Nominations for leader of Britain’s biggest union opened on 20 August and it looks like there will be just two candidates – the incumbent Christina McAnea and left challenger Andrea Egan. An election can generate a lot of waffle and confusion. UNISON activist Ian Allinson, author of ‘Workers Can Win: A Guide to Organising At Work’, writing in a personal capacity, picks through their manifestos for actionable pledges – stripping out the vague and aspirational.
| Topic | Christina McAnea | Andrea Egan |
|---|---|---|
| Democracy and accountability | Take the wage of a social worker instead of the £181,000 salary package the current General Secretary currently receives. Donate the rest to the Industrial Action Fund and There For You (UNISON Welfare) to support members. Comprehensive review of union machinery to ensure implementation of decisions and policies decided by members. Publish the pay ratio between the highest and lowest-paid staff and the members they serve in our Financial Statements. Commission external oversight to produce fresh disciplinary procedures for members, to go to Conference for debate. Consider if an external body like the TUC could play a role in our disciplinary procedures. | |
| Organising, industrial action and bargaining | An activist academy with specific tailored training. A new support package for activists, focused on health and wellbeing support, advice to branches employing staff themselves, finance and procurement. Provide resources so membership and influence can be increased where new jobs are created (for example in GB Energy). Place our union at the heart of a national care service and lead the introduction of a fair pay agreement, paving the way for agreements in other sectors. | A benchmarking exercise of successful industrial action, comparing UNISON with other unions. Adopt the most effective methods. A cross-service group ‘strike-ready’ conference, bringing together key representatives from all our regions and nations, service groups and self-organised groups, to share the findings of the benchmarking exercise and agree the changes needed to run successful ballots and industrial action. Regional ‘strike-ready’ events in advance of national pay talks to provide skills and resources for branch activists and an agreed strategic plan. Drive the creation of national and regional resources to support branches in dispute, implementing the lessons from benchmarking and the ‘strike-ready’ conference. Review why the union is not currently able or willing to run multiple ballots and shift resources as required, learning from best practice in other unions. Examine the amount of strike pay we provide withthe appropriate committees, taking into account increases in inflation and the rates other unions provide. Revisit selective balloting and how we can use it more effectively. Deploy resources to reduce ballot delays and ensure that the Member Engagement Programme leads to improvements in data readiness. |
| Politics and the relationship with Labour | Review our relationship with Labour including the Labour Link. Examine how we can get value for money and use our influence to advance our union’s democratically agreed policies. Work out how we better achieve UNISON’s policy goals in a rapidly changing political scene that includes new threats from the far right. Oppose funding for Labour MPs and candidates who fail to stand against welfare cuts and other attacks on our members’ living standards and policies. Oppose our union’s votes at Labour Conference and the Labour NEC being abused for the factional ends of Starmer’s allies. Advocate for an Employment Rights Bill 2 which establishes collective rights for workers. | |
| Branches | Set up direct access to legal advice for branch secretaries. Effective national support to branch secretaries recruiting and managing staff. Extend access to training for UNISON staff to include branch-employed staff. Facilitate rather than obstruct co-learning and information-sharing between branches. Extra support to branches with casework andother core tasks to lessen the burden on branch activists. Focus staff on support to branches and activists rather than attending meetings. | |
| International | Oppose all military support for Israel and weapons spending that takes money from public services. Create a Pensions Divestment Task Force to relaunch UNISON’s campaign for divestment of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds from firms supplying arms to Israel and/or involved with the exploitation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. | |
| Equality and inclusion | Prioritise agreeing reasonable adjustment passports in every workplace. | Extend the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants helpline to 7 days a week. Roll out the Migrant Workers’ Charter across the union. Convene a joint meeting of self-organised groups to identify their core demands and ensure they are put into practice. Work with the National Black Members’ Committee to implement the full recommendations of UNISON’s first ever National Race Discrimination Inquiry within the first 100 days in office. Ensure the NEC and National Black members receive regular reports on race discrimination cases received and taken. Open a Young Members’ leadership school to build political education, confidence, and organising skills. Work with the elected retired members and their committees to embed this growing group of members in our union, so they become an integral part of UNISON’s democratic and campaigning activities. Work to ensure all devolved nations are treated fairly in the allocation of important strategic committee places on our NEC. Demand that all reports include a ‘devolution impact’ assessment. Allow national posts to be worked away from the UNISON Centre in London more often. |
| Member services and union administration | Provide advice from the union whenever you need it by improving the helpline. | Review why UNISON often cannot fill vacant posts. Find ways to get more lay members into staff roles. Complete the work started to improve the UNISON Centre in London so activists can access and benefit from it, and it is better-used. A comprehensive review of legal services provided to our union to be less risk-averse. Review’s remit to improve transparency and quality, turnaround times, reporting to the NEC on turn-down rates, review cases that we drop but aresubsequently successful at tribunal, and improve case take-up. |
| Water, Environment and Transport | Campaign for a just transition to a green economy that protects jobs and puts water companies back into public ownership. | Give WET the resources it needs. |
| Health | Support any branch that is organising and campaigning to deliver safe staffing levels, or fighting cuts or privatisation. Work with your Service Group Executive to ensure we have a strategy on pay that delivers. | |
| Community | Devote resources and implement Organising to Win in the fragmented service group, supporting isolated Community workers to map and build power in their workplaces, and make demands. | |
| Police, Probation and Cafcass | Prioritise campaigning for extra resources for probation staff and campaign for public ownership. Continue and amplify the ‘We are Police Staff’ campaign into the broader community and trade union movement. Campaign to end Operation Uplift which is resulting in police officers being put into police staff roles. |
I imagine both candidates will be annoyed at many of their statements that didn’t make it into the list. Nonetheless it’s clear that McAnea’s manifesto is very light on concrete pledges compared to Egan’s manifesto. This isn’t just the difference between eight and twelve pages. Egan has put forward a broad range of specific ideas to change UNISON while being careful not to promise changes that are not in the General Secretary’s gift. Who you back in this election should depend on whether or not you support those pledges.
Details of the election are available here.
- Nomination meetings can take place from 20 August to 26 September 2025.
- The ballot of members will take place from 28 October to 25 November 2025.