UNISON - the merger of NALGO, NUPE and COHSE, comes into existence on 1 July.
That's why this week's Brighton NALGO conference has many less resolutions and amendments than before -everything decided will be open to question in UNISON. Nonetheless the left faces important battles, not least the fight to build an organised left in UNISON.
The new union will be the country's biggest. But while the left has always been strong in NALGO, it has been less influential and organised in NUPE and COHSE.
But the new union will immediately be in the forefront of key struggles, as the biggest union in local government, the health service and in numerous public services. All these are under attack from cuts, comcies and privatisation.
The danger from the merger process is that if the left doesn't organise across the three former unions, the right wing in NALGO can link up with the Bickerstaffe-Sawyer NUPE leadership to pull the new union into mainstream new realism.
That's why a meeting is being held at NALGO conference to discuss the possibilities of a united UNISON left; the meeting is sponsored by NEC member Roger Bannister, Islington branch secretary Brian Gardner and Bromley branch secretary Glen Kelly.
Key issues at NALGO conference will include the fight to commit the union to breaking the 1.5 per cent pay limit; to defend NALGO policy of full opposition to anti-union laws and carry that into UNISON; and to challenge general secretary Alan Jinkinson's repudiation of the Islington nursery NALGO fringe meeting: For Fighting Socialist Policies in UNISON. Wednesday 16 June, 6pm, Brighthelm Centre, North Rd.,