16 June 2008
Leaflet for Unison conference
2008
Click
on the link for the leaflet produced to defend the four at Unison
conference
Unison Conference Fringe Meeting
STOP THE WITCH HUNT
- DEFEND THE 4
- FIGHT FOR A DEMOCRATIC UNION
Tuesday 17 th
June 2008, 12.30,
Bournemouth International Hotel, Priory Road
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) |