Leftwing union may re-affiliate with Labour after Corbyn victory
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Version 0 of 1. A leftwing trade union which split from Labour under Tony Blair has raised the prospect of re-affiliating under the party’s new leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Speaking at a fringe event at the TUC annual congress in Brighton on Monday, Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union said the election of Corbyn had changed the political landscape. “In 2004, after treatment by the Blair government, our conference voted to disaffiliate,” said Wrack. “It was a historic turning point, a rebellion against appealing treatment by a rightwing pro-capitalist government against a group of workers simply for campaigning for pay.” Related: Firefighters' union severs Labour ties But he said Corbyn’s election meant the union might now consider rejoining. “There is no question in my mind that this development over the weekend completely changes and raises new issues, which the Labour movement and trade unions including ours, and I suspect including the RMT, will now have to think very carefully about.” Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT rail union, said it had “no plans to re-affiliate”, saying that decision would be made by “rank and file members at our annual conference”. He added: “But we will continue to support John and Jeremy.” Fifteen out of 52 TUC trade unions are affiliated to the Labour party, including most the biggest unions and are a crucial source of funding. The meeting, titled the Fight of our Lives, was called to set out opposition to the trade union bill due to go before the commons on Monday afternoon. Activists and leaders called for a concerted and vociferous campaign against the bill and said a planned protest outside the Tory party conference in Manchester next month should “close down the city”.Delegates also expressed their support for Corbyn and his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, calling for the creation of a broad-based social movement that would support the new leader’s efforts within the Labour party. Cash joked that the RMT had been supporting Corbyn and McDonnell since “before it was fashionable”. Wrack said Corbyn’s success, and the support he has generated, was a great opportunity for the union movement to go on the offensive. Wrack said: “We have a mass movement being created, hundreds of thousands of people being drawn in to a political struggle. For 30 years the left has been under attack in this country and across the western world and we are seeing sparks of rebellion ... [if we] worked in alliance with the Corbyn campaign we could really build a massive movement.” |