This week members of Unite will be receiving ballot papers for the elections of the Unite Executive Council which will hold office from 1st May until to 30th April 2029. The papers are currently being distributed and must be returned by 27th April.
I will be voting for those candidates standing under the banner of Members United. There are a number of reasons for this but on a blog dedicated to supporting the Labour left I want to concentrate on only one issue: Unite’s relationship to the Labour Party. You can get a full list of Members United and why they are standing here: https://membersunited.uk/
For some time now Unite members have woken up to headlines like this: Unite boss Sharon Graham threatens to break link with Labour on eve of conference. To put it mildly breaking the Union’s link with the Labour Party would be drastic and catastrophic. Almost since the beginning of her term of office Sharon has flirted with the ultra-left notion that leaving the Labour Party will advance working class interests. It won’t.
Of course, at this point we need to acknowledge that the Labour Party under Starmer has been awful. In addition to attempts at cutting welfare, being tepid in its criticism of the genocidal acts of Israel, and supportive of the aggressive imperialism of the US - even when it was advancing positive elements in its programme, most notably improved workers’ rights, it appears to listen more closely to business than workers.
All of this Sharon has rightly criticised, although there was some well-deserved criticism of her in the slow response to the Gaza crisis and her enthusiasm for Starmer’s promises of increased defence expenditure without addressing the likely down side of that position - pressure to pay for it by reducing public expenditure with the implications of that for welfare spending and local government jobs and services.
The concern is surely not just what is wrong with Starmer’s programme but what do we do about it? In its constitution Unite is very clear about how we tackle political issues that impact on its members:
“On Politics
2.1.4 To have a strong political voice, fighting on behalf of working peoples’ interests, and to influence the political agenda locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, so as to promote a socialist vision for
• a more equal society in which wealth is distributed from the rich to the poor, including by means of progressive taxation and other regulatory measures to restrict excessive wealth 3 Amended and Published March 2024
• a collective society in which public services are directly provided on the basis of public need and not private greed, and a fair system of welfare and benefits to support those in need
• public ownership of important areas of economic activity and services, including health, education, water, post, rail and local passenger transport.
2.1.5 To further political objectives including by affiliation to the Labour Party.”
If we abandon this position, there is only one weapon left at our disposal – industrial struggle. That struggle is of course absolutely necessary but it is not enough. We all know the struggles from the 1980s onwards where, despite heroic efforts like the miners’ strike, without a political strategy and a political party to implement it, we could not prevail.
So, what are possible the alternatives to affiliation to the Labour Party? Surely, we are not expected to consider Your Party? It is becoming painfully clear that Your Party is now an unhappy alliance of two rival political factions, paralysed by that difference.
Or how about the Greens? The Greens in both Scotland and England and Wales may have the worthy ambition, to quote the constitution of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) “to develop and implement ecological policies consistent with the Philosophical Basis of the Party as expressed in Policies for a Sustainable Society.”
But that is not about putting power in the hands of workers. Indeed, the role of Trade Unionists in the Green party is to win trade Unionists to vote Green not change the Green Party to advocate trade union objectives:
“The role of the Trade Union Liaison Committee shall be to support the work of the GPEW and coordinate and strengthen the Party’s work with the trade union movement and other workers’ organisations.”
It is abundantly clear to me that the only potential for serious social change in Britain is the Labour Party. But that is only true if there is vibrant Left in the Labour Party working in alliance with the trade unions for social transformation of the nations and regions of Britain. This project is at serious risk if we do not have an Unite Executive committed to keeping the link despite the best efforts of the General Secretary and her allies to undermine that. So, vote for a militant union that leads from the front and doesn’t moan from the sidelines. Vote for Members United candidates.
For some time now Unite members have woken up to headlines like this: Unite boss Sharon Graham threatens to break link with Labour on eve of conference. To put it mildly breaking the Union’s link with the Labour Party would be drastic and catastrophic. Almost since the beginning of her term of office Sharon has flirted with the ultra-left notion that leaving the Labour Party will advance working class interests. It won’t.
Of course, at this point we need to acknowledge that the Labour Party under Starmer has been awful. In addition to attempts at cutting welfare, being tepid in its criticism of the genocidal acts of Israel, and supportive of the aggressive imperialism of the US - even when it was advancing positive elements in its programme, most notably improved workers’ rights, it appears to listen more closely to business than workers.
All of this Sharon has rightly criticised, although there was some well-deserved criticism of her in the slow response to the Gaza crisis and her enthusiasm for Starmer’s promises of increased defence expenditure without addressing the likely down side of that position - pressure to pay for it by reducing public expenditure with the implications of that for welfare spending and local government jobs and services.
The concern is surely not just what is wrong with Starmer’s programme but what do we do about it? In its constitution Unite is very clear about how we tackle political issues that impact on its members:
“On Politics
2.1.4 To have a strong political voice, fighting on behalf of working peoples’ interests, and to influence the political agenda locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, so as to promote a socialist vision for
• a more equal society in which wealth is distributed from the rich to the poor, including by means of progressive taxation and other regulatory measures to restrict excessive wealth 3 Amended and Published March 2024
• a collective society in which public services are directly provided on the basis of public need and not private greed, and a fair system of welfare and benefits to support those in need
• public ownership of important areas of economic activity and services, including health, education, water, post, rail and local passenger transport.
2.1.5 To further political objectives including by affiliation to the Labour Party.”
If we abandon this position, there is only one weapon left at our disposal – industrial struggle. That struggle is of course absolutely necessary but it is not enough. We all know the struggles from the 1980s onwards where, despite heroic efforts like the miners’ strike, without a political strategy and a political party to implement it, we could not prevail.
So, what are possible the alternatives to affiliation to the Labour Party? Surely, we are not expected to consider Your Party? It is becoming painfully clear that Your Party is now an unhappy alliance of two rival political factions, paralysed by that difference.
Or how about the Greens? The Greens in both Scotland and England and Wales may have the worthy ambition, to quote the constitution of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) “to develop and implement ecological policies consistent with the Philosophical Basis of the Party as expressed in Policies for a Sustainable Society.”
But that is not about putting power in the hands of workers. Indeed, the role of Trade Unionists in the Green party is to win trade Unionists to vote Green not change the Green Party to advocate trade union objectives:
“The role of the Trade Union Liaison Committee shall be to support the work of the GPEW and coordinate and strengthen the Party’s work with the trade union movement and other workers’ organisations.”
It is abundantly clear to me that the only potential for serious social change in Britain is the Labour Party. But that is only true if there is vibrant Left in the Labour Party working in alliance with the trade unions for social transformation of the nations and regions of Britain. This project is at serious risk if we do not have an Unite Executive committed to keeping the link despite the best efforts of the General Secretary and her allies to undermine that. So, vote for a militant union that leads from the front and doesn’t moan from the sidelines. Vote for Members United candidates.
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