Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls, Progress


by Sunny Hundal    
11:29 am - June 18th 2012

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The Guardian story today: ‘Union chief vows to step up fight over public sector pay‘ is more significant than people realise.

I said last week the real beef unions had wasn’t with Progress but the line that Labour also needed to embrace austerity, eventually adopted by Ed Balls.

Dave Prentis from Unison pretty much says so today in his piece. And keep in mind this is one of the UK’s biggest union; the rest are sure to follow.

The Guardian story says:

Prentis also fuelled the growing “civil war” within the Labour party by confirming for the first time that Unison will support union attempts to exile New Labour pressure group Progress from the party.

When the biggest, most moderate union joins the anti-Progress bandwagon, then it’s clear this is neither a minority view nor an isolated skirmish.

I keep saying it, but I’ll repeat myself: it cannot be under-estimated how angry unions were that Ed Balls chose to adopt the austerity narrative by pledging a freeze in public sector pay (later clarified as a freeze only for the top earners).

The Guardian report adds:

Prentis said Balls and Miliband’s support for pay restraint was “naive in the extreme”. He added: “If they continue with that stance there is no way whatsoever that our members will vote Labour and the sooner they open their eyes to this the better.”

This is what I said last week:

“The idea that unions care for transparency and accountability over Progress funding is ludicrous. They only care that it is advancing arguments that hurt public sector workers.

“They are more furious Ed Balls accepted the premise that a focus on deficit reduction now would increase Labour’s credibility on the economy (it made no difference at the time). They are also furious that Ed Balls’s spending cuts hit public sector workers – already facing the biggest attack on their sectors for a generation.”

Many on the Labour right will say this is unnecessary “civil war”. That is true. But it’s also the job of unions to protect their workers.

If Progress et al want Labour to embrace austerity, I suspect they could ease tensions by laying out some cuts that don’t target public sector workers.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. margin4error

As a member of both Prgress and a Union seeking its expulsion – would I lose my Labour membership if Progress is expelled? If so what would this mean for my council seat?

2. Lamia

“Prentis said Balls and Miliband’s support for pay restraint was “naive in the extreme”. He added: “If they continue with that stance there is no way whatsoever that our members will vote Labour and the sooner they open their eyes to this the better.””

Prentis is the naive one if he thinks that bluff will work. So who will theses starving high paid public sector employees vote for instead? The Tories?

As for a pay freeze for top-paid public sector workers, what’s wrong with that? The money could be used elsewhere.

“I suspect they could ease tensions by laying out some cuts that don’t target public sector workers.”

Of course they could. They could also alienate many lower paid workers who suspect that Labour is as interested as the Tories in making ordinary people pay to feather the nests of its comfily-off mates.

‘Public sector employees’ does not equal ‘the poor’ or ‘the working class’. They are a comparatively well-heeled interest group – fair enough, but not necessarily indicative of any virtue; there are great public sector workers and lousy ones. Many of us outside of the charmed circles would be glad to have a pension of any kind, or to earn more than half the average national wage. Certainly it is no more impressive to see ‘socialists’ scrabbling to defend the salaries of top-paid public sector employees than Tories trying to justify bonuses for fat cat bankers.

3. Heidi Svenson

While certainly not disagreeing with Dave Prentiss’ criticisms of Progress, might I suggest all involved look beneath the surface? Unison has recently donated £60,000 to anti-racist group Hope Not Hate. On the surface, what anti-racist could disagree. The catch is, however, HNH is now dominated by a Tory-friendly cabal which contains key Progress personnel in its ranks (such as Ruth Smeeth, Anthony Painter & Dan Hodges), and furthermore, the Tories like them–they have just collared £60,000 more from the Department for Communities & Local Government. Exactly how reactionary Hope Not Hate are and the full implications of this Progress-influenced coup are spelt out in Notes From the Borderland issue 10,

We are aware that Unison has bulk-bought copies of this issue: and trust this was to circulate the information widely so that Unison does the right thing and avoids helping Progress out by the back door while not allowing them in the front.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls & Progress http://t.co/o4vAjv4W

  2. Jason Brickley

    Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls & Progress http://t.co/KkLU5Z3l

  3. Tent101

    #SaveEd >> RT @libcon Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls & Progress http://t.co/x0NKzJ4O

  4. leftlinks

    Liberal Conspiracy – Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls & Progress http://t.co/uON6HCVB

  5. sunny hundal

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  6. Kashmir

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  7. Tony McMahon

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  8. Liam Bright

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  9. Mathew Lyons

    The logic of this seems to be that the unions want to turn Labour into a pressure group for public sector workers http://t.co/utjdkk9d

  10. John D Clare

    Liberal Conspiracy – Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls & Progress http://t.co/uON6HCVB

  11. Martin Steel

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  12. sunny hundal

    I said last week the real beef unions had was with Ed Balls not Progress. Today, head of Unison confirms it http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  13. Martin Steel

    I said last week the real beef unions had was with Ed Balls not Progress. Today, head of Unison confirms it http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  14. emma clifford

    Today's significant story: Unison union confirms beef with Ed Balls and Progress http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  15. Grimot Nane

    I said last week the real beef unions had was with Ed Balls not Progress. Today, head of Unison confirms it http://t.co/4o2W0wUx

  16. Stephen Bush

    @sunny_hundal still peddling his 'Progress loves austerity and hates the public sector' shtick, I see: http://t.co/V57D8XRj

  17. BevR

    Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls, Progress | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/CrKCs6pw via @libcon

  18. Unite’s Len McCluskey won’t call for Progress ban | Liberal Conspiracy

    [...] Parentis from Unison told the Guardian yesterday that Balls and Miliband’s support for pay restraint was “naive in the extreme”. He [...]

  19. Roger Cottrell

    Unison confirms beef with Ed Balls, Progress | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/nR6TAiV4 via @libcon





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