Going To A Go-Go
Lenin’s Tomb reported it last week, but now it’s official, ie it’s in Google news – Unison, Europe’s biggest public sector union, is dumping Labour and Tony Blair. Unison represents civil servants in national and local government, hospital workers and the voluntary sector, ranging from librarians to medical assistants to garbage truck drivers to policy officers to legal executives. It’s a big union, and when the members vote for national strike action, the country is hit hard. It’s not something they do lightly.
Union won’t campaign for Labour
25 March 2006
The country’s biggest trade union has suspended campaigning for Labour in the forthcoming local elections because of the bitter row over pensions which will lead to a strike by 1.4 million workers, it was revealed.
Unison is the main union involved in the dispute over planned changes to the local government pension scheme, which will see workers across the UK walking out next Tuesday, crippling council services.
Unison confirmed it had suspended its election campaigning for Labour while the dispute remained unresolved.
The move is a blow to Labour, which faces tough battles in many councils across England in the May elections.
Traditionally the Labour Party was a workers’ party, funded directly by the workers’ contribution of a proportion of their union dues. This funding continues, overseen by a group within the union called Unison Labour Link, whose members are all both Unison and Labour and whose aim is to raise funds for the party.
Readers of my old blog will know that I was a member and officer of Unison and active in Unison United Left, campaigning for an all-membership to vote to stop Unison Labour Link and form a poltically unaffiliated fund isntead. As our slogan said, “Why feed the hand that bites you?”
It was uphill work all the way, given that the leadership at both national and local level are right up the arse of the Labour party in more ways than one. For example, a regional paid officer (whom I once found in the local office late at night polling the fax machine when I was pretty sure she had no key, but that’s by the by) is married to a Labour MP. No conflict there.
One of our most senior local union officers is married to a man who is the son, brother and brother in law of 4 Labour councillors. Unison even has a vote in Labour constituency party matters – but of course, it’s reserved for a party member. These potential conflicts of interest are mirrored in union branches and regions throughout the nation. The fate of Unison and the Labour party are incestuously entwined, and by a cunning constitutional ruse, when United Left were able to get enough support to get a motion to conference, the Chair held that only members of Labour Link could vote on anything to do with Labour Link. How very democratic.
Labour, by the narrowest of margin and only by the grace of public sector workers’ hard-earned funds, got back nto government despite little support from its own activists. Tony Blair then promptly treated this close shave as a mandate to follow through on the liberalisation of public services, according to the trade agreements he had signed in the teeth of opposition from all of the unions.
In the name of liberalisation Blair and Brown have presided over the destruction of the NHS and the takeover by spivs and carpetbaggers of what once were democratically accountable schools, hospitals and public services. The sell-off of the family silver by Tony Blair is the biggest rip-off of the public since the Enclosure acts. Blair has turned on the very workers who enabled his victory.
Unison Labour Link have in the past screamed dire warnings that if the funding were to be stopped the union would lose influence. They needed the ear of government, and so on and so on. The leadership continues to support New Labour but in a negative way, by saying nothing. 3.000 hopsital staff have been laid off this week, most of them Uison members and I’m still waiting to see a statement by leader Dave Prentiss. He doesn’t want to rock the boat, and that’s what this current move by Labour link is about. they don’t want to put the knife in, but neither do they want alienate the members. Hence the planned silence during the election.
Read More: UK Politics Unions Unison New Labour
