Setback in local government

Submitted by AWL on 18 January, 2022 - 4:33
Unison members

The ballot by the public services union Unison of its local government members for industrial action for an improvement on the real-wage-cut 1.75% offer on 2021 pay closed on 14 January in England and Wales.

Unison has not published the results yet, but they are widely available. 70.2% voted for strikes, 29.8% no, on a turnout of 14.5%, far short of the 50% turnout required under the Tories’ Trade Union Act 2016.

The GMB, another union with members in local government, is doing an indicative ballot. Unite is currently balloting members for industrial action, with closing dates from 17 February.

Unison activists had expected a low turnout, but not that low. A lot of things worked against the activists.

• The ballot ran over Christmas

• Postal disruptions due to Covid (the ballot had to be postal, by law)

• Many members working from home

It also seems that work-from-home and lockdowns have damaged branch organisation in some areas.

There were also misjudgements by the left majority in the union’s local government service group Executive. They balloted at the wrong time, failed to disaggregate, and campaigned with nowhere near enough vigour.

Comments

Submitted by PS (not verified) on Thu, 20/01/2022 - 11:29

Been with Unison in the past. Its not the first time they do this. And they keep making the same mistakes.
What do you call an organisation that keeps doing the same thing and expect different results?

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