UNISON’s National Labour Link met Friday in Newcastle. This is a gathering of UNISON delegates that pay into the Labour Link that will decide the unions policy in the Labour Party. Whilst most of the packed agenda was already set weeks ago there was only really one topic on people’s minds, namely the prolonged coup. Members […]
Posts Tagged ‘Labour-Union Link’
On austerity, the Labour-union link and the threat of state funding political parties
Mar 1st, 2015 by Billy Hayes.This is an abridged version of the speech by Billy Hayes to yesterday’s conference and AGM of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) It is a privilege to address your conference. CLPD gives coherence to everything the left stands for inside of the party – to be practical, effective and principled. There is no difference […]
Have the trade unions given up on Labour?
Sep 8th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.A slimmed down Trades Union Congress meeting this week on the banks of the Mersey has an air of unreality about it. It’s not quite that no-one cares what the TUC says – trade union leaders care enough about speaking with one voice that there is even less public debate and dissent here than there […]
If unions simply vote for what they believe, Labour can present a bold popular programme
Jul 17th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Doubts about tomorrow’s meeting of Labour’s national policy forum have already been raised by Jon Cruddas’s comments (£) about the “dead hand” of central control, which I argued remained a problem because of mistakes by Ed Miliband. Of course, party managers have ensured that Cruddas and policy forum chair, Angela Eagle, attempt to present a picture of Labour “united […]
What is the future of the Labour-union link?
Mar 20th, 2014 by Peter Willsman.After Collins, what of the future? Of the collective link between the Labour Party and the trade unions as organisations representing the organised working class? The composition of the implementation committee is quite encouraging, and its actions may avert our worst fears in the immediate future. For example, Labour Uncut have suggested that the implementation committee might change […]
In response to Labour party reforms, Unite halves affiliation payment to Labour
Mar 5th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.The Unite executive has been meeting this week and it was announced this evening that, in response to the decision of Labour’s special conference last weekend on ‘party reform’, the Unite affiliation to the Labour party will be cut by half in anticipation of the likelihood that fewer than half those currently paying the political […]
Why one union wasn’t convinced by Labour’s reform package
Mar 5th, 2014 by Ian Hodson.On Saturday March 1st, the Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) opposed a proposal supposedly geared towards transparency and democracy in relation to the link between trade unions and the Labour party. We were one of the only unions to do so. We opposed it for a number of reasons. Had I been given […]
When politicians talk of ‘reform’, the klaxons start blaring
Feb 28th, 2014 by Ian Hodson.When any politician starts talking about ‘reform’, the klaxons start blaring as ‘reform’ usually means dilution, erosion or a total dismantling of a system for ideological gain. Trade Unions are already an honest and transparent movement of mainly ordinary folk who want the voice of working people to be heard loud and clear in the […]
Bogus consultation and stage management. So much for transparency
Feb 27th, 2014 by Peter Willsman.In the furore over Collins, there have been three main areas of concern. There is concern over the actual proposals and their implications – those have been addressed on this site by Jon Lansman. I would like to address the second and third of these areas of concern – the way the proposals are being […]
Eight reasons still to vote against the Collins report
Feb 18th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.At the special conference on 1 March, Ed Miliband may well have the “Clause IV moment” his advisors sought, though Labour’s enemies are saying unions will have too much power as they probably always will. His proposals, made in the wake of a Falkirk “scandal” that never was, have lost their rationale. If he wins […]
