Friday 16 May saw two unconnected judgements that have put a spoke in the wheel of the UNISON bureaucracy's witch hunt against prominent lefts in the union. The Certification Officer, that guardian of the Anti Trade Union laws - handpicked to interfere in union internal business - has issued rulings in the case of Tony Staunton, the ex Plymouth branch secretary, who has now been expelled from the union, and also in the case of Yunus Bahksh, a member of the Health Service Group Executive and a branch secretary in Newcastle who is, as we have reported previously, suspended from the union at the moment. In the Plymouth case, UNISON acted outside of its own rules in disbarring Tony Staunton from standing for the NEC while he was only suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. The ruling seemed to indicate as well that, had the case been lodged earlier, the suspension itself might have been ruled out of order. In Yunus's case the Certification Officer found that UNISON had acted illegally in suspending him from office. The decision means that Yunus should be allowed back immediately onto the SGE and have his suspension lifted.

While Marxists wouldn't ideally want to place any faith in the Certification Officer (the official responsible for sequestrating union assets) it's clear that these rulings have revealed the way in which individuals are being effectively forced out of the union by the UNISON apparatus with scant respect for the rules. As we have explained before the UNISON leadership have a responsibility to stand up for the members - not to waste their time policing the membership and attacking some of the best fighters that the union has in its ranks. The members deserve better than that. We need a fighting democratic union.

Stop the witch hunts!