Unison general secretary election- who will stand for women's rights?

[crunchermuncher]

Hi I'm a member of Unison and have been sent ballot papers to elect a new general secretary.

I've had a quick look at the biog of each of the 4 candidates. Only one mentions fighting against sexism.

2 mention fighting inequality including discrimination against women.

But I want to know exactly what definition of a woman they are using in order to know what their priorities are.

There are no contact details so I can't ask them about their views.

Is anyone else struggling with this decision? Does anyone have more info?

Unison don't consider women's rights important. You are on a hiding to nothing I am afraid.

:-( I was afraid of that...

I have the same dilemma.

Roger McKenzie says he supports self ID and Unison’s current positIon, don’t know about the others.

Also wondering.

I sort of had the same dilemma, so I just had to go for the one that I felt best overall.

I'm torn between that one (who is unfortunately setting off my woke-dar), or the first one, who actually mentions tackling 'sexism' rather than the vaguer 'promotion of equality'.

Think I'm going for the anti sexism bloke.

I voted for Christine since the other three are Hard Left Corbynistas.

I was in UCU and left because of who was elected as general secretary. Now union-less but I haven’t found one that doesn’t crap all over women’s rights so I don’t know what else I can do.

Redredgreen reading between the lines I thought Roger probably took that stance. I can't support him in that case.

I also cant support Rodger on these grounds. I will vote for Paul Holmes. The woman is pro self ID

Sorry I ment Christina.

Yeah I think Paul Holmes is my best bet too.

I can't vote for Christine although my first instinct is to go for a woman, there's nothing distinguishing her from Prentis and Unison really needs a shake up.

I went for Paul.

dyslek I felt the same about Christine but unfortunately I just didn't like her style. Weirdly overly chummy and sounded suspiciously like she might be pro self ID.

tea and cruncher I voted Paul too, similar reasons to both of you.

I'd vote Roger. I guarantee he's not TWAW. He's just saying whatever he thinks he needs to say to get elected.

Christina probably knows what a woman is but I doubt she would ever say so. She's the continuity vote and she's super close to Prentis. I understand Prentis also knows what a woman is but has been too cowardly to take on the TRAs in the union.

They will all pay lip service to women's rights - they have to since the majority of members are women - but I doubt any of them would stand up to TRAs in the election campaign.

I don’t suppose they’re doing a virtual hustings or anything? It’s really hard to pick one as the addresses are all pretty similar- putting members first, ending low pay, fighting inequality....And their political allegiance seems to be written in code. I wish someone, say the NEC would make up a list of yes/no questions on relevant stuff and publish the ones where there’s actually a difference of opinion along with the addresses.

Red yes those would be useful ideas! Sadly I haven't seen anything about hustings etc.

I assume political allegiance ranges from left of centre to very left! Would be really good to have answers to actual questions.

It's a bit like trying to recruit a new staff member and all the applications having the standard 'good team player, good communicator, etc' and no specific examples. How do you choose between them? At least you get to interview new staff...

I will probably vote for Paul Holmes to give them a fright. I do like the idea of selling the London offices and moving head office to the Midlands.

I just wish we knew what he's suspended for. My local paper says the reason has not been made public. I did a bit of googling and there's some suggestion it's bullying.

www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/kirklees-candidate-top-union-role-19103475

Suspended for a year now! That's some duff disciplinary process.

I tried to find out their views from my local branch but no such luck. So I’m not going to vote. Yeah, I know that means it’s wasted, but I can’t risk knowing I’ve voted in someone whose going to push me under a bus.

Voted Christine because I'm Jewish and having someone who doesn't turn on me for that aspect of my identity is important. And it would be a good to have a woman as leader.

Paul is currently suspended? Wish I knew that before I had voted for him would be good to know what for.

purple12
Is there any suggestion that the other 3 would do that? Or has Christine previously demonstrated support for the Jewish community?

I couldn't find out what he's suspended for either.

I'm sorry to say it but I'm wondering if it's politically motivated. We all know what happened to Paul Embery in the FBU. It would help significantly if we knew what it was for.