Debus, Kasab, Kelly and Muna: the right to criticise union leaderships

Posted on Thursday 27 August, 2009
Filed Under Trade Unions

 


IF YOUR boss sacks you for wearing a crucifix to work, you may have a case the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. Clock on clad in a hammer and sickle lapel badge, and she can freely tell you to pick up your P45, you dirty little commie. Or so I had assumed, anyway.

But shortly we will find out whether or not Trotskyism is deemed legally equivalent to religion, after the decision of Socialist Party members Brian Debus, Onay Kasab, Glenn Kelly and Suzanne Muna to take one of Britain’s largest trade unions to an employment tribunal under these very regs.

All four have been banned from holding office in Unison for between three and five years. Mabledon Place says that is because they are racists; the activist quartet believes that they are being singled out because they are Trots.

It is almost always a bad thing to hand jurisdiction of internal labour movement democracy over to the legal system. But the situation in Unison has unfortunately reached the point were such a move must be seen as justified.

Even to an outsider, it is is readily apparent that the union’s leadership is systematically targeting its critics by taking out disciplinary proceedings on transparently spurious grounds. Two prominent members of the Socialist Workers’ Party have already been expelled.

There are a number of pertinent considerations here. Unions are voluntary organisations in civil society. In principle, they should be open to all those working in the sectors in which they organise.

They should also be able to determine whom they wish to have as members and equally whom they wish to exclude. I have no problems with them keeping British National Party supporters out, for instance.

Should the far left face the same strictures as the far right? Unison’s barrister at the tribunal has reportedly accused Debus, Kasab, Kelly and Muna of ‘infiltrating’ the organisation. This is ludicrous; all four work, for low or average pay, in routine public sector employment, and are entitled to join the biggest relevant union.

If they give extensively of their free time to maintain workplace organisation – and these people do – they should positively be welcomed.

Moreover, Marxism has always been an intrinsic part of the organised labour movement. Trade unionism in Britain, at least in the shape in which it has evolved, would not exist without the efforts of the far left.

The four men and women taking out the case – together with another activist called Matthew Waterfall – were ostensibly disciplined for producing and distributing a leaflet at the 2007 Unison conference, which featured a cartoon of the three wise monkies popular in Japanese folklore.

This is held somehow to be ‘racist’, a case for which I am unaware of even minimal evidence. The accusation is rendered all the more perverse by the exemplary anti-racist track records of some of those it is levelled against. Moreover, Unison has itself produced literature featuring the motif.

The real reason for the proscriptions and expulsions is that Unison believes it can best advance its members’ interests through dialogue with the government, and is consequently embarrassed by the strong criticism of New Labour emanating from far left quarters.

In particular, those aligned to the Socialist Party have led the way in arguing that Unison should no longer provide the Labour Party with financial support. As a Labour Party member myself, I think this is a tactical mistake.

But it is hardly an outrageous position for rank and file public sector trade unionists to adopt. After all, they of all people will oppose as a matter of course the privatisation of public services perpetrated by Blair and Brown. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis and other New Labour fans should make the case for affiliation in political terms, not by silencing anyone who thinks otherwise.

On grounds of basic civil liberties alone, Debus, Kasab, Kelly and Muna have every right to push for and publicise their opinions inside labour movement structures. Unison should rethink its damaging course, which brings it only discredit.


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Comments

18 Responses to “Debus, Kasab, Kelly and Muna: the right to criticise union leaderships”

  1. michael read
    on August 27th, 2009 at 15:33

    Balls. You know what the score with the Socialist Party.

    Meet in secret. Agree your agenda. Stitch up the vote. Shout down critics. Plead for democracy if anyone dissents. Get ignored. Pray to be victimised. Go down pub. Sing revolutionary songs.

    Write to David Osler.

  2. Bob Piper
    on August 27th, 2009 at 16:16

    As opposed to the New Labour supporting union bureaucracy. They just…. Meet in secret. Agree their agenda. Stitch up the vote. Shout down critics. Go down wine bar in Islington.

  3. modernity
    on August 27th, 2009 at 16:34

    Good luck to them, I wish Debus, Kasab, Kelly and Muna well.

    I hope they win and teach the right wing bureaucracy running Unison a lesson.

    New Labour and its followers in the upper echelons of the Unions have seriously weaken the labour movement and made any fight back against the Tories more difficult.

