Working with Helen McFarlane, we’ve had a great first 2 days on the campaign trail visiting reps and members in Scotland. Yesterday, we had an early start and visited the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, BAE Systems, Chivas Brothers, Tennents, Diagio, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Shieldhall recycling. Today I met members and reps from McTaggart Scotts, Lothian Region Transport, East Coast buses, Scottish Power, the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Western General hospitals.

The conversations with reps at Lothian and Eastcoast buses about their respective pay claims and campaigns for a better deal were useful. I particularly enjoyed the impromptu invitation to address the canteen at East Coast buses to field questions from drivers about the election and ultimately on how we improve our union in Scotland.

Typically, these executive elections attract a very low turnout which reflects how disengaged members are from our union. However, when you make the effort to go out and spend time meeting members to discuss their issues it’s possible to help members understand why its important to engage in the democratic process and vote in the executive council elections.

Unite in Scotland has been in decline for decades. However, we posted a net growth in membership last year. This is down to the hard work of reps out there campaigning in their workplaces with the support of the Organising and Leverage department. We need to change direction in Scotland if we want to build on this success. This is one of the reasons that I’m standing for the Unite Executive Council (EC) –  to help us remove the barriers to rebuilding our union.

We hope to play a small part in this process by campaigning for the “Back to the Workplace” manifesto.

Vote Helen McFarlane and Raymond Morell for the Scottish seats in the Unite EC elections.