Phoebe Watkins - request for nomination to UNISON NEC

Phoebe Watkins

Camden Branch

Membership number: 1140421

 

Dear Branch Secretary,

 

Request for nomination for the Female Local Government NEC Seat

 

I am writing to you to ask you to nominate me for the NEC this year. I am a longstanding union member – having worked in Housing for 30 years – and am Convenor of Adult Social Care and the joint Branch Chair for Camden local government branch. I have been involved in local services in different capacities – as a Governor of the Nursery school my children attended in the past, and now as a Trustee of our local community centre which offers services to the local community across the generations from infancy to old age.

 

We are in unprecedented times. Even before the May 2010 election local government workers were faced with real cuts in pay. The Hutton review of public sectors pensions offers the prospect of working longer, contributing more money and receiving less at retirement.

 

And now we are  seeing job losses at a rate we have never seen in local government; alongside the wholesale closure of some services and with this a particularly high toll on the young and the elderly. While the financial crisis resulted from the greed and downright corruption of those in charge of banks and financial services we are expected to pay for their mistakes. The Con-Dem government see the financial crisis as a good excuse to pursue ideological hatred of publicly provided services,.  They would have cut in much the same way whether there was a financial crisis or not!

 

The scale of the cuts is effectively a dismantling of the Welfare State as we know it. For example, cuts to the national adult social care budget are a swingeing £17billion and with the ageing of the general population, the need for these services will only get greater. The lies of the Con-Dem government about protecting health and education are truly appalling. Thousands of support staff in schools and LEAs are set to lose their jobs, and the localising of commissioning to GPs also means that the responsibility for many health services will be pushed onto local Councils with no additional money.

 

Though the TUC decision to hold a demonstration in the spring is very welcome, it is also long overdue. It will take place after thousands have lost their jobs and services are already closed down. We need a trade union leadership that is prepared to take the fight to the streets as an immediate response rather than wait months.

 

The students have shown that where a call is made, tens of thousands are prepared to protest. Despite the freezing weather, thousands of young people – many on their first ever protest – sent a seismic shock through society as a whole, not least the trade union movement. UCU members – who have  been organising against the fee hike and cuts to EMA - were joined by UNISON members on these demos and by many family members (like myself) whose children will be affected by these cuts. But, with the resources of UNISON and the size of our memberships in further and higher education, I would have expected our profile and numbers to be far greater. It is our members in schools, FE colleges and in universities who will be the first to go and we need to rise to the challenge to force this Con-Dem government reverse these cuts.

 

I am not in the Labour Party, but I believe that we should work with all politicians who stand for and promote the policies of this union. That will include many Labour Councillors, MPs and constituent party members. However, I believe we should also be able to criticise and oppose them, not least through strike action, where we are being attacked and bearing the brunt of the cuts implemented by Labour councils. Locally in Camden, we have built a coalition across unions, parties, and local community organisations (such as tenants' associations) to fight the cuts. It started through the Trades Council and has flourished into an organisation that built a 3,000strong demonstration to Whitehall on October 20th; built a 500 strong lobby of the Cabinet meeting in December, and is organising further protests in the New Year. Plans to close all play schemes in Camden met with immediate protest and hundreds of parents, kids and play workers attended the lobby with home made placards and loads of energy to fight these cuts.

 

I believe our union needs a new kind of leadership. One that will be prepared to take a lead, and echo what the new UNITE general secretary said – to build a coalition of protest including coordinated strike action to bring this government down. The Con-Dem government is weak – we need to exploit that weakness and make ourselves seen, heard and to persuade our members that these cuts can be effectively opposed.

 

For our union to survive intact, we need to build our strength. To not lead a fight means other forces can exploit the breaking up of our services, and could lead to organisations such as the EDL or the BNP building on people's misery.

 

I am standing alongside other members who want to see our union standing up against these attacks and I would ask you to also consider nominating Paul Holmes (Kirklees) Kathy Smith (Bromley) and Paul Couchman (Surrey County)

 

Please consider nominating me to stand for the Local Government Female NEC. I am more than happy to come along to speak in your branch if invited, and answer any questions you may have for me.

 

Yours in solidarity,

 

Phoebe Watkins

Phoebe.Watkins@btopenworld.com

07808795479