The old section 3(3) of the 1913 Act alowed unions to use their finds for campaigning activity of a tradly political kind provided =ain purpose' was to pursue unions' objects' (ie, castrial or economic interests). Erder the new Act such activity has to * inanced out of political funds if its "main purpose' can be shown to be to persuade people either to vote or not to ace for a political party or candidate.
VALGO's campaign in the spring c: 1983 which included very effective rational newspaper against public spending cuts could be sopped under the new Act, admitted a givernment junior Minister during its committee stage in the Commons, because NALGO has no political fund.
In short, if any public initiative by a union could be construed as influencIg support for or against a party ment of the day caught by the legislation.
This is not the first time that there has been a legislative attempt to restrict the political role of trade unions and to end their links with Labour.
unions had for over 30 years and without restriction used their general funds to pursue political objecincluding representation parliament. But, that year, sagement in tne Usborne case lauc iris practice illegal.
scale disaffiliations in general near its members' in- viability of the Labour Party.
But Instead between Labour and the unions.
advertisements political levy Employment then it, could be Prior to 1966 1970 1974 1979 4. a court Socialist Action 9 November 1984 filiated' through their unions as well.
Clearly, the consequences of largefinancial and organisational terms would be serious, especially coming on top of the party's bankruptcy. But, pal ticularly after the 1983 election debacle, the new Act could threaten the very saw of concentrating on the method of paying the political levy, the 1984 Act seeks openly to break the link was contrary to the impression given in the Green Paper which preceded it. Entitled Democracy in Trade Unions, that Green Paper, issued by Norman Tebbit in January 1983, signalled the Tories' intention specifically to legislate on the puts In fact, the Act makes no mention of the method of paying the political TABLE 1 % Increase in Trade Union Members since 1964 Affiliated to Labour 0.7% 0.3% 5.2% 18.3% which 'contracting out would remain, albeit in a looser form, with unions promising to make more effort to inform members how to opt out.
This was greeted by the Tory right as a considerable government climbdown, while many in the trade unions victory secured reasonable negotiation. In fact switch in tactics brought several advantages for the Tories. It stands a better chance of cutting the unions off from Labour and crippling it financially. deflects the charge of discrimination: of imposing restrictions on unions funding Labour whilst leaving untouched company financing of the Tories.
But, perhaps most important, June about movement on defensive: by giving members the right to vote on a political link decided by Affiliater to TUC 6.5% 12.9% 20.1% 45.7% democratic rights though their appeal democracy' is hypocritical - for example, it did not operate in GCHQ - the truth is that the Tories do strike a chord when they complain about the gap between the leaders and the led in the trade union movement. the However, to see the new law merely in terms of punitive measure against an electoral competitor or an act of malice against trade unions would be to miss its full significance.
SDP The Tory right had begun to questhe tion the system of union affiliation to Labour with increasing regularity after Thatcher's 1979 election victory. in 1981 a broader position emerged when the formation of the SDP produced a criticisms from its leaders against the union link. In the autumn of 1982, the SDP published Reforming the Trade Unions which attacked 'contracting out'. Norman Tebbit's Green Paper followed in January 1983 After the 1983 Labour just having scraped into second place in the popular vote, political commentalon spect of the Alliance becoming the major opposition force. At about the same time to the Director manazine in which she cited the USA as an ideal, saying she unlulls.
USA Tatute Then • consensus tor inis barrage document entitlec been withstanding This began to canvass the proexample Mrs Thatcher gave an interview The obiective was clear: to make Britain 'safe from socialism' by reducing Labour to a rump leftist group, with the implicit assumption that the Alliance would take its place.
The opportunity for the Thatcherites to carry through their strategic allack on ine ponca. unity of the labour movement must be seen against the background of the latter's relative with recomposition of the class system There have been important changes composition of the working class, which have been reflected in the make-up of the unions (notably in the growth of white collar and public sector TUC members) but nothing like to the same extent in the Labour Party. Consequently, the Labour Party's political base in the trade union movement has seriously undermined NotParti rhetoric about a unitary Labour/union move more than ever before there are now 'Labour' trade unions and 'non. Labour' trade unions the membership ratio being not far short of 50:50 change been fairly dramatic. Between 1957 and 1977, for the proportion of TUC organised trade unionists affiliated to the Labour Party declined from about 70 to 50 per cent. (Over a longer time span the picture is even more dramatic
political levy nce the proportion of TUC members the party stood at 93 percent in 13.) From 1964 to 1979 en Labour was in power for all but ur years — TUC membership shot up 46 per cent, but the number of trade ionists affiliated to the Labour Party se by only 18 per cent (see Table 1).
