In the aftermath of the general election and the debate that has come with the Labour party leadership campaign, there has been much deliberation on how the Labour party reinvigorates itself as a grassroots and community-focused organisation. Labour in government became remote from both the people and the wider party. The party and its politicians now need to reach out and re-connect. But, as Gareth Thomas MP pointed out here on ProgressOnline last week, this large-scale shift in approach and rebuilding should not be limited to the Labour party alone – there is a part for the affiliated unions to play as well.
We know that the relationship between the unions and the party has been at times fraught and at worst fragile but we must move forward and learn from the past. Unions need to work to ensure that we have Labour parliamentarians that are representative of our membership and are committed to pursuing the aims and objectives of their union in parliament. Some Labour politicians would do well to recognise and look more warmly to the fact that it was the trade unions that formed the Labour party over one hundred years ago to give a political voice and representation to the working people.
There is an umbilical cord that links the Labour party and the affiliated unions – we are different yet we are one. We must not forget that there is a large proportion of British society that needs both of us and, as the ConDem cuts and ideologically driven policies bite, a strong and effective labour movement that is demonstratively active with the local community.
This is the time to enact this change. We need to work to build a labour and social movement that demonstrates to the public our core values of fairness, equality and justice – values at the heart of both the Labour party and trade unions. A movement that demonstrates in its approach and actions that we are fighting the people’s corner, that we are one with them and on the same side. We can do this through building alliances and networks in the local community – voluntary groups, community organisations, trade councils, local Labour politicians, trade unions and constituency Labour parties – that work to enable citizens and members alike to have an impact industrially and politically on first a local, and then by connecting concerted communications and campaigns, on a national level.
Unions also need to be at the forefront of creating industrial alliances to counter the ConDems’ attitude to investing and supporting manufacturing and production in the UK. One of the first acts of the new government was to cancel a £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, a loan that would have put the Sheffield plant and, thus Britain at the forefront building the next generation of nuclear power plants all over the world. It is not simply jobs that will go because of this but billions of pounds of exports out of the British economy. Where there is common ground we must look at new ways of working together in the interests of the British people.
For too long, many in the Labour party have focused on the party’s relationship in parliament not how it links to the people. Much of the emphasis of the political campaigning of the unions has therefore followed suit, having a centralised approach to working with or lobbying – predominantly Labour for the affiliated unions – MPs and utilising the mechanisms of parliament. Whilst such parliamentary activity remains important for unions, we should now look to expand our political focus from Westminster to the workplace, from Whitehall to the community hall, mobilising our members, providing the networks, support and resources that empower them to become the activists of the future.
Unions and our members can achieve this through working with other organisations to create cross community campaigns, building relationships with the local Labour party and forge links with their local Labour politicians along the way. Through this, unions can reach out to a wider audience, not only recruiting new members, but turning those members into activists, building better relations with Labour locally and prompting and promoting the Labour policies and movement that has the potential to achieve great change in the future.