This is the full text of GMB general secretary Paul Kenny’s speech to Labour party conference this morning. It is a pleasure of speaking today as Chair of TULO, representing the fourteen affiliated trade unions with a collective voice of millions of working people and their families. The trade union affiliates will only put in […]
Posts Tagged ‘Progress’
Unite has been vindicated over Falkirk. It’s time for others to move on
Sep 13th, 2013 by Pat Rafferty.Unite Scotland statement on the Falkirk Constituency Labour Party (CLP) selection by Pat Rafferty, Unite Scottish Regional Secretary. That Unite did nothing wrong in the Falkirk CLP is now a matter of fact. This was made clear by the Labour Party last week (Friday 6 September 2013) and more importantly by Police Scotland earlier last month. Despite […]
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Enhance the union collective role in the party, don’t reduce it
Aug 30th, 2013 by Martin Mayer.Ed Miliband’s proposals to “mend” the trade union/Labour Party link were prompted by an internal battle for the soul of the Labour Party. This culminated in a bitter row over Falkirk, when the right wing – Blairite shadow ministers, a majority of the PLP and the New Labour pressure group Progress – cried “foul “over UNITE’s success in building support for yet another working class trade unionist candidate.
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The Blairites: strong, arrogant and oblivious to the wishes of Labour members
Aug 14th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.There is no doubt that the Blairites have had a rough few years. As they see it, Brown, the Pretender who hated the Great Leader, undermined him and forced him out. No sooner had the usurper stolen the Great Leader’s job, than he demonstrated that he wasn’t capable of doing it himself, didn’t really believe in ‘reforming’ public […]
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Yes to a union voice, no to state funding
Jul 19th, 2013 by Mark Seddon.July has been a hot month. It has been especially hot in the hothouse world of Westminster politics, where lobby hacks mix with media savvy politicians, stories and plots are hatched and exposed. In the immediate aftermath of Ed Miliband’s shock announcement that in future he wanted Labour’s affiliated members to ‘opt in’ to party […]
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Another political attack on free speech
Jul 17th, 2013 by Keith Ewing.The Battle of Falkirk is a symptom of a bitter civil war in the Labour party. On the one side are the cavaliers, the Blairite faction led by Progress, a well-funded campaign group. On the other side are the roundheads, a trade union grounded interest, committed to return the Party to its roots. Both sides […]
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The Blairite plot to discredit unions in general and Len McCluskey in particular
Jul 11th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The contents of the secret report into what happened in Falkirk have now been revealed. Seumas Milne in the Guardian comments that “given the thin gruel offered up by way of evidence” it’s not hard to see why it hasn’t been published. Nevertheless, the report does find that Unite is not directly responsible for what […]
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Yes, Labour’s selection process has been abused, but not by the unions
Jul 9th, 2013 by Len McCluskey.Getting those who pay into unions’ political funds engaged in the life of the Labour party, is worth pursuing. Today Ed Miliband will spell out his proposals to mend, but not end, the historic relationship between trade unions and the Labour party. Clearly, whatever he proposes will need to be considered seriously. Change is needed, and for […]
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Falkirk, and the developing row between Labour and UNITE
Jul 1st, 2013 by Andy Newman.The placing of the Falkirk West CLP into administrative measures is the latest battle in what George Eaton at the New Statesman describes as “a war” between UNITE the union, and the Labour Party. In fact the Blairites in the party, are engaged in a concerted campaign to challenge trade union influence more generally. This became apparent in the synthetic “outrage” that […]
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Progress: a political embarrassment
Jun 16th, 2013 by Frances Docx and Conrad Landin.Dan Hodges is not the most reliable of soothsayers. On the eve of the announcement of Ed Miliband’s victory, the journalist and self-described “Blairite cuckoo” infamously proclaimed that “David Miliband has won.” But Hodges, who now pops up whenever Newsnight or Sky News require a useful idiot to attack the leadership qualities of Miliband the […]
