Branches are to shortly begin the nomination process for the NEC elections. The Independent left is standing in those elections. In comparison to the current leadership- the leadership that cancelled the 2015 elections but who still proclaim that democracy is in their DNA- we want a different union. Not one that self proclaims itself radical but a union that is radical. That difference is shown in our programme. In the next few articles we set that programme.

A Member Driven Union – The main focus of the union is to respond to and represent the voice and interests of the members. The union should be controlled by the grass roots rather than Headquarters. That clearly is not the case at the moment as shown by the contact centre non-dispute in the DWP. In contrast to LU’s top down method of running the union, we want decisions on whether ballots should be held on local issues to be decided by the affected branches rather than the National Disputes Committee sitting as arbiters. The national union’s role should be to assist branches rather than oversee them. The position of the union should be to aid all local disputes and to generalise those disputes if possible.