Model T Democracy

I had a good laugh at the following letter from a senior official of the GMB trade union - which appeared in one of the national newspapers recently, in the Times I think.

Anyway, what had me rolling about in the aisles, metaphorically speaking, is the notion that the views of 3 million workers are accurately represented by the trade unions - as far as politics and especially party politics is concerned.

Nothing could be further from the truth and if you take Scotland as an example - the reality is that the SNP is the most popular party these days - and has been for years.

Yet, the big public sector unions - GMB, Unison and Unite - only affiliate to the Labour Party which denies their members a choice over which political party, if any, that they want to support - via a political contribution.

Now it would all be so much democratic and fair if ordinary unions members had that choice - and that trade union Political Funds were operated on the basis of people 'opting-in' rather than 'opting-out' - as happens in Northern Ireland of course.

Because if a bank or some other organisation forced people to opt-out of certain things - like insurance charges, for example - there would be the mother of all rows as there has been over PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) in recent years.

Which has meant many high street banks being forced to repay charges which people never knew they were paying - when they took out a loan or mortgage.

So it strikes me that trade unions and their political funds are much the same - lots of members don't realise they are paying a small part of their regular union contributions to the Labour Party - and if this was brought to their attention they'd want it to stop and demand their money back.         

"It is disappointing that a good editorial on lobbying (5 June) was let down by the unnecessary statement that Labour's link with the trade unions is worthy of a rethink. The relationship between the Labour party and the unions ensures that the views of over 3 million working people are represented in politics. The unions and their members provide a bulwark against the vested interests of capital that seeks only to reduce the rights of working people in pursuit of profits. The union movement is profoundly democratic. The suggestion the link needs to be re-examined represents nothing more than an unenlightened attempt to placate those whose ignorance of the issue leads to ill-informed assumptions.


Andy Prendergast

Senior organiser, GMB"

Here's what I wrote on the subject way back in August 2010.

Model of Democracy (28 August 2010)

Henry Ford, with typical American chutzpah, is said to have sold his revolutionary Model T Ford with a firm pledge to potential customers: "You can have any colour you like - so long as it's black."

Well, the trade unions could teach the arch-American capitalist a thing or two - about the hard sell of politics - a hundred years later.

Union members can support anyone they like when it comes to party politics - but union bosses will continue to act as if their members all vote Labour.

Take Unison's political fund, for example - unlike other Labour affiliated trade unions - Unison has two political funds.

One is called the Afffiliated Political Fund and channels all its money into the Labour party - the other is the General Political Fund and is used for more general political campaigning.

The two political funds came about becaue Unison merged from three former unions - COHSE, NALGO and NUPE - in 1993 but before then NALGO did not affiliate to the Labour party - while both COHSE and NUPE did.

So, the solution was a third way - a twin political fund in one union - whereas the other big beasts in the union jungle, e.g. UNITE and GMB, retain just one fund - which only supports Labour.

But, of course, this freedom of choice only extends so far - witness what the following Unison recruitment leaflet has to say:

"4 Political Fund

It is important that you indicate a choice of funds by ticking one of the boxes below. Your subscription above includes a political fund payment so you do not have to pay any more by being in one of the funds."

In the following section, members are given the 'choice' of ticking one box - for either the Affiliated Political Fund or the General Political Fund - no mention is made of the fact that members can, of course, choose not to pay into either fund.

The bold statement that - 'you do not have to pay any more by being in one of the funds' - is also untrue and deliberately misleading.

Because by 'opting out' to pay into the political fund - a member's union subscriptions would be around 8% less - a significant saving.

So, the very different worlds of selling cars and politics - are more alike than you think - or at least they were - since times have changed in the motor industry since Henry Ford was in his pomp.

Now you really can get a new Ford - in any colour you like.

But sadly, the trade unions are still stuck in the last century - they say reflect their members' views when it comes to party politics - but only so long as they are pro-Labour.