Unite Candidate Coyne Suspended!

TODAY the challenger to Len McCluskey to become boss of the Unite union, Gerard Coyne, has been suspended from his job as West Midland regional secretary.
It is believed that this decision is associated with comments he made about Len McCluskey during the recent election campaign in which Mr Coyne was a contender to become general secretary of Unite.  Some statements by Coyne have referred to the purchase of a flat with the help of trade union loans. 
There have also claims that Coyne's campaign used Labour party data to contact members to see whether they would back him.
This suspension from his post ought not impact on the leadership election,.
Ballots closed yesterday, with turnout said to be lower than expected at around 12 per cent.
Insiders have described the result as being 'on a knife edge'.
Unite has 1.4 million members, and last year donated £1.5 million to the Labour party.

Today, BBC news reports:
'The battle to be the union's general secretary is understood to be on a "knife edge," from early sampling of the ballots by both sides.'
Counting is due to be completed tomorrow with the result to be announced next week.

Ian Allinson on Unite Nominations

THREE weeks in to the five-week nomination period and we know of 33 nominations so far, but at least one has been disqualified and probably many more will.
To be sure of getting on the ballot paper we need to redouble our efforts, particularly for workplace nominations - if your branch covers more than one workplace then each workplace is entitled to make a nomination too. There is updated guidance on nomination meetings etc here: http://www.ian4unite.org/how-to-nominate-me/
The other key step to ensure a real contest is to ensure that all the paperwork for nominations has been submitted accurately and promptly. If your branch or workplace has nominated me, please check that it has been sent off and that you have had an acknowledgement from Electoral Reform Services. I'd be grateful if you could let me know progress on submission and acceptance of nominations so we have as accurate picture as possible.
There are still lots more nomination meetings taking place - please send in details of any you know of. I'm planning to visit Stevenage, London and the West Midlands this week to speak at some and visit workplaces. This will include three meetings with Fujitsu members (not all nomination meetings) as we have a national industrial action ballot opening on Friday. If you're near Heathrow or Manchester Airport (T3) please show your support for members at BA Mixed Fleet fighting poverty pay and the two-tier workforce that resulted from the 2011 deal.
This week some women members produced a statement welcoming my release of the report on the treatment of women officers in Unite. They are asking other women in Unite to add their names too.
The best argument for Len McCluskey is Gerard Coyne. This article provides some useful points to address people's fears about "splitting the vote" and letting Coyne in. If McCluskey genuinely believed the right could win the election, why did he trigger it in the first place? If he is genuinely worried about the impact of media support for Coyne, why won't he agree to livestreamed hustings in every region? We could enable thousands of members to join the debate without filtering it through a hostile media.
Finally, we still have plenty of leaflets left. Let us know how many you want and where to send them. If you provide a postcode we can also suggest workplaces you could visit. Even if they have already nominated, this is a chance to discuss key issues facing members and how together we can make Unite a stronger and more effective union.

Solidarity

Ian (Allinson).

'Fifty Shades of Grey' at Bury Unite Branch

ALLEGATIONS that 'pressure' was put on the Bury Unite Commercial Branch to nominate Len McCluskey, the current General Secretary of Unite the Union, for re-election in the forthcoming elections for Unite's top job have been rebutted by the local branch secretary Brian Bamford.   The claim was made on Twitter by one of the candidates that the presence of two Unite full-time organisers at last Monday's branch meeting was a failed attempt to influence the Bury branch to vote for Mr. McCluskey, a strong backer of Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Party leader.

The Unite union at present funds the Labour Party to the tune of many millions of pounds every year.

The row about the Bury branch being 'pressurised' to back McCluskey arose because of a Tweet on Ian Allinson's Twitter account after the branch meeting, implying that the organisers were there to influence the result.  Mr. Allinson is one of the three candidates standing for the top position of Unite General secretary. 

Since then, Mr. Bamford has insisted that 'the Bury Unite Branch blooms with binmen not shrinking violets and there is no way we could be leaned on by the union bosses'. 

The two organisers were allowed to participate in the discussion over the nomination, but not to dominate the discourse or to vote.

The organisers were permitted to speak but naturally not to vote, because the Bury Unite Branch  passionately believes in 'free speech' and 'lively debate'.

It was suggested during the discussions that the nomination of Ian Allinson to appear on the ballot paper would have the effect of 'splitting the left vote' between McCluskey and Allinson.  Gerard Coyne, who is a Unite full-time organiser in the Midlands, is the third candidate and is reputed to be a 'right-wing Blairite'.

