Prentis wins UNISON election

Dave Prentis (incumbent)    

184,769  votes (76%)

Roger Bannister  (Socialist Party)       

41, 406 votes  (17%)

Jon Rogers (Unison united Left)

18,306  votes (7.48%)

Turn out was low at just over 16%.

The previous election held in 2001 saw Dave Prentis (not then the incumbent) receive

125,584 votes (55.9%)

and Roger Bannister

71,021 votes (31.65%)

Dave Prentis has won re-election as general secretary of the public sector union Unison. Prentis is very much the man of the union machine and is alternately described as safe for New Labour, and then part of the awkward squad.

This result is disappointing for the left where there vote was caught between the left noises Prentis has been making and the fact their vote was split. Both candidates were supportable by the left but the failure to come to an agreement was extremely regrettable. Not only this but left organisations like the SSP were not consulted before these candidates were decided and was essentially left to decide between the candidates that the English left had chosen (they chose Bannister incidentally). There were no significant political differences between the two candidates which makes the split all the more irritating.

The lessons are clear for the left. Get together, thrash it out, get behind one single left candidate and fight to win.

Socialist Unity interviewed both candidates before the election

March 2005