Tony Woodley is standing in the T&G General Secretary election with the backing of the union's Broad Left. Solidarity supporters in the union have had criticisms of Woodley, particularly his role in the motor industry, where he was the union's chief negotiator for several years. Nevertheless, Woodley is the only candidate with a proven track record of rank and file trade unionism, and who firmly opposes T&G's slide towards business unionism.
Addressing a meeting of stewards and activists in Birmingham last week, Woodley outlined his vision of the future, emphasising increasing rank and file involvement, opening the union up to members' families and young people under 21, establishing a national bargaining team and a disputes team, launching campaigns in defence of pension rights and for a £6 minimum wage.
He also promised to root out corruption and to ensure the re-instatement of the two Irish officials recently sacked on spurious grounds. Woodley vowed that he would never allow a group of T&G members to be "hung out to dry" in the way that the Liverpool dockers were.
"I believe that our members, when they fight in defence of jobs or for decent pay and conditions, have a right to expect that, as a matter of course, they will have the full support of this union - in action and not just words."
He repeated many times that he was absolutely committed to the repeal of the anti-union laws.
The most contentious issue during the questions from the floor, was Woodley's defence of the Labour party link and his assertion that "breaking the link is a right-wing agenda with which I will have no truck". Some of those present (particularly a small group of Morning Star supporters) objected to this statement and urged Woodley to look to (unspecified) "forces outside the Labour Party".
Interestingly, this was the one issue upon which Woodley was willing to disagree with a section of the meeting. He agreed that the present Government had let down working people and acknowledged that many activists were bitterly disappointed. He even admitted to being quite pleased by the success of the Scottish Socialist Party.
But, he added, "they can have no influence upon the major concerns of our members - pensions, the minimum wage, the anti-union laws and the rest. These are issues where we require action and legislation from central government.
"The Labour Party was created by our movement and I am not willing to give it up voluntarily. Instead of talking about breaking the link and supporting small protest parties, we should be fighting to reclaim our Party.
"And we could start by demanding that all our representatives on the Party's committees vote in line with this union's policies - something that doesn't happen at the moment."