  4. Sue R
    on August 27th, 2009 at 17:09

    I hope they win. It’s so obviously a trumped up charge. The Three Monkeys logo is beyond politics and to describe it as ‘racist’ because (presumably) black people are likened to apes by hard-core racists, is beyond belief. You might just as well say that ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ is against overmanning and argues for staff cuts.

  5. Karl
    on August 27th, 2009 at 17:42

    I don’t know the details of this case, so I cannot comment on it.

    All I wanted to say was that I agree to at least the threat of unions removing funding from the Labour Party. This could influence policy in a positive way.

  6. Offtopictroll
    on August 27th, 2009 at 20:05

    How about “I have nothing to say about this article, so I cannot – and will not – comment on it”, Karl?

  7. Cat
    on August 27th, 2009 at 21:13

    I hate the CWI/Socialist Party for personal and political reasons. I was once a loyal member however that aside I think what the UNISON leadership have done is dispicable. The three wise monkeys analogy is in no way racist and everyone knows that except twisted beauracrats. No wonder the workers are being shafted when this is the best the UNISON leadership can do – discipline people they can’t deal with politically. UNISON leadership are bancrupt in their politics and hatred for anyone that challenges them. Shame on them!! Good luck Kelly et al against these trumped up charges. Calling “racist” when it is clearly not racist actually denogrates real racism – it’s an appaling move.

  8. Charlie Marks
    on August 28th, 2009 at 00:49

    This whole affair has been very damaging for our movement, I wish the four all the best.

  9. Michael
    on August 28th, 2009 at 01:39

    Sue R wrote:

    “The Three Monkeys logo…”

    Could someone please clarify what this is, unless it is a colloquialism for something else I don’t believe I’ve come across it before.

  10. Les Abbey
    on August 28th, 2009 at 02:20

    Something must be done about this infiltration of the unions by New Labour Blairites. The first rule change should be a ban on hiring union bureaucrats from Oxbridge.

  11. Renegade Eye
    on August 28th, 2009 at 07:48

    I agree with this post, including the part criticizing SP tactically.

    OT: Read my latest post.

  12. Sue R
    on August 28th, 2009 at 10:10

    The Three Wise Monkeys is a very prevalent subject in culture. The actual phrase is ‘See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.’. It is often accompanied by a drawing, figurine etc of three monkey: the first one is covering his eyes, the second one has his hands clapped to his ears and the third one has a hand clamped over his mouth. Could Michael please clarify how old he is, because one of my pet theories is that schools in the last twenty years have failed to transmit traditional culture leaving vast sections of the populations with gaps in their general knowledge and sense of identity. Who needs to know that stuff in a globalised world anyway?

  13. marshajane
    on August 28th, 2009 at 11:34

    Dave,

    Cheers for posting this – the sanctions against the 4 are even more ridiculous when you consider the fact that unison dropped the racism charge.

    The 2 charges they were found guilty of are 1 “of an attack on the integrity of the members of the Standing Orders Committee” and 2 “Failing to show due care in not anticipating that someone might take offence [from the leaflet]“.

    I’ve blogged about this case over at http://www.unionfutures.blogspot.com and I believe there is going to be a further lobby on the 23rd sept – I’ll post details as and when I have them.

    The court case resumes in December.

    Marshajane

  14. Mike Macnair
    on August 28th, 2009 at 11:38

    On Les Abbey’s comment – the Oxbridge types are not the only offenders. How about a rule change banning unions hiring former student union officials until they have done three years employment in (non-labour movement) jobs without managerial or supervisory responsibility?

  15. Jon Rogers
    on August 28th, 2009 at 11:40

    As ever Dave your blog is excellent and – as a member of UNISON’s NEC (alongside Glenn Kelly) I would associate myself with every word of this measured post.

    My first ever political battles were against members of the then Militant Tendency – but I have always thought it wrong to settle political differences by administrative means.

    If complaints are made they must be investigated. If people are offended they should receive an apology. But the handling of this case is a disgrace.

  16. Rich Simcox
    on August 30th, 2009 at 00:42

    Glenn Kelly was one of my contacts when I worked as a local reporter covering Bromley – and he was a good one:

    http://www.nujleft.org/2009/07/in-praise-of-unison-activists/

  17. Michael
    on August 31st, 2009 at 16:07

    Sue R:

    I know of “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil” yet somehow I had, until now, never seen it linked with the phrase or the picture of the “Three Wise Monkeys”.

    I guess state education just ain’t what it used to be. :(