"troublesome" left activists.
However, the current spate of investigations is directed essentially at SWP activists such as Dave Carr and Candy Udwin of the UCLH branch, Brian Butterworth of Brent and now Annette Carey of Sheffield.
The national officials have targeted the SWP as they believe that they do not attract much sympathy beyond their own supGet your copy!
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Assistant General Secretary John Chowcat had brought forward charges against General Secretary Roger Lyons and Head of Finance Nelson Mendes in February. The union, supposedly the champion of whistle blowers, suspended Chowcat, while those alleged to have done wrong remained at work. Now he has apparently. been sacked, and is appealing.
Members are not in a position to say whether the charges are founded or not. The Emergency resolutions were concerned rather with how the union had dealt with the subsequent investigation. The whole process was shrouded in secrecy, with even the National Elective Committee being denied detailed reports and union bodies forbidden to discuss the matter.
Despite the fact that some resolutions jumped the barrier of the standing orders committee, conference was undemocratically denied the right to discuss them. The President made a lengthy statement which failed to deal with the key issues of accountability and natural justice addressed in the emergency motions. He then ruled that no further discussion could take place.
The floor reeded a two thirds majority to overturn this - and the motion to overturn goes to the vote without even any motivation. Legitimate points of order questioning the interpretation of the rules were ignored and democracy silenced.
Later on however delegates heard Lyons admit that he had had two salary advances totalling £6000 in the last two years without the NEC's knowledge - this to a man who earns around £80,000. He was pressured to explain why he is not giving the €15,000 he earns at the Monopolies and Mergers Commission back to the union. It is not in the end surprising that Lyons survived - he is a key ally not only of the TUC leadership but also of Blair's New Labour. But the left, once again disorganised and uncombative as a whole at this conference, despite attempts from London and Ireland to steer it in a more positive direction, must find a way to break the log jam. Without a serious frontal challenge the important steps forward at the level of policy that were made will be ignored or sidelined.
Positive decisions there were -including 43 per cent of conference voting for an anti-war resolution and a decision to affiliate to Reclaim our Rights, both in defiance of the top table. But these will not be sufficient to create the kind of union that its members deserve and need.