Why unite should disaffiliate from the labour party

Unite who pays millions into labour every year and are by far labours biggest donor who have been caught up in the latest debacle in Falkirk west. Its time for unite to disaffiliate I believe. For many years the unions have paid into labour hoping for better this day has never come. Now unite has finally started to punch its weight in the labour party it’s found itself caught out and demonised. This should tell Len and all those in the leadership of our union that this strategy of “reclaiming labour” is flawed and will end up wasting millions of member’s money and ultimately loose us jobs and valuable time in building an alternative... I am a unite member and am proud to be so I am less proud of our unions political campaigning its weak at best pathetic at worst. Millions of our hard earned pounds go to the labour party without us having a say. The political fund should be opened up and democratised as a first step. Why should a select few who are labour party members decide what the unions political fun is spent on this is hugely undemocratic and must be brought to an end as soon as possible. As a member of the socialist party who campaign within TUSC I cannot understand why unite who apparently is moving to the left I’m far from convinced given they are still giving discounts and vouchers to use in marks and Spencer who still use workfare well played comrades looking out for those young low paid workers I see there !. There is no logical reason why unite and all unions for that matter would fund the labour party those who oppose breaking the link cannot even use well there is no alternative anymore as there clearly is. TUSC may not be a party but it is ready and waiting for bigger unions to take it up and get involved and mould it to represent ordinary workers at all levels in a union. I wont stop paying my political fund levee with unite as ridiculously if you stop paying this all of your political fund is stopped which is not what we are arguing for. We as Marxists argue the political fund should be democratised at the very least and at most broke totally with labour and we should be backing each candidate on merit if a labour party member is against the cuts which a few have been then that’s fine as long as they agree to unites position of opposition to all cuts to jobs and services I have no problem with that. The thing is this would quickly come to a head as those who do oppose the cuts in labour are in a minority bringing the need for a question on political representation for workers firmly back on to the agenda. Labour claim they want more working class candidates this is code for more working class candidates who agree with our line of slower cuts. This is not good enough and unite should not be bounced into supporting union backed pro austerity candidates even if they are so called working class. Its time for those in unite who are serious about fighting the cuts to make up their minds do we go on funding labour for ever and a day or do we make a clean break and start a fresh. I say we opt for the later.

My thoughts behind the unite labour party face off

I think this whole supposed face off in Falkirk west over standing political candidates is a huge shame and I will explain why. I firstly do not believe the labour party can be reclaimed. This would assume it was ever ours the working classes in the first place it never was and people like Owen Jones should get this in to their thick skulls. It was at best as Lenin explained a capitalist workers party with a trade union link and yes the union link still exists today Owen but lets not get excited now. What is happening in Falkirk may be important in the long run but in itself of itself is a simple falling out of personalities and I’d include the general secretary of unite Len McCluskey who I’m loosing patience with by the week at this very moment. I never voted for the guy as I thought he would sell out as he has done already and will do again. In an article published by the socialist party and written by Unite member Kevin Paslow he sets out 3 possible conclusions to the Falkirk situation. Unite now has three possible ways forward. The first would be to capitulate to New Labour. This would be disastrous, not just for its political strategy but for its industrial one too. There would be growing anger and indignation in the rank and file, and doubts would be raised over the union's commitment to fight for its policy. This would cause serious problems for Len and the left leadership of the union and jeopardise their position. The second would be to continue with the current strategy. This would mean the likelihood of further collisions with the Labour bureaucracy, in which Len has already admitted he 'can place no trust'. This would not prevent Unite having to make a decision later on the continued scandal of providing funds to New Labour, to the tune of £9 million since Miliband was elected Labour leader in 2010, with the support of the unions! Immediately, Unite would also face the decision of supporting anti-cuts councillors. The third path is to take the bold step of the union disaffiliating from New Labour. The Socialist Party believes this is the correct road to take. The working class has waited too long for its own party since New Labour accepted the free market and dropped its famous Clause 4, Part IV, which envisaged nationalisation and socialism. This is all very well and I think the most likely line is the second with Len and Ed secretly agreeing behind closed doors to not rock the boat anymore this side of the election at least. Both Len and Ed are big labour supporters which goes without saying and as the general election nears the idea of unity and a win for a labour party will become paramount so I think this is just Len firing off his mouth and ultimately he does support Militant and will line up behind him come 2015 if that is when the next election is to be held. I think this is a lot of posturing from both sides Ed trying to make his mark as a leader and to sure up his commitment to making the cuts and carrying on where the Tories are right now. Ed wants to appear a safe pair of hands for capitalism and if elected no doubt he will be carrying out cuts and carrying on austerity as the market demands. I see no option here for unite who cannot envisage as the socialist party would love to disaffiliate from the labour party the only way they will is by being kicked out. The political fund is hugely labour based and the ruling part of the union is pro labour so no such change is likely anytime soon. For our party we are best focusing on the upcoming conferences in Unite trying to gain influence and raising our ideas. It’s no use shouting off what needs to happen let’s get in there and start punching our weight in the union. Falkirk could be the start of something with unite but it could also be a huge slap down it will be interesting how the union reacts now in the face of the leadership still wanting a labour gov they will be careful not to rock the boat too much so I ultimately see a truce being declared if on the quiet before this coming election who knows after though if weave labour in that will play out interestingly if Tories again I can only see unite moving further to the left as much as the leadership may not want this. Things are happening labour is no longer a party the unite union can back and time will show this. I am no supporter of Len in Unite as I think he is pretty much all hot air he talks of civil disobidence but very little has happened in practica terms he is one of those union leaders who speaks a good game but when it comes to action he is badly lacking for me. What unite needs to do: plan of action: • An emergency executive council should be called to discuss the crisis. • The EC should pass a resolution for a recall rules conference which would have the end of removing the references to Labour Party affiliation from the rulebook, thereby facilitating disaffiliation. This conference should also discuss political representation for the working class. • Should this be carried, Unite should call meetings and conferences of trade unionists, from affiliated and non-affiliated unions, including those linked to TUSC, with the aim of forming a new workers' party which would have the programme of fighting the cuts, scrapping the anti-trade union laws and opposing privatisation of public services. Such a party would truly reflect the needs of the working class and fight in workplaces, communities and in elections for socialist ideas.