Politics needs to change – it needs to put YOU first!

I’m on my way home from London at the moment having had three really good and important meetings, the Policy Development and Campaigns Committee, the Campaigns and Recruitment Working Group and National Labour Link Committee.

And the key message from all of these meeting is that in the light of all of the different thing going on in the world, things need to change. At PDCC we agreed the next steps for our response to the global economic crisis, being building a significant campaign around the ‘Putting YOU First: a million voices for change campaign’, the leaflet that has been produced already puts across the message that the PDCC has developed around building a fairer society and the importance of public services in a recession and the recovery. PDCC decided that this would be UNISON’s key campaign priority for at least the next year, if not three.

The Campaigns & Recruitment meeting then had the job of looking at the campaign in more detail. Key issues were raised about how we make this campaign real and meaningful for our members and how we support branches to deliver the campaign locally. It was agreed that materials wherever possible would be adaptable to local circumstances and issues. We also wanted to make sure that the campaign would go along side existing activities branches are being asked to do, so that we don’t increase the burden on branches – activities such as recruitment, talking to members, e-mail and other online communications. We also want it to be a campaign that all the different parts of the union can support, so well be looking for this to be discussed in each region, service group, self-organised group, retired members and of course young members.

Today was the Labour Link Committee and as well as the important topics of European/Local Election and Anti-BNP work, our parliamentary campaigns such as the Equality Bill and the Health Bill, arrangements for Labour Link Forum (where we are supporting every motion!), and Labour Party Conference, there was of course a big issue of expenses (MP’s not mine – I don’t have a moat to clean even if I could claim for it). The anger in the room reflected that in the public, but was also accompanied by disappointment and betrayal. There was a feeling that lessons should be learned from the European Parliamentary Labour Party, who in the light of problems with that expenses system agreed to their own extra provisions for transparency and decency. I put forward that the structures of the Labour Party should take control of this, and our members of the Labour NEC should take that strongly to their next meeting, including provisions for de-selecting MPs where necessary. Only bold action can help Labour recover from this, and I think that we in the party ourselves need to take that action to try and regain some credibility with the public, and recognise that our party and its membership are fundamentally decent despite what our representatives sometimes portray.

For me both these issues are united by the increasing disconnection between a ‘political elite’ and those of us they are supposed to represent. But I don’t think that should put us off from politics, but it should make us get more involved and claim back our political power.