Islington UNISON
'A' Branch UNISON's conference in Brighton saw the national leadership getting its way on practically everything by skilfully playing on delegates' misplaced loyalty, and skilful manipulation to push controversial motions at the bottom of the agenda or on the reserve list.
The anger of delegates at the union's prevarication over the NHS pay dispute resulted in the call for a demonstraton demanding 'National Pay for a National Health Service' Otherwise only rule changes livened up an otherwise flat conference; branches voted to raise the local retention of subscriptions from 18% to 21%.
An amendment seeking the adoption of a new rule similar in wording to the old Labour Party and NUPE 'Clause Four' was defeated. However the conference did vote to campaign for a minimum wage of f4.15 and to bring the privatised utilities back into public ownership, putting the whole union to the left of Tony Blair's New Labour Party.
Delegates showed solidarity with over 350 UNISON members on strike in Sheffield libraries, agreeing to hear a speaker and voting a £10,000 donation to strike funds. But a motion calling on the union to defy anti-union laws to protect members if all other avenues fail was heavily defeated.
The Campaign for a Fighting Democratic UNISON (CFDU), the main left tendency, was central to many of the debates at conference, and organised a fringe meeting with Tony Benn which drew over 400 delegates.
But the CFDU has been divided over the issue of whether to run a candidate against Rodney Bickerstaffe in the forthcoming General Secretary election.
While there was agreement that Bickerstaffe's recent support of Clause Four and the left policies of the union's Affiliated Political Fund conference are left activists are concerned at the lack of action on key issues such as privatisation and NHS pay, and the union's compliance with the anti-union laws which allows the employers to get away with their attacks.
This has convinced some left activists that the general secretary election offers an opportunity to debate the best way forward for the union. A majority of the CFDU therefore decided to support Roger Bannister, an NEC member and supporter of Militant Labour, as a candidate on the CFDU platform which includes:
• National action to defend jobs, pay and conditions.
• Defiance of the anti-union laws where members' interests are at stake.
• Support and proper funding for self-organisation.
• Lay member control of the union as opposed to domination by full time officials.
Others on the left argued that Bannister, as a prominent ex-NALGO candidate, would lead to the permanent ghettoisation of the CFDU as a largely ex-NALGO left, and that wider support could be built around the platform of critical support for Bickerstaffe coupled with demands on him.
This disagreement has led to a split in the CFDU, with those opposed to Bannister's candidacy announcing the launch of a new UNISON Labour Left.
The CFDU is urging left activists to organise 'hustings' meetings with Bickerstaffe and Bannister for branches and regions. Nominations are also urgently required, since the closing date is in six weeks. • Details of the CFDU and its campaign can be obtained from Bromley UNISON, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley, BR1 3UH.