Yesterday's Queen's Speech included proposals to require an opt-in to political funds (rather than the current opt-out) and the Guardian reports that 'trade union officers and the Labour party seemed to have been caught unaware of the reforms'.
No one can say that they were not warned about this scenario as they rushed to endorse the Collins Review which effectively ended collective affiliation to Labour and removed automatic voting rights from union levy payers. In acquiescing to a two tier system whereby levy payers are required to opt-in to affiliate Labour party membership in order to secure voting rights, the pass was sold on opposing the same mechanism for payment of the levy. The consequences were foreseeable and will be disastrous for the Labour party.
As expected the Labour Party's Collins Review was endorsed at yesterday's special conference without an amendment in sight. It is certain that by 2020 union influence in the Labour Party will be much diminished but the review impacts on UNISON differently than all other affiliated unions. In his report Collins says that 'UNISON has offered its levy-paying members this sort of choice for some time, and its members who choose to pay into the affiliated section of that union's political fund have already consented to the payment of affiliation fees'. Therefore UNISON can continue to pay Labour £3 per year for the 400,000 APF levy payers (including those who joined before merger in 1993) - so unlike all other unions the requirement for UNISON members to 'opt in' within five years does not apply (decisions by GMB and Unite to commence large scale disaffiliation show the degree of capitulation by those unions to critics of the union link):
http://labourlist.org/2014/02/final-collins-review-document-released-ahead-of-special-conference/
The gradual weakening of Labour’s links with trade unionists provides an opportunity for the Conservative Party to reach out to trade unions according to a
recent article in the Economist magazine.
Ideas being promoted by the pressure group Renewal - which aims to broaden Tory appeal among working class, northern and ethnic minority voters - include free party membership for trade unionists and Tory backed slates in internal union elections. Given the onslaught on trade union and workers’ rights waged by both current and past Tory Ministers this initiative is about as viable as a Bargain Booze franchise in Saudi Arabia.
One should not imagine that the proposal from the Collins Review, that members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) are to have their section of the Party's Electoral College removed means a significant reduction in their influence over who the leader of the Labour Party will be. That power remains largely intact due to the fact that the PLP are to retain sole control over leadership nominations, as well as the figure where Collins proposes the threshold is to be set.
Yesterday the Labour Party NEC approved the recommendations of the Collins Review to reform Labour's internal constitution, which will now be put (non amendable) to a two hour long special conference on 1 March 2014. Much has been stated about the 15 affiliated unions retaining a 'collective affiliation' and how this has been the sine qua non for trade union agreement to the changes. But does this claim stand up to scrutiny and will it be credible in the medium term?
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1012864/building-a-one-nation-labour-party-final-report.pdf
A Guardian exclusive report today provides details of proposed Labour Party constitutional changes arising from the Collins Review. The most significant change relates to party leadership elections with the scrapping of the electoral college (which disproportionately empowers MPs) and the introduction of one member one vote (OMOV) which will include equal voting rights for trade union levy payers who sign up for £3 per year associate membership of Labour. Associate members will have a direct relationship with the party rather than via affiliated unions. Unions will continue to have a collective presence at Labour Party conference (and retain 50% of the 'vote') as well as on the NEC. Those political fund levy payers who opt in to making a contribution to Labour will be able to do so but will have no democratic rights of participation (unless a full or associate member).
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/31/ed-miliband-labour-trade-union-reforms
As the Collins Review of Labour's internal constitution edges towards its anti-climax at a two hour special conference on 1 March, speculation increases that future trade union affiliation (funding and voting) will be based on £3 per year 'associate membership' thus closing off millions of trade unionists from paying a political levy to Labour.
An interesting report in today’s Guardian that the Collins review is likely to recommend a political fund model similar to UNISON’s whereby union members choose between an affiliated and non affiliated political fund contribution from their union membership subscription. The UNISON system has operated robustly for 20 years with remarkably only 13,560 members opting to exempt themselves from contributing to the political fund in contrast with Unite where 169,292 opt out of paying the political levy to Labour. Of course, constitutional formulas aside, a far bigger question for the future is how levy paying members of affiliated unions exercise our political influence in the Labour Party.
#lab13 Paul Kenny of the GMB and chair of TULO spoke on behalf of all Labour’s affiliated unions in Sunday’s short debate on the interim report of Lord Collins and threw down the gauntlet to those wanting to marginalise unions in the Labour Party: ‘the desire to expand party membership is a shared one but, let nobody be under any illusion that as collective organisations the removal or sale of our collective voice is not on the agenda.’
In the immediate aftermath of Labour’s Falkirk crisis and Ed Miliband’s statement of intent to end collective union affiliation to the party, Keith Ewing identified the
importance of leadership in defending the Union Labour link – ‘Trade union leaders are now under great pressure. They and they alone have the opportunity to stop Miliband’s breath-taking changes from happening, and the opportunity to defend the principle of collective affiliation’.
Yesterday's GMB CEC decision to cut its level of collective membership affiliation to 420,000 to 50,000 (and reduce funding from £1.2m to £150,000) from next January is remarkable in its timing ahead of the planned special conference in Spring 2014. While the GMB's anger at the Labour leadership's proposals to end collective union affiliation is entirely justified this premature decision plays into the hands of critics of the link given the lack of consultation with GMB political levy payers. The Collin Review is yet to conclude and the GMB weakens its voting strength ahead of the special conference. It doesn't make sense and epitomises the counter productive nature of the Falkirk issue. The mother of own goals and a criminal distraction from the priority of defeating the Con Dems at the next general election:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/04/gmb-union-labour-party-funding
In recent weeks there has been a belated but welcome realisation by a range of campaigning organisations from 38 Degrees to the TUC about the draconian implications of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill which gets its second reading in Parliament today. Much has been made about the lobbying bill restricting the ability of charities to campaign. But as the
exemplary analysis by Professor Keith Ewing has highlighted, trade unions and the Labour Party are the target of the bill’s parliamentary draftsmen, with UNISON caught in the cross hairs:
Tory Education Minister Michael Gove's
speech inciting Labour leader Ed Miliband to
attack the union link by comparing him unfavourably with Tony Blair was a blatant attempt to influence Labour's internal constitutional review - 'our country cannot afford - as we had in the '70s - the same old Labour Party with a weak leader buffeted by union pressure to adopt policies only they want and asking hard-working people to pay the bills'
In a
Guardian article today TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady is raising important concerns about restrictions on third party political expenditure in the Con Dem government’s Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning & Trade Union Administration Bill. This belated warning about the anti democratic and draconian implications of the proposed legislation makes good its omission from the
TUC reaction to the Bill when it was first published. However less understandable is the comment by Frances that ‘I do not believe that the Lib Dems could knowingly have signed up to such illiberal proposals.’
Keith Ewing weighs up the options facing affiliated trade unions in the Collins review of the Union Labour link - making a strong case for the status quo with a fall back position of choice for political fund levy payers between contributing to 'parliamentary representation' (i.e. direct contribution to Labour) or to a general political fund - similar to the UNISON model:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/136393
During the Brown led Labour Government the Communications Workers Union (CWU) demonstrated more than any other trade union the value of the Union Labour link. In October 2008 the newly appointed (and ennobled) Labour Business Secretary Lord Mandelson indicated his support for partial privatisation of the Post Office, contrary to the 2005 Labour manifesto.
