Posted by Keith Ewing

The Collins inquiry (part 2): what role trade unions should play within Labour

Ed Miliband with Durham Miners Gala in backgroundThe Collins review into the Labour party – trade union link has two fundamental questions to consider. The first is whether trade unions should continue the practice of collective affiliation, and if so on what terms. The other is what role trade unions and their members should play within the Labour party.

Yesterday I suggested that there were a number of options on which the principle of collective affiliation could rest. But I suggested that the best option is the one currently operating, which is that it is up to each trade union to determine the basis of its own affiliation.

As explained last week, most of the affiliated unions now affiliate on a basis that bears some relationship to the number of members who pay the political levy. But most unions under-affiliate. They do so out of respectfor those members who do not support Labour; and also to keep some cash for their own campaigns.

But what about the second question – the role that trade union members should play within the party? Continue reading →

The Collins inquiry (part 1): Weighing up the options

Ed Miliband with Durham Miners Gala in backgroundThis is part one of two on the Collins review into the Labour Party-trade union link.

Ed Miliband’s plans to dilute the role of trade unions in the Labour Party are already encountering strong resistance from activists.

Senior trade unionists have spoken out against the proposals and a campaign has recently been launched to Defend the Link, with an inaugural public meeting at Conway Hall on September 3.

The task of redefining and diluting the trade union role has been given to Lord Collins of Highbury, who will be presenting a consultation paper to the Labour conference in September with some initial thoughts. The final blow will be delivered in the conference in the spring. Continue reading →

Zero hour contracts: some policy proposals

ZeroThere has been much hand-wringing about the growing scandal of zero-hours contracts. Apparently the Office for National Statistics has greatly under-estimated the phenomenon, with revised estimates suggesting that at least a million workers are engaged on such contracts.

Yet zero-hours contracts are defended on the ground that they provide flexibility for workers as well as employers. The benefit to workers is, however, hugely exaggerated. While there may well be some who suit this kind of arrangement, they are likely to be a small minority. Continue reading →

The party, not its leader, must settle Labour’s future

Defend the Link colourSo Ed Miliband is to have his Clause 4 moment. Last month’s announcement by the Labour leader of a special conference in the Spring to endorse Lord Collins’ as yet unwritten proposals to rewrite the Labour party constitution is a further provocation of the affiliated trade unions, which demands a strong response.

The announcement compounds what so far has been the most offensive aspect of Mr Miliband’s onslaught on trade union affiliation to the Labour Party, namely the total contempt it revealed for the Labour Party constitution. Like Tony Blair before him, Mr Miliband appears to see himself as the owner of the Party rather than its leader. Continue reading →

Another political attack on free speech

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 seem equally determined to prevail.

Needless to say, the corporate press has made common cause with the cavaliers, in a battle it helped to create. But although it would be folly to predict the outcome of this battle, early signs are that the Labour party leader is seeking to broker a truce and that an uneasy peace will break out, at least for the time being. This is subject of course to the substance of any of the vague (party) constitutional reforms now being proposed, and the interests they serve. Continue reading →