Labour V Trade Unions

[modeller]

Has the time come for Labour to be divorced from the unions ?
Nowadays every time there is a strike the support for Labour falls.

[Zacs-Master]

Just another signaller of how out of touch they are.

[mikey4444]

How could Labour "divorce" the unions ?

Labour and the Unions were born at the same time. And how would it help Labour if it did divorce ?

What other Party would the Unions support ?

[jno]

do you have any evidence for the cause and effect you state?

[Zacs-Master]

Tony Blair continued the plans of his predecessor, John Smith, to amend Clause 4 of the party’s constitution in 1995. Were you aware that the Labour Party and the Unions divorce process began then Mikey?

[Prudie]

Why do Unions have to support any party? Their purpose is to support their workers

[Zacs-Master]

It of a naive comment Prudie. They support the party which is most likely to implement policies / tax rates / laws governing working conditions which benefit their members.

[mikey4444]

Prudie....the Unions are hardly likely to support the Tories are they !

[Prudie]

It's a simple rather than naive question. They pay the party to bribe them into supporting their ideas.

[Jackdaw33]

http://www.toryworkers.co.uk/

[mikey4444]

Prudie....Zacs has given a good answer here. Labour is the Party that is most likely to provide the Unions with what they require.

There are still very close links with the Unions and grass-roots Labour politics.....again, what other Party is there for them to support ?

[Togo]

//Labour is the Party that is most likely to provide the Unions with what they require. //

Everybody knows that, and vote accordingly. Hence the question from Modeller. Doh.

[mikey4444]

Not sure exactly what kind of answer Modeller needed then ?

[ToraToraTora]

It would help Labour, basically the unions committed suicide in the 70s and have been slowly dying ever since. Sad in a way because there are occasions when a sensible union has a use and let us not forget their greatest contribution to the world, TGL herself.

[mikey4444]

Britain would be very much worse off without the protection given by Unions....in areas such as Health and Safety for one.

Who else are going to protect workers and their hard-earned rights ?

But I ask again....if the link Labour and the Unions was broken entirely, who would or could the Unions support ?

[modeller]

mikey The question was 'should' Labour separate/divorce itself from the unions.
You ask who the unions would support, is not my question . I'm primarily concerned with the future of Labour. We need a strong opposition and that seems impossible as long as Labour is tied
to the unions.

[Sqad]

"But I ask again....if the link Labour and the Unions was broken entirely, who would or could the Unions support ?"

Prudie has answered that question at 11.15. They should support the workers,NOT a Political Party. If the divorce came to fruition, then the Unions would lose their block votes and each Union member would have a "free vote"

If I worked in a nationalised industry as a "worker" I would vote Labour......if i worked for private enterprise, I would vote Tory.

The rules in this game are quite simple......the Unions start with a figure so high that the employers will never accept and the employers than return with a lower figure that the Unions won't accept....that is the name of the game and usually the Unions win.
One exception that comes to mind, 2007 BMA (doctors union) opened the biffing that they knew that the Labour government would accept.....and bingo...the Labour government said "DONE".
The BMA couldn't believe it.
No.....no divorce...it would be believed even if it came about.

[Sqad]

^^^ bidding" nor "biffing" and a deal that the Labour Government WOULDN'T accept.......not "would accept."
Sorry

[Jackdaw33]

Come on now, Sqad. That smacks of democracy. It's not in their psyche.

[ToraToraTora]

probably the limp dums mikey.

[mikey4444]

Sqad....I always thought that you were a secret "leftie" ! ! !

In reality, the Unions couldn't support anybody other than Labour. All political parties have their allegiances...the Tories have big business and Labour has the workers. To expect that the TUC would randomly support any other Party is risable.

Anyway, I don't accept Modellers basic premise. Jobs, Health and Safety, and basic rights are the concern of all Unions, and I can't think of another Party that can serve them better in these areas.

Don't forget, it was Labour that brought in the Minimum Wage, and the Tories voted against it ( with their 165 MPs ) Of course the Tories think its a stonking good idea now, but fail to say why they made no attempt to bring in similar legislation from 1979 to 1997.

In fact, during the early part of that period, the Tories actually made things worse for Britain's workers, by abolishing all the various different Trades organisations that laid down minimum wages, mostly for the very low paid.

TTT ....lol at your suggestion that the LibDems might be a replacement for Labour, in the Unions affections !