Last month this blog successfully exposed the misuse of UNISON resources to campaign for one of the candidates in the current General Secretary election (on behalf of the National Retired Members’ Committee) – leading to a “news” post on the Union’s…Read more…

I am cross-posting here a post published today on Labour Hub summing up where we are in relation to the UNISON General Secretary election. Apologies to regular readers (Sid and Doris Blogger) for repeating some content from earlier posts on this blo…Read more…

Imagine this.   Imagine that there were an election for General Secretary of UNISON at the point at which the long serving incumbent General Secretary was retiring, and that a candidate supported by most of his previous supporters, promised co…Read more…

Nominations have now closed in the election for UNISON General Secretary. Christina McAnea’s campaign are celebrating in excess of 200 nominations (including the majority of Regions and Service Groups as well as the – arguably questionable – nomin…Read more…

The last General Secretary election in UNISON (in 2015) witnessed a slightly confusing episode in which the Returning Officer issued “guidance” clarifying that nominating bodies were entitled to explain the reason for their nomination decisions. Th…Read more…

On the day that the desperation of the campaign backing the continuity candidate became clear (as UNISON took down a news report from the national website which was exposed as breaching the election procedures) it began to look like the General Se…Read more…

Having reported the good news that an inappropriate posting on the UNISON website has been withdrawn this afternoon, following a number of complaints submitted (including one by your blogger), I thought I should share with readers the complaint whi…Read more…

Regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Blogger) will be fed up by now with my banging on about the decision of the Assistant Certification Officer arising from complaints in the last General Secretary election. What is most often remembered ab…Read more…

My afternoon was enlivened by an email sent me by my trade union, UNISON, this afternoon.
From which I learned the following;
The retired members Conference is being replaced with an online seminar  On Wednesday 14 October, from 11am to 12.30pm – …Read more…

With one week to go until the deadline for nominations in the UNISON General Secretary election it seems clear that Christina McAnea will finish with the largest number of nominations in each category of nominating body (branches, Regions, Service …Read more…

Today, 16th September, UNISON’s National Executive Council (NEC) nomination was secured for Christina McAnea using an unprecedented procedural move. UNISON’s NEC has never – as I observed earlier this afternoon used an exhaustive voting system for a…Read more…

A couple of months ago, from my comfortable position here on the sidelines of life in UNISON, I blogged about the fact that the National Executive Council (NEC) had the power to choose to use the Single Transferable Vote system in the (then forthco…Read more…

With a fortnight to go until the close of the nominating period in the UNISON General Secretary election three candidates have already secured enough nominations to be on the ballot papers which will be issued to members at the end of October. For thos…Read more…

All bloggers are, to some extent, self-obsessed, and I do tend to refer to the decision of the Assistant Certification Officer issued in 2017 from time to time (which is immodest as it does refer to me a fair bit). The decision had, at the time, someth…Read more…

 UNISON General Secretary candidate, Christina McAnea has published a manifesto, as a service to regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris UNISON-obsessive) I thought I would have a look at some of what that manifesto has to say. First of a…Read more…

 Today’s news that the UNISON Local Government Service Group Executive (SGE) has nominated Paul Holmes as candidate for General Secretary is justly being trumpeted by Paul’s campaign. This is the first time that a Service Group Executive has nomin…Read more…

 It is, of course, the Royal College of Nursing that has paused its election for President (having disqualified candidates for allegedly misusing official resources in their campaigns) – and which faces a threat of litigation (if a slightly confus…Read more…

 As a gentleman of leisure (now that I am a retired UNISON member) I have the opportunity to sit back and watch the current General Secretary campaign unfolding from the sidelines. Following the departure of Margaret Greer from the race, there are…Read more…

 Labourlist are reporting that there are now only four candidates still in the running for the role of UNISON General Secretary as “UNISON national race equality officer Margaret Greer…  …has been deemed ineligible by UNISON and is no longer …Read more…

 I have blogged here recently both about my recollections of the five previous UNISON General Secretary elections and my uncertainty about whom to support in the election now underway. I am – as I have put it (and to the seeming amusement of some …Read more…