The UNISON alternative budget - a last chance to go where we've not been before?‏

UNISON's decision to come up with an alternative budget is an important one.http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1890

To have any chance of convincing people of the need to fight cuts in jobs and services we have to show that there is an alternative, that £150 billion can be found from elsewhere, that the bankers did it so the bankers can pay for it.

The real test though is to use our budget to convince members and non members to join us and our campaign. We have to get out to those workplaces where we have no reps (the majority) and few members, places we've not been before. There is little point in building alliances with the public until we have built alliances with the public sector workforce. what we need is simple Organising, using simple and well prepared literature, to convince people to join our local/ national campaigns.

It's simple, it's trade unionism, but it's a lot harder work than talking about it at conference. The clock is ticking, in just a few months we will know who was more up for the fight,us or the Tories.

It's our watch, the time to talk about Organising has passed, we now have to get on with it.

AB