Unions speak against Collins, but vote for it

Submitted by AWL on 3 March, 2014 - 12:12
Labour

The Collins review, with its time-bomb provision to recalculate all the unions' affiliation numbers in 2019, was soft-soaped through the Labour Party special conference on 1 March 2014.

Given the way things have been with the constituency Labour Party (CLP) delegates for many years now - usually reluctant to rebel against the platform unless the unions also rebel - it was a relatively good result for the campaign against Collins that 24.26% of the CLPs voted against.

Among the affiliated organisations (primarily the trade unions), only 3.16% voted against. As far as I know, that 3.16% was the Bakers' Union and Young Labour.


Labour conference backdropThe backdrop to the conference stage was a sadly apt pale blue, but pro-platform speakers talked of a drive to build Labour as a "workers' party"

Yellow pagesYellow pagesThe Yellow Pages bulletin opposing the Collins measures got a good reception


Off the conference floor, one union leader described his speech to me as "speaking against the report, but voting for it". All the trade union leaders' speeches had something of that about them.

It was as if, with the Labour Party leaders, they had done what they see as standard trade-union practice when faced with bad things from an employer: negotiate, talk it round into something not quite so bad, and then tell the members they should accept the result as the best that can be got.

Everything now depends on the class struggle over the next five years. The Collins changes make not much difference immediately. But many Labour right-wingers want to use the recalculation of union affiliation numbers in 2019 - reducing them only to those who have ticked a box to say they want part of their union political levy to go to the Labour Party - to cut back the union say in the Labour Party and thus insure future Labour governments against future working-class demands.

We should urge trade unionists to tick the box. And union leaders say they will do that - but in a way that gives no grounds for confidence about easily getting good results.

Five activists got to speak against Collins - Pete Firmin from Hampstead and Kilburn CLP, Steve Brown from Wansbeck, Richard Johnson from Bedford, Gary Heather from Islington North, and Simon Clarke from Islington South.

They explained that the way to build a working-class mass membership in the Labour Party is by Labour leaders carrying through conference policies like renationalisation of rail; that the Collins changes open the way to chopping collective trade-union input into the Labour Party; that the changes have been rushed through undemocratically; that they will undermine Labour finances, and thus push towards either reliance on wealthy donors, or state funding.

They had to contend with a blizzard of blather pretending that the Collins changes are the way for "the voice of working people to be heard louder in our party", and "Labour to become a movement again", as Ed Miliband put it in his opening speech.

There was more talk about Labour being the party of the working class than we've heard for many a long year.

In fact the changes are mainly about removing from some trade unionists (those who do not tick the box) the chance they already have to vote in Labour leadership elections. That no more enhances political involvement than trade unions' industrial effectiveness would be increased by a rule banning trade union members from taking part in strike ballots and strikes unless they have previously ticked a box to confirm that they want part of their dues to go to strike funds.

The Collins changes are supposed to give CLPs direct access to box-ticking union members in their areas. How well that will work remains to be seen. In any case, union members will be stirred to attend meetings not by emails from CLPs, but by a Labour Party which can be seen to defend workers' interests and in which attending meetings gets you a real democratic say.

Yet Angela Eagle opened the conference by responding to the Tories' recent sally about the Conservatives being "the workers' party" by declaring: "There's only one workers' party - it's the Labour Party".

Jon Ashworth summed up the debate in similar tones: "Labour is the party of the workers... These changes are about getting working men and women into our party... We want to hear the voice of working people louder than ever... The collective voice of the unions in our party is staying".

Similar words came from pro-Collins floor speakers, like Labour Students honcho Sally Jameson: "The trade unions have always been at the centre of our party, and these reforms will keep them there", or Carlisle parliamentary candidate Lee Sherriff, who suggested that the changes would bring more workers as Labour MPs (how?). Margaret Beckett declared: "The Labour Party is the political wing of the trade union movement".

The trade-union speakers mostly made it obvious they believed none of this.

Paul Kenny of the GMB said that the union's collective voice in the Labour Party was "not for sale, not up for discussion". He warned darkly that it would be difficult to shape the "registered supporters" scheme so that it "stands scrutiny".

Dave Prentis of Unison said: "The whole episode has been a distraction... should never have happened". Working-class people, he said, are "not interested" in the Collins measures, but "want a promise set in stone to rebuild our NHS".

Tosh McDonald of Aslef said that "all this" - the Collins process - had "come about from Tory and press attacks". The priority should instead be to "rein in people using their personal wealth for influence in the Labour Party", such as Lord Sainsbury.

Len McCluskey of Unite was more credulous, claiming that the Collins measures "take us down the road of involving more trade unionists". But he gave most of his speech to rebutting the allegations made against Unite over Falkirk CLP, and calling for support for Stevie Deans, victimised "because of unnecessary arguments within our own party". (There was a standing ovation for McCluskey on that).

"To those who want to push us out", McCluskey, evidently recognising that there are leading Labour politicians who do want to push the unions out, retorted: "This is our party".

The response on the door to the "Yellow Pages" bulletin put out by Defend The Link and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy was friendly. Delegates who said that they would vote for Collins were subdued and defensive about it.

Sales of Solidarity at the door were quite good. Also on sale were Labour Briefing (both rival versions) and (briefly, after a single seller arrived late) Socialist Appeal.

A contingent from the Socialist Party turned up with a big TUSC banner, but, oddly, chose to hold a little rally, with a megaphone, at a fair distance from the entrance, rather than to accost delegates.

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