Our
call for an independent investigation - Standards worse than a Council’s?
To date there has been no independent investigation.
As union reps we have direct
experience of employers/organisations making decisions or taking actions at the
detriment of the workforce or the community and on occasions we quite rightly
make demands for independent investigations.
So if it is ok for trade
unions to call for independent inquiries why is Unison refusing to organise an
independent investigation?
In the case of Hillsborough,
sadly it took 27 years and hard campaigning by families and their supporters to
reach the truth about what really happened on that day. In the London
Borough of Barnet, where some residents were unable to vote on 5 May 2016 there has been a
widespread call for an independent inquiry. Barnet Council has recognised it can't investigate itself so an independent external investigation is taking
place. Furthermore there was a cross party agreement to widen the terms of
reference of the investigation.
Now, just imagine a
recording appears of a workplace meeting attended by all of your local
Council’s senior officers discussing how to campaign to keep the local
incumbent mayor or leader in office. Then imagine them laughing at procedures
in place to ensure a ‘free and fair’ election.
If this happened where you
live would you expect a departmental director to be appointed to investigate
the alleged actions of the Chief Executive or Council Leader?
Would you expect those
senior officers to carry on working while the investigation was underway?
Would you expect senior
council officers to release a statement declaring the recording had been
doctored without any explanation before an Investigator had completed their
work?
No? In fact, the likely
outcome of such interference is that the chief officers would be suspended and
an independent investigator would be appointed.
And yet our election for General Secretary
is about the leadership of a union with 1.3 million members – only London among
British cities has a larger electorate –
and so far there is no
independent investigation to
determine the extent of interference and who was responsible for it.
We need a union fully
committed to winning the best possible deal for our members whose subs pay officers’ wages (and final salary pension!).
Especially at a time when the public sector and its workforce faces ferocious
attacks from a Tory government we need a union where members can be confident
that officers are working tirelessly to fight jobs cuts, privatisation and the
erosion of their real pay and pensions.
That is why we are campaigning for an Independent Investigation.
You can sign our live online
petition requesting an
independent investigation here
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