The Executive of the giant Unite union voted unanimously on 9 December that Unite will resist diminution of the trade union vote at Labour conference and in other Labour Party structures.
It will also oppose primaries and any restriction on union constituency development plans.
The resolution (click here to download it) allows for the development of a new category of Labour "associate membership" which trade unionists who pay the political levy would "opt in" to, but without reducing the existing rights of Labour's full individual members and affiliated organisations.
It reflects the impact of campaigning by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, Defend the Link, and other groups.
There now seems a good chance that Labour leader Ed Miliband will accept something like this as a reasonable and widely-agreed version of what he said back in July about changing trade-unionists' relation to the Labour Party towards "opting-in".
Labour right-wingers have pushed for a scheme in which only those trade unionists who complete and return an opt-in form would be allowed to pay a political levy to the Labour Party. That would lay the basis for cutting back the union voice in the Labour Party drastically (which is what the right-wingers want); weaken the connections between the Labour Party and the working class (ditto); alienate unions by trying to force them to change their own rule-books (ditto); and severely reduce Labour Party income (a price the right-wingers were happy to pay).
There is a good chance now that other unions will rally to a united position rejecting those right-wing schemes. The special Labour Party conference on 1 March due to decide on a new scheme has already been cut back to two hours at the end of the already-planned Labour local government conference, which signals hope that the Labour leadership has decided against trying to force something through which will be widely opposed in the unions and the local Labour Parties.
Certainly the defeatist mood which pervaded the Labour left back in July ("it's all up, nothing we can do") is no longer in order.
However, activists must remain mobilised and vigilant.
The Unite EC decision was to some extent the result of "rank and file pressure", in that it reflects the last two meetings of the dominant United Left grouping within the union and, as far as we know, the views of almost all Unite activists who have taken an interest in the matter. However, most Unite activists have been involved in no debate about this at all.
Labour movement history shows us many cases of union leaders collapsing when pressure is put on them at the last minute, especially if it takes the form of pressure to accept some cunning and specious new formula. And the informed and alert rank and file mobilisation which would block them doing that is still weak.
The Defend the Link campaign will be working to increase that informed and alert rank and file mobilisation.
It will send out a single-sheet DTL bulletin to all CLPs and as widely as possible in early January.
It will continue work in other unions.
It will continue to seek speaker invitations from CLPs.
It will develop an electronic campaign after the Labour NEC meeting on 4 February, by which time the definite final shape of the proposals which Ed Miliband has commissioned Ray Collins to make on this issue, for the special conference, will be known.
