Today's meeting covered a range of issues. In this short report I will focus on two.
Firstly, the NISC decided the sector's response to the Executive Council consultation on reorganising sectors. The response is the same as in this post, which had been edited since it went up to incorporate various comments.
Recognising that part of the reason for the consultation was that the IT & Comms sector structures weren't working well, the NISC is asking active members, branches and RISCs from the sector to add their names if they support the response, so that it is clear to the Executive Council when it makes its decision in September that the response has widespread support across the sector. If you want to add your support to the response please send an email to this address saying so.
The IT & Comms NISC wants, through a subgroup, to have discussions with the GPM sector prior to the September Executive Council meeting to ensure any potential issues are ironed out.
There was also a discussion about the controversy around the Falkirk by-election. The NISC agreed to send the following emergency motion to the Executive. A special meeting of the Executive Council meeting can be called when the General Secretary or a majority of the Executive Council considers it necessary - based on the views from the NISC I will be seeing whether there is support for this from other EC members.
This NISC notes:
1)The selection process for the Falkirk by-election has
caused a deep crisis in the Labour Party and has seen Labour's right wing
mobilising to attack Unite.
2) The crisis opens up serious questions about the trade
union movement’s relationship to the party and where that relationship is
headed.
3) Ed Miliband’s treatment of Unite has rightly led our
union's general secretary Len McCluskey to condemn the “stitch up” and
“scandalous” attempt to smear the union.
4) The suspension of potential candidate Karie
Murphy, along with Falkirk Labour party chair and leading Unite activist
Stephen Deans is a an outrageous attack on democracy in the party.
5) Unite, particularly as Labour’s biggest
financial backer, has the right to encourage and organise its members to play a
role in the selection of candidates.
6) Recruiting union members into the party is not a
crime. It is hardly equitable with the the wining and dining of bankers
and businessmen that shapes Tory policy and has shaped Labour’s in the past.
7) Unite is being treated by Ed Miliband as an “enemy
within”.
8) Miliband and Co should be directing their fire against
the Tories, against the attacks on the NHS, against the bedroom tax, not
against those who are at the sharp end of resisting austerity.
This NISC believes:
1) Working people deserve political representation. The
massive yes vote in the recent ballot in Unite to retain the union’s political
fund is proof that workers want a political voice.
2) Every activist should defend the union against the
attacks from Ed Miliband.
3) We need a wide-ranging debate about how workers can
secure a political voice. That debate should look at what's happening in the
Labour party and the left alternatives. It would be a huge contribution if Len
McCluskey initiated such a debate.
This NISC resolves:
1) To call for an emergency EC to discuss our response to
the crisis.
2) To initiate a debate across the union on the fall out
from Falkirk, the union's political strategy going forward and the question of
political representation.
