* WE WON’T PAY FOR THE COVID CRISIS!
* Local Authorities: A national fight for £10 billion for local government: Fight all cuts: Demand Labour councillors don’t vote for cuts
* For a renationalised NHS and Social Care sector with full collective bargaining and national terms and conditions
* Reverse all Education privatisation: Academies back to Local Authorities; full funding for FE & HE
* For a real fight on public sector pay to reverse the ‘austerity years’ pay cuts: £15 an hour minimum wage
* Fight for Jobs and Homes not racism: Black Lives Matter!
* Not a penny of members’ money to Labour representatives who back cuts, privatisation or austerity
* For genuine member control of our union with the election of union paid officials
* For a trade union fight to end environmental catastrophe
* I pledge not to take the £130,000 plus General Secretary salary but to live on a workers wage.
WHY I AM STANDING:
I have been an active trade unionist and socialist all my working life.
I have been a UNISON member since it was formed and before that a NALGO member. In NALGO I was a Branch Secretary for 3 years.
I am the schools convener in Camden UNISON. During that time I have organised many campaigns to win regradings against low pay of school and Early Years staff; to stop cuts and closures; to win the London Living Wage for school meals staff; to prevent any Local Authority schools converting to an Academy. I have always tried to develop and organise democratic participation of our school members, especially by recruiting shop stewards.
I was elected to the NEC in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2019 as the Black Male representative. During this time I defended one of our members in the Windrush Scandal and have continued to campaign for the trade unions to actively support and demand justice for victims.
I believe our union needs to prepare for the many battles ahead. The COVID pandemic has shown our incompetent Governments and their reliance on private sector solutions has caused tragedy for many families and worsened the lives of ordinary working people. The crisis has forced them to pump billions of state aid to protect business meanwhile Local Government faces a £10 billion funding crisis.
The Health Service faces further pressure and our members will have to deal with the crisis. Our education services from Early Years through schools to FE and HE face huge funding gaps and uncertainty. The public services we represent face a crisis worse than the austerity years following the 2008 financial crash.
Our union of 1.3 million members can rise to that challenge with a fighting determined leadership. Our members were the backbone of the fightback in 2011 when 2 million public sector workers took united action to defend our pensions. We must have a leadership that is prepared to unite our members on a programme of action to defend our jobs, end privatisation, and restore our rates of pay.
I want this General Secretary Election to mark a decisive change for our union to become a fighting, democratic union where we join together in action to beat back this divided Tory Government. I’m willing to work with anyone that has the same aspirations for our members, so that we can get organised to defend our jobs, pay and services. That’s why I want to be on the ballot paper in this General Secretary election.
Hugo Pierre