This was contested by the branch secretary Mr. Bamford, who said that the membership should have 'the widest possible choice' between the different candidates, and he claimed that the critics of Allinson by using the 'split-vote' argument were seeking to shrink the choice before the membership.  In contrast 'we' the Unite Bury branch, wanted to 'open things up and not to narrow things down'.  Bamford claimed that even though he may possibly vote for Len McCluskey it was still vital to have someone like Ian Allinson on the ballot sheet.

To argue that there should be only two choices between 'left and right' is to create a thread-bare bipolar dichotomy of 'cowboys and Indians' or 'black and white'.  This is a thoroughly 20^th century mentality, and in essence the Bury branch was preferring to embrace the spirit of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in their approach; what they wanted, if I am interpreting the spirit of the meeting correctly, was the broadest possible discussion, debate and openness within the realm of liberty.

Those at the meeting who took the 'split vote' view then went on to say that we should look to the established experienced of experts like Mr. McCluskey from Liverpool, a professional official with many years of in the saddle of officialdom, rather than a new boy such as a shop-floor activist like Mr. Allinson from Blackley, Manchester. 

This faith in the expertise of the office-holder is as feeble-minded as the bipolar dichotomy, and is just another mediocre left-over of the old 20^th century modernity.  It is so full of holes that the average bin-man can see through it without so much as looking up from his football results. 

The bin-men of Bradley Fold, and the others on the branch committee, eventually came to a carefully calibrated conclusion, and were in no way confused or overwhelmed by any hypothetical 'hierarchical pressures' from above.

This was demonstrated by the branch's clear unanimous vote to nominate the local Manchester lad, Ian Allinson, for the position as General Secretary of Unite the Union.  We must now await to see how many Unite members vote for him.

Pricking the London Bubble

by Chris Draper

HAS there ever been a greater gap between politicos in the London bubble and the politics of real people in the real world? As a lifelong anarchist I’d be celebrating ructions in both Tory and Labour parties if it didn’t mirror a similar Anarchist disconnect. 

I was born in Warrington and have lived roughly a third of my life in the North, a third in London and a third in the Midlands. No matter how bizarre your opinions if you live in London you’ll be able to attract similarly silly believers to your soapbox. As your unrealistic ideas are echoed by new-found friends, prejudices are reinforced and soon you all start thinking it’s reality!

The further you move from London the more you find everyday life involves talking to people who don’t agree with you. In Llandudno, my partner and I are the only anarchists for miles so our ideas are constantly challenged. In London it’s easy for even the tiniest of sects to meet frequently, for members to pat each other on the back and reassure themselves of their sensible opinions. Ironically, the very fact that a multiplicity of sects exist in the capital strengthens Metropolitan arrogance that its inhabitants are the most open-minded individuals in Britain. The truth is that most of the time Londoners mix with their own kind and have little awareness of how life is lived in communities far from the capital.

Jeremy Hardy, the Guardian’s favourite comedian, considers it amusing to ridicule the assumed inbreeding of East Anglian communities. Like most metropolitans he chooses to paint East Anglian communities as static, closed and unchanging. In reality East Anglia communities have been hugely affected by the arrival of agricultural workers from Eastern Europe. Struggling to cope with inadequate social resources, depressed wages and increasing unemployment it’s no wonder local people resent such arrogant metropolitan ignorance.

The Brexit map demonstrates a marked disconnect between London and the rest of England. Whilst the London working class followed the political lead of the metropolitan elite, outside the capital those who’ve suffered most from globalisation rejected the advice of the London bubble. Predictably the losers (whether Tory, Labour or Anarchist) still refuse to admit they were wrong and put it down to poor presentation (rather than an inherently weak case) and widespread racism (ignoring EU exploitation of cheap labour).

Only fools think that CLASS is the sole political determinant. I consider AUTHORITY is THE political problem and it comes in many guises. London presents a problem that extends beyond CLASS. When I lived in the capital I was part of a collective that published the anarchist journal, “LibEd”. To offset the London effect we rotated ALL meetings between London, Leicester and Bristol. Now, as a member of a group campaigning to relaunch the anarchist journal FREEDOM we propose moving meetings of the existing Friends of Freedom Press group from London to Birmingham. 

It’s a self-serving conceit that metropolitan elites possess a monopoly on radical ideas but their arrogance is essentially authoritarian. I don’t believe any organisation campaigning for radical change should be headquartered in London, to do so reproduces political inequality, fosters elitism and further reduces the influence of the dispossessed.  

For Peace, Love & Anarchy

Christopher Draper, Llandudno