Setbacks in Unison elections

The public services Unison has just published the results of the elections to its National Executive elections. The scores for the contested seats are listed below.

The left lost ground across the health sector, and AWL member Kate Ahrens fell victim to that trend, losing her seat by a small margin.

Outside of health, the picture is more mixed picture. The overall balance on the Executive is more or less unchanged.

Some initial comments from some AWL activists in Unison:

• "The overall turnout was again utterly abysmal. The elections therefore mean very little about Unison members in general and their attitude to the different political perspectives - because the vast majority of them didn't vote at all. This was especially true of the health seats, with a turnout of only around 5%".
• "I already had reservations, before the vote, about the Unison United Left's claims that a big victory for the left was likely. But this is a significantly bad result for the left, given the background of the economic crisis".
• "The Socialist Party (which stands outside Unison United Left) did a bit better, and UUL worse, although some results are very close, and the full returns show very high levels of spoiled ballots in some regions".
• "At our regional UNISON left meeting this afternoon the Socialist Party were quite bullish. They were saying that the witch-hunt after a range of left-wing activists in Unison, including SP members, should have had a higher profile in the campaign. The SWP seemed bereft of ideas about what to do. Despite their predictions that crisis would lead automatically to election success, the reality gap hadn't sunk in. John McDermott did win his seat but was forcibkly "withdrawn" from the election by Unison officials on the grounds of his victimisation at work (although he is now back in work)".
• "Unfortunately the working focus of the anti-witch-hunt campaign remains legal action and appeals to the certiification officer. The SP reports that they are taking legal action against Unison".
• "In fact the witchunts are symptomatic of a broader lack of democratic culture inside the union. Defending individuals without also advancing a broader democratic programme is inadequate. The 'Reclaim Our Union' strategy for the Executive elections, focused on the individual witch-hunt cases and adopted at a meeting last autumn by the UUL/SWP and SP, was flawed. It appears to have been outflanked by many right-wing candidates using empty rhetoric and posing left".

BLACK FEMALE
April Ashley 31,410 ELECTED
Sofi Taylor 28,416 ELECTED
Elizabeth Cameron 27,724
Lorraine Mngadi 23,168
June Nelson 20,822

BLACK MALE
Mark Clifford 45,607 ELECTED
Hugo Pierre 31,290

YOUNG MEMBERS
Lisa Waldock 1,013 ELECTED
Chris Leary 724

EASTERN MALE
Kevin O'Grady 2,908 ELECTED
Martin Booth 2,723

EAST MIDLANDS FEMALE
Jean Thorpe 3,937 ELECTED
Moz Greenshields 2,895 ELECTED
Sharon Vasselin 2,524
Roz Norman 2,513

EAST MIDLANDS MALE
Chris Tansley 3,696 ELECTED
Richard Buckwell 3,012

EAST MIDLANDS RESERVED
Ann McMillan Wood 3,559 ELECTED
Karen Collins 2,951

GREATER LONDON FEMALE
Louise Cooling 4,122 ELECTED
Kim Silver 3,833 ELECTED
Sonya Howard 3,696
Mandy Berger 3,490

GREATER LONDON MALE
Jon Rogers 4,490 ELECTED
Conroy Lawrence 3,791

NORTHERN FEMALE
Hannah Walter 3,271 ELECTED
Josie Bird 3,263 ELECTED
Norma Stephenson 3,079

NORTHERN MALE
Paul Thompson 3,164 ELECTED
Alan Docherty 2,745

NORTH WEST GENERAL
Bob Oram 6,075 ELECTED
Alec McFadden 5,790

NORTH WEST FEMALE
Bernie Gallagher 5,981 ELECTED
Elaine Cotterell 5,067 ELECTED
Angela Bowen 5,052
Frances Kelly 3,989

NORTH WEST MALE
Roger Bannister 7,977 ELECTED
James Fallon 3,757

SCOTLAND MALE
Gordon McKay 6,143 ELECTED
Jim Burnett 4,450

SOUTH EAST FEMALE
Jessie Russell 3,754 ELECTED
Kathleen Symonds 3,688 ELECTED
Diana Leach 3,078
Linda Richards 2,815

SOUTH EAST MALE
Mike Tucker 4,320 ELECTED
Mark Fysh 3,262

SOUTH WEST FEMALE
Lesley Discombe 3,907 ELECTED
Tina Baker 2,806

SOUTH WEST MALE
Stephen Warwick 3,767 ELECTED
Nigel Behan 3,014

WEST MIDLANDS FEMALE
Eleanor Smith 3,937 ELECTED
Susan Gallagher 3,830 ELECTED
Annette Mansell-Green 3,130

WEST MIDLANDS MALE
James Anthony 3,409 ELECTED
Clive Shakespeare 3,330

WEST MIDLANDS RESERVED
Mary Locke 3,702 ELECTED
Claudia Campbell 2,815

YORKS & HUMBER FEMALE
Vicky Perrin 5,216 ELECTED
Sue Highton 4,793 ELECTED
Helen Jenner 4,297

YORKS & HUMBER MALE
John McDermott 4,670 WITHDRAWN
John Campbell 4,577 ELECTED

YORKS & HUMBER GENERAL
Wendy Nichols 5,717 ELECTED
Brian Steele 3,741

LOCAL GOVT FEMALE
Lynn Poulton 27,158 ELECTED
Julie Robinson 22,976 ELECTED
Phoebe Watkins 22,615
Marsha-Jane Thompson 14,968

LOCAL GOVT MALE
Glenn Kelly 28,182 ELECTED
Glen Williams 23,902

LOCAL GOVT GENERAL
Paul Holmes 28,838 ELECTED
Carol Lukey 24,005

HEALTH FEMALE
Ann Moses 11,191 ELECTED
Christine Sullivan 10,586 ELECTED
Kate Ahrens 9.880
Karen Reissman 9,788

HEALTH MALE
Eric Roberts 13,668 ELECTED
Roger Davey 9,686

HEALTH GENERAL
Clare Williams 12,188 ELECTED
Stephen Lintott 11,372

HIGHER ED GENERAL
Gillian Brown 1,065 ELECTED
Barry Blinko 686
Davena Rankin 653

WATER & ENVIRO GENERAL
John Jones 919 ELECTED
Rosemary Pickard 486

TRANSPORT GENERAL
Anthony Wilson 156 ELECTED
Kevin Naylor 126

POLICE FEMALE
Maureen Le Marinel 1,747 ELECTED
Rachel Hemingway 1,364

ENERGY GENERAL
Paul Glover 856 ELECTED
Simon Woods 459