NOMINATE JOHN BURGESS

FOR GENERAL SECRETARY

A LAY MEMBER WORKING FOR THE BRANCHES

(Membership No. 3370993)

(Branch No. 3904)

Flat 2, Woodlea Lodge
72 Wellington Road
Enfield, EN1 2NW

Dear Branch Secretary,

In the forthcoming General Secretary Election it is vital that we elect a fighting General Secretary with a
proven record of campaigning and organising and who is in touch with the branches.
I have been fortunate enough to have held the post of Branch Secretary of Barnet UNISON for 13 years; the
last 7 years we have been fighting and organising against a mass outsourcing ideology, which now calls itself
a Commissioning Council. In the last 7 years I have gained coal face experience of organising a broad based
community campaign with limited resources. Our branch have learnt from other branches and embraced
new and imaginative ways of mobilising and publicising our numerous campaigns. I have talked but I have
also listened.

What do branches have to say?

What is going on in UNISON?

They need more resources (financial and

support)
They are fed up with national campaigns which
are quickly abandoned leaving members
wondering what the union is doing
There is too much national concentration on
random recruitment of members and not
enough recruitment of stewards and organising.

I attend UNISON Conferences - feedback from

conferences, including the recall Local Government
Conference and the June 2015 anti-austerity
demonstrations, shows that a large number of our
activists understand that we are in desperate times.
The Tories have declared war on the public sector
and working people. For example, UNISON should be
leading the campaign against privatisation of the NHS
and TTIP. This means that UNISON needs to radically
change its tack.

What do we face?

How do we need to change?

A government determined to use austerity to batter

our members.

I want to increase the confidence of our lay activists to

lead the campaign we need by releasing the support
and resources that they need.

What do we need?

What do branches need?

An anti-austerity agenda that is both positive

and campaigning

A greater share of the subscriptions

A co-ordinated fightback on pay

I genuinely believe that we have got talent and
experience in UNISON - we need to use it!

Full control over all resources required to fight

austerity measures in the workplace

Positive approach to supporting branches and

an end to telling branches what they cant do instead provide them with the support to do
what they want to do.

John Burgess for

UNISON General Secretary

Elect a campaigning General

Secretary we can be proud of...

NOMINATE JOHN BURGESS

What do I stand for?

Why you should nominate me

I want to encourage and promote a co-ordinated fight

back both within our union and with other unions and
community campaigns. I have done this in Barnet, for
example co-ordinating with Bromley Unite/Bromley
UNISON and PCS at the National Gallery so that, in
spite of our separate issues, we all came out on strike
on Osbornes budget day - where theres a will, theres
a way!

I urge your branch to nominate me, but its not just me.
If I am elected as General Secretary I want to join with
thousands of activists within our union to change it. I
want to be an inclusive General Secretary.

This is also a government ruthlessly committed to

dividing and ruling the working class by encouraging
racism, Islamophobia and anti-immigrant prejudice.
I believe that UNISON must stand against this
Government, in support of public services and equality
and against all forms of discrimination. We know that
austerity hits women hardest of all - as the Union with
around a million women members, UNISON has to
organise our members to hit back.
I believe in the regular election of senior full-time
officials.

If I have one ambition as General Secretary, it would be

if I saw an activist who has talent, skills and enthusiasm,
I would want to encourage them and not see them as a
potential opponent.
Finally, if elected as General Secretary, I understand
that it would be a five year term during which I would
receive my current wage as a Social Worker.
Yours in Solidarity,

John Burgess

I have been a Labour Party member for 20 years.

I support Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Party Leader.
Whether he wins the Labour Leadership campaign
or not, he has ignited the anti-austerity debate that
we needed. I am a trade unionist in the Labour Party,
not vice-versa. It is UNISONs job to tell the Labour
Party what it wants in return for our support. The
recent fiasco of abstaining in the welfare debate was
a disgrace. Why are we backing
people who are not acting in our
members interests?

John Burgess for

UNISON General Secretary

@Burgess4GenSec

/JohnBurgess4GenSec

johnburgess4gensec.blogspot.co.uk