Since announcing our support for Marion Lloyd’s intention to seek the Left Unity nomination for PCS General Secretary, BLN has been delighted to see positive responses from members across the union. Not only is Marion a highly-experienced lay activist who has an exemplary track record of delivering for PCS members, but she is also a dedicated socialist and organiser who is standing on the basis of a political programme designed to increase participation throughout our union and improve the lives of all PCS members. The positive response to Marion’s candidacy clearly demonstrates that members support BLN’s campaign for fundamental changes within PCS, alongside members’ rejection of the personality politics and attacks on democracy which have come to characterise Mark Serwotka’s election campaign and more broadly, the Socialist View’s approach to trade unionism.
BLN organises within LU and as such, is happy to accept democratic decisions arrived at by LU members. However, BLN has grave concerns regarding the integrity of the current nomination process, which if left unresolved, will lead to serious questions regarding the validity of its outcome.
Upon the announcement of Marion’s candidacy, the convenors of both the Fylde and West of Scotland LU Groups announced unprecedented changes to the nomination process, whereby members who were unable to attend the nomination meeting would be allowed to vote via email.
To be clear on this point, the LU constitution states as follows “12.2 Nominations will be sought from Geographical Groups for all PCS Election Slates and National Committee posts and must be carried at a properly convened meeting of a Geographical Group.” In practice, there is no constitutional provision to allow members who did not attend to vote on any decision taken by any LU Geographical Group, which is consistent with practices at any meeting, be that within LU, PCS or any other organisation.
The SV claims that this move was designed to increase participation in the nomination process, however this is the very same SV who used their majority on the LU National Committee to retrospectively announce that in order to be deemed eligible to participate in the LU GS nomination process, members would need to be fully paid up by 31st May. Not only did this announcement breach the LU Constitution (which states at 12.4 that the cut-off date is 30th September), but it gave those members who had genuine problems with their subs no opportunity to resolve this prior to being deemed ineligible to vote. This has disenfranchised a number of LU activists and in taking these steps, it is clear that the SV has no interest in democratic participation but rather has made a determination that these actions will provide an electoral benefit to Mark Serwotka.
Unlike the SV, the BLN is genuinely committed to improving the democratic processes within LU and recognises that there are many valid reasons why LU members cannot attend important meetings. However it is completely unacceptable for convenors to unilaterally announce changes to voting regulations some three or four days prior to meetings. It is clear that the proper place to review LU’s democratic structures as at the LU AGM.
Unfortunately, the SV’s contempt for democracy led to farcical scenes at the West of Scotland nomination meeting where, in a move reminiscent of Marion Chambers, the convenor refused to allow votes to take place on a total of four separate proposals. Significantly, one of these proposals was to put the question of inclusion of email votes to the meeting. SV attendees claimed that the meeting had no authority to vote on this as the convenor was acting under direct instruction from the LU National Committee, however the LU Secretary, Gordon Rowntree, has stated in writing that “how those nominations are sought is usually left for areas to decide”.
Clearly, there was no such instruction from the LU National Committee to include email votes and as such the West of Scotland meeting, per Gordon Rowntree’s written confirmation, had every right to vote on the matter. The real reason this vote was blocked was because the SV was concerned that the West of Scotland meeting was set to nominate Marion Lloyd.
When it became clear that attendees would not drop the call for a vote, the convenor announced that he was suspending the meeting. Given that the convenor has no authority to unilaterally suspend a properly convened meeting, demands were made to put this to a vote and once again, the convenor refused. The convenor then walked out of the meeting. As a result, a vote was taken on the question of suspension and it was agreed that the meeting should continue. The remaining SV supporters disagreed with this outcome, and left. Following this there was a full & proper debate, consistent with LU regulations, concluding with the West of Scotland Group voting to nominate Marion Lloyd.
BLN has no doubt that the SV will currently be considering how to use its majority on the LU National Committee to rule this result out of order, however the SV should take note that there is absolutely no constitutional basis for doing so. Should the LU National Committee make such a ruling, it will call the validity of the LU nomination process into major doubt.
PCS Broad Left Network 