Unisongate
in Private Eye February 2016
Extracts from Private Eye February 2016 edition:
“Leaked
emails reach the Eye providing more evidence that full-time staff of Unison
mobilised to get general secretary Dave Prentis re-elected in December making
the union’s claim to be a “member-led” look increasingly questionable.”
“The
emails passed to the Eye from within the Prentis campaign indicate that Unison
officials were in fact the backbone of “Team Dave”. The emails were sent by
assistant general secretary Cliff Williams in October and November. The bulk of
the recipients were other Unison officials – a rough count shows 45 of 50
addresses are regional secretaries, head office staff and other unison staff.”
“The
Unison president’s letter to the Eye says this is a non-issue: “The individuals
to whom the Team Dave Update were sent , save for a few are on flexible
contracts and , accordingly, have freedom in how they manage their time.”
“One
striking “Team Dave” note says: “it may be in some circumstance you may be able
to ‘circumvent’ hostile branches by working with sympathetic employer contacts.
I acknowledge that some colleagues may feel this is ethically inappropriate but
it doesn’t breach campaign rules; it will have to be done with caution.”
It
may not break campaign rules, but it still doesn’t look good. Similarly, having
Unison officials lead the Prentis campaign doesn’t match the spirit of the
union being “member led”.
“Meanwhile,
the Eye asked the Electoral Reform Services (which ran the election) what had
become of its investigation into the alleged “organised election abuse” arising
out of the taped meeting…………A spokesperson at the ERs said the complaints had
been passed to Unison, which was also carrying out a disciplinary
investigation.”
“As
the emails disclose, Roger McKenzie, who is carrying out the investigation for
Unison, is a member of “Team Dave”. Unison is preparing a report for Mr Lonie,
which would enable him to decide if the election was properly conducted. Unison
would then in turn report his decision back to its members. Thus it appears
“Team Dave” is effectively left to investigate itself!”
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