Branch Secretary : info@housingworkers.org.uk
Branch Chair : info@housingworkers.org.uk
  

Branch Meeting - Unite & the Labour Party - 6pm on 12th May

We have a full and exciting agenda for our next Branch Meeting, including a very special guest speaker. The meeting is open to all branch members and everyone is welcome.

 

The meeting details are:

 

Time:       6pm – 8pm

Date:       Tuesday 12th May 2020

Venue:    Via Zoom.

 

Please register here to receive an invitation by email.

 

You don’t have to download the Zoom software to join the meeting, but if you want to, you can download Zoom for free onto a laptop, tablet or smartphone. You can also join by phone.

 

Special guest speaker: Dave Nellist: Unite & the Labour Party

 

Dave was initially a Labour County Councillor in The West Midlands from 1982 - 1986 and subsequently the Labour MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. He was expelled in January 1992 for having refused to pay the Poll Tax and thus 'bringing the Labour Party into disrepute', and for refusing to repudiate Militant. He then served as a socialist councillor in Coventry for a further 14 years (1998 - 2012).  Since 2010, Dave has been the Chair of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition.

 

 

Our Union, Our Party?

 

Unite is the largest financial backer of the Labour Party, giving substantial support in other forms too, like phone banking during elections. The affiliation of Unite to the Labour Party means that we cannot support candidates from any other political party, or even independents, for local, regional, general or EU elections.

 

Our union consistently backed Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader, and the subsequent general election campaigns, recognising the 'For the Many' manifesto as most closely aligned our democratically agreed policies. We were the first branch in Unite to actively campaign for Unite to support Jeremy Corbyn.

 

Despite this attempt to secure a more sympathetic government, it has now been shown that Labour Party insiders were working against the interests of workers, with allegations including briefing the media against the leadership, destroying Labour's election chances, and even syphoning funds intended for the election campaign into a separate fund intended to undermine it.

 

The meeting will discuss whether we should continue with our affiliation to the Labour Party, and if we did not, what the alternatives might be to secure much needed political influence.

 

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