflet used the well known Buddhist proverb and cartoon of ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’.

This is a widely used piece of established political satire to express a view of not being heard or listened to; it has no racist connotations.

The fact that black delegates were involved in authorising and agreeing the leaflet as well as handing it out demonstrates that they had no concerns.

As one black delegate said, “They will not be allowed to use the colour of my skin to hide behind their undemocratic attempts to control the conference or the delegates."

The leadership’s attack has nothing to do with taking the issue of racism seriously, but everything to do with attacking branch officers who all have a track record of challenging the leadership and of fighting racism.

These attacks will be vigorously fought, including if necessary appealing to the courts for justice, which the leadership seem intent on denying.

The reality of this attack is that it is part of a wider attempt by the union leadership to clamp down the democratic rights of members and branches.

So fearful are they of the growing opposition to their misrule that they are now seeking to shut down all voices of opposition in the union.

They know that increasingly members are questioning why our leaders fail to give a lead in the fight against low pay, privatisation and the attacks coming from the likes of single status.

In what is supposed to be a union led by the members, in the last couple of months alone they have banned branches from campaigning for a no vote in the pension ballot and distributing NEC member Glenn Kelly’s vote No report.

They threatened Onay Kasab the Greenwich branch secretary because he wrote an article on single status saying that his branch had voted to “reject any proposals that lead to a loss of a single penny from a single unison member”, telling him this was against union policy because “it may be necessary for some members to take a drop in pay to achieve equal pay”!!

They have now told the health branches that they cannot call for their members to reject the pitiful pay offer in their current pay consultation ballot.

The leadership of the union has the temerity to attack UNISON members’ rights in what is supposed to be a member-led union, and they do it in the name of the “democracy in UNISON guidelines”.

They are increasingly distorting the union rules and guidelines on democratic rights to say no branch or individual can campaign on anything that is in opposition to the leadership.

These attacks on democratic rights are part of a general offensive by the leadership to hang onto power no matter what.

They took fright at the recent NEC election results where several prominent right-wingers lost their seats to those who want to see a fighting union.

For some in the leadership even this small gain was too much; they are now prepared to attack the rights of members to stay in power.

We call on all branches and members to oppose the undemocratic witchhunt on these five union activists and begin the fight to win real democratic control over our union.

This branch, having seen the “Let Branches Decide” leaflet, is shocked that the National Union is wasting time, money and resources on an investigation and possible disciplinary action against five branch officials.

We believe it was perfectly legitimate for those branches to have campaigned against the ruling out of one third of conference motions submitted to this year’s conference.

We believe that it was wrong that that the sovereign body of the union was denied the right to debate issues such as pensions, the election of union officials and the control of industrial action being given back to branches.

We believe that these branches should not face attacks for having the temerity to raise complaint when these debates are banned.

The union is misusing the fact that the leaflet used a cartoon, which is in everyday use and is a genuine well-established piece of political satire.

We believe this attack to be nothing more than a politically motivated attack on 4 branches and its lead officers.

1. An end to this investigation.

2. This motion to be sent to the NEC and next Regional Council/Committee.

3. Circulate and encourage members to sign the “Defend the Five Petition".

4. Circulate material from the campaign to members and other branches seeking their support.

Download first leaflet (opens in new window)