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Who props up Bliar?

- - | 01.09.2004 17:33

There are 22 unions affiliated at national level to the Labour Party and unions still have 50% of votes at conference.

As well as marching up and down Brighton prom 26-29 September, how about putting some pressure on the unions? Let’s name and shame the war supporters for a start.

List of affiliated unions - with contact details - here:

 http://www.labour-reform.org.uk/main_pages/info/trade_unions.htm#Affiliated%20Trade%20Unions

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Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

IWW

01.09.2004 17:44

Notice that the International Workers of the World is not on that list. They're not affiliated with any political party.

UK branch:
 http://www.iww.org.uk/


Ian


who supports the war?

01.09.2004 19:50

Labour Party affiliated unions and support for the Iraq war


According to the STW coalition website, 9 unions nationally affiliated to the Labour Party came out against the Iraq War. This means 13 unions support the war. See below for details:




UNIONS *AGAINST* THE IRAQ WAR


Amicus - MSF
GS: Roger Lyons
C: Margaret Wall
 wallm@msf.org.uk

ASLEF
GS: Michael Rix
C: Pam Tatler
 info@aslef.org.uk
www.aslef.org.uk

CWU
GS: Billy Hayes
C: Seeta Maharaj
 info@cwu.org.uk

FBU
GS: Andy Gilchrist
C: Mike Lawson
 mikel@fbu-ho.org.uk

GMB
GS: John Edmonds
C: Phil Wyatt
 phil.wyatt@gmb.org.uk

NUM
GS: Steve Kemp
C: Steve Kemp
2 Huddersfield Road,
Barnsley, S. Yorks, S70 2LS

RMT
GS: Bob Crow
C: James Croy
 j.croy@rmt.org.uk

TSSA
GS: Richard Rosser
C: Frank Ward
 wardf@tssa.org.uk

UNISON
GS: Dave Prentis
C: Keith Birch
 k.birch@unison.co.uk


UNIONS *SUPPORTING* THE IRAQ WAR


Amicus - AEEU
GS: Derek Simpson
C: Bob Shannon
 b.shannon@headoffice.aeeu.org.uk

BECTU
GS: Roger Bolton
C: Andy Egan
 aegan@bectu.org.uk

BFAWU
GS: Joe Marino
C: Ronnie Draper
 bfawu@aol.com

CATU
GS: Goeff Bagnall
C: Ronnie Draper
 bfawu@aol.com

GPMU
GS: Tony Dubbins
C: John O'Regan
 johno@gpmu.org.uk

GULO
GS: Don Rishton
C: Don Rishton
9 Wellington Street,
St. John's, Blackburn, BB1 8AF

ISTC
GS: Michael Leahy
C: Eddie Lynch
 istc@istc-tu.org

KFAT
GS: Paul Gates
C: Paul Gates
 head-office@kfat.org.uk

MU
GS: John Smith
C: Paul Gates
 head-office@kfat.org.uk

NACODS
GS: Ian Parker
C: Ian Parker
 natnacods@aol.com

TGWU
Chair: Bill Morris
C: Ray Collins
 rcollins@tgwu.org.uk

UCATT
GS: George Brumwell
C: Jim Kennedy
 jkennedy@ucatt.org.uk

USDAW
GS: Bill Connor
C: Ruth Stoney
 ruth.stoney@usdaw.org.uk

GFTU
GS: Michael Bradley
C: Michael Bradley
 mike@gftu.org.uk


(GS: General Secretary / C: National Contact Details)

------

SOURCES:

Unions affiliated to the Labour Party (including website links):
 http://www.labour-reform.org.uk/main_pages/info/trade_unions.htm#Affiliated%20Trade%20Unions

Unions against the war:
 http://www.stopwar.org.uk/links.asp

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Why dont...

02.09.2004 08:34

the nine unions who opposed the war withdraw their support until the Labour party removes the child killing scum who took us into the illegal massacre?

(A)


Labour unions against the war

02.09.2004 12:10

adding up some union membership numbers shows that the Labour unions are in fact against the war. although it's 9 unions against the war and 14 in support, membership figures show it's:


3,027,000 AGAINST IRAQ WAR
2,475,000 SUPPORT IRAQ WAR


******************************************

* figures taken from here:
 http://www.worksmart.org.uk/unionfinder/

and from some union websites

** figures rounded down to nearest 000

*** Amicus is made up of 2 parts: the pro-war AEEU and anti-war MSF. their website doesn't specify how many members are in each so the above figures work on the assumption there are 600 000 members per part

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unions are a battleground

02.09.2004 14:54

Please don't fall into the trap of blaming all trade union members for the decisions of so-called 'moderate' (ie. pro-Blair) leaders.

Many if not most trade unionists, even in what you call pro-war unions, opposed the war and are unhappy with New Labour. The TUC leadership and those Labour-loyal leaders who haven't (yet) been voted out are desparately trying to sit on the dissent and channel it into safe routes like the alleged 'radical third term'.

But despite their best efforts rank-and-file militancy continues to rise. Witness the increasing numbers of successful strike ballots, many of which never even need to lead to a strike as employers cave in. Witness also the voting out of Labour-loyal leaders in some unions in favour of 'Awkward Squad' types like Bob Crow + Mark Serwotka.

And in two cases, RMT and FBU, members have voted to break the link with Labour (or at least to consider backing non-Labour candidates).

Remember for most if not all workers unions remain our only protection at work. Join your union: if you don't like that it funds Labour, vote and campaign to change it!


Find the right union for your workplace via TUC website:
 http://www.tuc.org.uk

trade unionist


unions

02.09.2004 18:31

>>Please don't fall into the trap of blaming all trade union members for the decisions of so-called 'moderate' (ie. pro-Blair) leaders.

this is exactly the problem with hierarchical organising isn't it?


now as a trade unionist, what would your advice be to people outside the unions wanting to put the pressure on at party conference?

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get on the streets

03.09.2004 09:21

My advice would be to mobilise the biggest number of people possible to march and demonstrate.. New Labour (like all politicians) like to pretend they don't care about protest marches but the truth is any time large numbers of angry people turn out on the streets it scares the hell out of them.

trade unionist