Defending and Democratising the Labour Party-Trade Union Link
Come to our Leeds meeting on March 30th
The trade unions founded the Labour Party, realising that the working class needed a voice in Parliament.
Trade unions have hitherto been affiliated organisations of the Labour Party with a voice at local, regional and national level.
Affiliated unions have often been regarded as dominant in Party decision-making through their use of a block vote.
Trade unions have been seen to vote against their own Conference policies, for instance on open selection at the 2018 Labour Party Conference. So the union vote needs democratising. How?
Some on the left want to reduce the unions’ influence by moving to all members’ meetings, so that members of affiliated unions vote individually and not necessarily in accordance with their union’s policy.
This effectively disenfranchises the unions locally and moves the Party away from representative democracy.
Now more than ever we need fighting unity between the trade unions and the Labour Party. Now as ever the working class movement must be democratic.
Come and hear Matt Wrack. He is the General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. The FBU voted at LP Conference for their own Conference policy of open selection of Parliamentary candidates. Matt, who spoke at Conference on avoiding division between unions and Party activists, is also the Chair of the LRC.
Labour Party and LRC members especially when trade union activists, come together to discuss this vital issue for our movement
