Bayliss Sets Out Stall In Unite GS Election

The following is a letter sent earlier this week to Unite Officials and Staff from Unite AGS Les Bayliss - who is supported by the Progressive Left Workers Uniting Group - which explains why he is standing in the election and outlines some of the policies he intends to persue.

To Unite Officers and Staff

From Les Bayliss

Dear colleagues,
Happy New Year.

I'm writing to seek your support for my campaign to become the first General Secretary of Unite and to explain why I intend to stand - and win - the forthcoming election.

I was chosen to be a candidate by the Workers Uniting Group within Unite following ten regional hustings meetings. The meetings attracted over 600 activists, reps, officers and staff who took part directly in the democratic and open process.

The Workers Uniting Group is a broad and progressive organisation, as broad as the diverse opinions of the membership in Unite. On that basis the focus of my campaign, and my leadership, will be to represent the views of all Unite members regardless of the size of their sector or their place of work.

Our members deserve the best service, one that recognises their specific needs. Many members work in small companies or workplaces sometimes without a union rep or one that is not sufficiently supported to work effectively for members.
This inevitably puts pressure on our Officers and Staff. I intend to redress this failure by developing proactive contact with members, reps and activists, with a dedicated unit that will offer support and advice on dealing with the challenges they are presented with by employers.

Support for officers, staff and workplace reps
I will ensure that we increase the resources that we spend on educating and communicating with our workplace reps, activists and members.
It is vital to provide the resources and training for all Officers and Staff to help support and service members - when they need it and when they expect it. I will ensure that all activities - be that regional, sectoral, administrative, educational, political and industrial will be co-ordinated.

I will ensure that we have an inclusive management structure that involves everyone employed by the union. The union I intend to lead will use all the talents we have in our organisation.
I intend to lead a union that understands its responsibilities to all working people, their families and the wider community. One of our major challenges is connecting with workers whose vision of trade unions is received entirely through the media. Engaging in wild adventurism at workers' expense will not help us win for our existing members nor will it help organise and recruit new members.
All our strategies should be advised by the expertise and experience we have at our disposal not responded to only after the employer, government or media have already attacked us.

Organising
Organising and recruitment is vital to the growth and survival of our union. However, we are currently spending huge financial resources on organising, to operate only one method, designed to suit one section of our union. There is no evidence to show it has been successful to date even within this narrow focus.
I believe our Organising strategies must now be renewed and developed in the industrial sectors and led by the new National Industrial Sector Committees rather than by a centralised department with a "one size fits all plan" limited to a small number of sectors. All officers, at all levels, and our staff and lead activists should play their part, with their views, expertise and experiences listened to and acted upon.

Political influence
I will ensure that we will win the Labour Party back by stepping up our campaign to increase the number of Unite members in Parliament - Unite members who have workplace experience, who know and understand the problems working people and their families face.
Winning power for Labour, delivering a government for working people and having a real influence in the Labour Party depends on Unite's commitment to it.

The International Union
Our international work must now have a strategic industrial dimension. Our general solidarity work across the world is important but Unite represents members in many multi-national corporations and wherever they are they must now be helped to campaign, to organise and to fight for better pay and conditions.

Our only option is to organise workers internationally so we can support our members in multi national companies and protect all our other members from the political power of multi nationals. It's a massive task and it must to be done.

Equality at the heart of the union
I will also ensure that we strengthen our equalities work, making equalities a key industrial issue, at the heart of the union, not just within the confines of our internal structures.

An important choice
The election of the first General Secretary of Unite presents us all with an important choice for our union and for the movement as a whole. Do we cling to the past and the identity of our own sections of Unite, mouthing platitudes of populist extremism? Or do we build a new union that embraces every view and accepts the need for change to meet the challenges of an ever changing political and economic environment?

I look forward to working with you and hearing your views and choices over the coming months.

Yours sincerely

Les Bayliss