UNISON'S “DAWN RAIDS” BREAK RULES

Not surprisingly the raids on three UNISON offices in Greater London have angered UNISON members across the country, and have shocked a number of the union's own officials. The common link is that the Branch Secretary's of these branches had been disciplined by UNISON in the case revolving around the Three Wise Monkeys leaflet distributed outside UNISON's Annual Delegate Conference. This explanation has more credibility that the claim that the branches were “failing” in some way, and is consistent with a bias against left wing UNISON members detailed below.

Of particular concern is the cancellation of the Annual General Meeting of one of the affected branches, denying members of the Branch the right to run their own Branch affairs.

Neither the National Executive Council nor any of its subordinate committees has sanctioned these actions, which breach Rules B.2.2, B.2.4, B.2.5 and G.8.8.1.

These actions appear to be a continuation of the trend of a biased political interpretation of the rules recently demonstrated in a case brought to the Certification Officer, Bedale v UNISON, where left wing UNISON members are penalised and/or punished whereas right wing members are allowed to break the rules. This in itself is a breach of Rule A.3.

The officials should be withdrawn from these Branches, and their members' right to run them should be restored. As one UNISON member commented, “If UNISON was as hard on the employers as they have been on these Branches I'd be impressed!”