Monday 13 June 2016

Private Eye - Team Dave campaign emails

Team Dave campaign emails 

The public were first made aware of the Team Dave campaign emails when an article appeared in Private Eye in early February. 

You can read the Private Eye article here https://www.scribd.com/doc/312252796/Private-Eye-p-38-Feb-2016

Here are some extracts from the Private Eye article

“Leaked emails reach the Eye providing more evidence that full-time staff of Unison mobilised to get general secretary Dave Prentis re-elected in December making the union’s claim to be a “member-led” look increasingly questionable.”

And

“The emails passed to the Eye from within the Prentis campaign indicate that Unison officials were in fact the backbone of “Team Dave”. The emails were sent by assistant general secretary Cliff Williams in October and November. The bulk of the recipients were other Unison officials – a rough count shows 45 of 50 addresses are regional secretaries, head office staff and other unison staff.”

 “One striking “Team Dave” note says: “it may be in some circumstance you may be able to ‘circumvent’ hostile branches by working with sympathetic employer contacts. I acknowledge that some colleagues may feel this is ethically inappropriate but it doesn’t breach campaign rules; it will have to be done with caution.”

It may not break campaign rules, but it still doesn’t look good. Similarly, having Unison officials lead the Prentis campaign doesn’t match the spirit of the union being “member led”.

The third extract above is in our view one of the most damming, especially for those grassroots reps and members who have been fighting employers who are either sacking, privatising or cutting the Terms and Conditions of our members. The idea that paid officials would go behind the backs of local branches is appalling and has no place in a trade union. To date there has been no condemnation of these remarks or any investigation.


The “Team Dave” emails are further evidence of a national campaign and provide a context to the content of the audio tape of the meeting in London on 21 October 2015. 

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