Unions & politics

Trade Unions and politics

Defend the unions' voice in politics!

The Labour Party was set up to give the organised working class, through the trade unions, a collective voice in politics. Now, according to a BBC report , the new "Labour" leader Gordon Brown wants to abolish that. The details are not clear from the BBC report, but the gist seems to be that Brown plans for Labour Party conference to cease to be even formally the body which decides policy. Instead, the Labour leaders' policies will be "democratically" ratified by take-it-or-leave-it referendums of Labour Party members, in which they are offered a choice between accepting the policies or...

Labor, the unions and AWAs

In the lead up to this year’s Federal election it is clear that pressure on the Australian Labor Party leadership to cave in further on industrial relations policy will be unrelenting. Two of the top bosses’ organisations the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are riding to the rescue of a faltering conservative coalition government. There will be a joint Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Council of Australia advertising blitz worth millions to counter a very effective union campaign against Prime Minister Howard’s Work...

Trade unionists for two states

These basic policies on Israel-Palestine — policies which allow a way forward through building working-class unity across the divides — were adopted by the Executive of the Communication Workers’ Union in 2002. Trade Unionists For Two States: Palestine Alongside Israel works to win support for these policies in the labour movement. It seeks affiliations from trade union branches, and organises practical activities to help promote the cause of Palestinian rights: an independent Palestinian state with the same rights as Israel. • We are for the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli state from the...

So much for the “awkward squad”

For five years now, every autumn, at the Labour Party conference, the big unions have voted through policies reflecting their members’ wishes but clashing sharply with the Labour leadership. Solidarity strikes and boycotts should be legal. The Health Service should not be privatised. Local councils should be enabled to renovate council housing and build more, instead of being forced by the Government to transfer it to private management and ownership. Blair and Brown ignore those conference decisions. No way to overrride them — except to change the leadership. This spring, Blair gave the...

The AWL and the trade union left: setting the record straight

Workers' Liberty has sent this note to the Permanent Revolution group. Permanent Revolution supporter AJ Byrne's short piece in Issue 4 of Permanent Revolution magazine ("The lefts, the AWL and John McDonnell's campaign for leader" - the magazine is not currently online) accuses the AWL of partial responsibility for the failure of the left trade union bureaucracy to support McDonnell's campaign. It also implies that our supposed political collapse is related to the failures of the trade union left on pensions over the last two years. None of this could be further from the truth. (In passing...

Defend union independence in Venezuela

There is a useful article in English by Venezuelan socialists fighting for class struggle trade unionism in Venezuela. Defend union independence by Milton D’León explains how Chávez has attacked the unions as part of his drive to form his new party, the PSUV.

CWU's Dave Ward Leaves Labour's Executive

Copied below is a report from the Observer. Ward claims that there is a "conflict of interest" between fighting government policy and sitting on Labour's NEC. Is there?! Back in the 1970s, the Labour Party NEC called a national demonstration against the then Labour government's policy, so presumably...

Note to Trade Unions: You Can't Trust Nationalists

Below is a press release from RMT revealing that the Scottish National Party (SNP) has dropped its previous policy in support of rail renationalisation after ... getting big bucks from private rail owners.

Stagecoach owner Brian souter is also a notorious homophobe, having bankrolled the...

The 1984-5 Miners' Strike, the Miners Who Scabbed, and the Fate of the Pet Pig

In Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure, there is a strange, affecting scene, in which the butchering of a hand-raised pig is described. It is told with great sympathy and empathy from the pig’s point of view. (Parables for Socialists-5) Reared close to the family, as was common in nineteen century England, the pig is well-treated, mothered like a pet and fed on tit-bits — all the better to fatten it up so that it could at the right moment be turned into as much pork and bacon as possible. The pig is happy and contented, not knowing his place in the human scheme of things. Then one day the...

Chávez presents timetable for new party

Hugo Chávez announced his timetable for a new ruling party last week, and it is clear that it will be a top down affair. Chávez has created a special committee of political leaders, including vice-president Jorge Rodríguez to oversee the process over the next nine months.

The first stage, to be...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.