Of course, the wage levelling stance is designed to foster a ‘them and us’ between UNISON members and full time officials.
But also it serves to – falsely – present the ultra left candidates as ordinary ‘rank and file’ members when manifestly it is not the case. Both candidates opposing Dave Prentis have been seconded to full time union duties for decades and are paid on Principal Officer grades. They are among the top 10% earners in local government.
It is contemptible that one of the candidates combines the employer’s pension contribution to give the false impression that the salary of the UNISON General Secretary is over £120,000. Unlike his opponents, the salary of Dave Prentis is a matter of public record:
http://www.certoffice.org/annualReport/pdf/Full%20report%2008-09.pdf
No rational trade union negotiator would say that UNISON - a complex UK wide organisation with over 1.35m members and 1200 staff. – is paying its Principal Officer excessively or out of line with all other trade unions.
This very subject was debated at last week’s PCS conference - a union where the ultra left hubristically claim to have a controlling influence.
The PCS website reports on the debate:
A motion on the salaries of the union’s officers led to a lively debate.
“Chris Hickey, CLG HQ London, moving motion A87, said “in 2007 we agreed that pay of full-time officers should be more closely related to that of the members, but not so high that it was distant from their experiences. A pay scale that reaches up to £87,650 – within the top 2% of earners – is unacceptable. It raises issues about pay structures, use of members’ money and what type of union we should be.”
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/conference/soc10/12-services--structures-a85--a108.cfm
A delegate from SOCA, opposing, said the professionalism, experience and unstinting support of the union’s full-time officers had been invaluable to his members. “I’m surprised to see a resolution calling for a pay reduction for members of a sister union.”
Kevin Greenway, NEC, said the motion should be rejected as the union had agreed a pay and grading system with the GMB, representing PCS staff. “The NEC cannot support this motion – it’s a distraction, and would treat our own workforce in a way that we would not expect our members to be treated.”
The motion was defeated.”
http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/conference/conference-reports-2010/thursday-afternoon-session--conference-report.cfm
That’s what happens when easy, populist, rhetoric hits the hard wall of organisational reality.