The Post Office Engineering Union the only major new union to affiliate the Labour Party in the Recent ballots 282 and the CPSA in 1983 showed marities of 8 to 1 and 2 to 1 respectively gainst establishing political funds and abour links. Almost all the existing abour' unions first affiliated in the arly part of this century when the parers nalulc for instance, unionists voted Labour union membership!
unc laboul 'non-political' unions In which nant.
chosen In transcended politics' role some unions engage in ing'.
interests.
Commons Furthermore terventons ,. nave been a period aims and demands movement' This DOS -Wa NALGO in arena.
become politicians for a week, of Labour's affiliated trade membership hardly suggests a fighting force for socialism: in 1983, four million - about two nections million less than the party's affiliated strong lor The Thatcherites may indeed have ample. had a closer appreciation than many in movement itself of tenuous basis of the "political' dimension to British trade unionism. In some ways the formal link to the Labour Party has obscured a reality of a relatively tradition British sectionalism economism have invariably been domiwilelici Even the name Labour Party was NUPE 1906 (against the left's preference for Socialist Party) because the majority of trade unionists involved 'wanted a name for the party which Despite the TUC's formal decision in 1899 to establish a party of Labour, British unions have tended to see their in highly ambivalent Whilst there has always been a wide margin for political action, with conducting overtly political campaigns from time to time, generally unions have acted politically only to restore or advance their ability 'free collective bargainInvariably, their political activity ticular unions would be in response to particular challenges to their sectional lar or these 110mainly parliamentarist. The terms of the TUC's 1899 decision were quite specifically 'to ensure that working class opinion should be represented in the House of Commons by men (sic) sympathetic with the MORI the reflected at tHos which saw legitimate political action as being confined strictly to the electoral Only This legacy of pragmatic parliamen-tarism has encouraged union leaders to turn up to Labour Party conferences.
wield their bloc votes almost in isolation from memberships not really instrongest Labour ties historically tended to be those based mainly around urban areas with close links between industries and communities. Their conwere quite cultural and geographical reasons — the miners are a classic exBut these (mainly manual manufacturing) unions have declining in numbers and influence, whilst others (mainly white collar and public sector) have grown Furthermore, as has been pointed out: 'Whilst it is clear that there are mining constituencies, and may once have been "railway", constituencies, or "engineering" towns, it is doubttul • there are ASTMS cities, counties.' (Ken Tony Topham, Trade Unions in BriTrade Unionists Voting 1964 6,077,980 (73%) 1974 5,501,100 (55%) 1979 6,185,280 (51%) 1983 4,098,900 (39%)
% is of total TUC membership Furthermore, there has been declining proportion of party activists manual predominance on constituency general committees of members from white colpublic sector unions sometimes This has ennot arnialed lo lie party. couraged the constituencies to become more culturally and politically distant from their union base.
So what are the prospects for winning the political fund ballots? In a poll conducted Unionists for a Labour Victory earlier this year, four questions were put in a survey of members of affiliated unions Although the overall proportion wanting to maintain affiliation to the Labour Party stood at only 38 per cent, this is less discouraging than it may seem. First, the proportion goes up to 44 per cent amongst those 'very likely' to vote. Moreover, when it comes down Next came a batch including NUPE, APEX and the engineers, the NUR, POEU.
GMBATU, with the TGWU being only just above TASS in having a 20 per cent majority against affiliation. Less surprising was the even against amongst been Clearly, there is considerable ground to be made up in some unions.
However, it should be remembered that the question on the ballot papers will invite a vote for or against political funds filiation. this grounds for optimism on the outcome, for the MORI poll indicates a more positive response to the questions political representation, the best being on sponsorship of MPs where there is a large majority in favour.
TABLE 2 Next year's political funds campaign could present an unprecedented opportunity to argue for socialist ideas and Labour policies in the workplace. But this is unlikely to happen if the campaign is approached defensively. If it is seen simply as a matter of preserving existing institutional links, and if all trade unions are offered is the chance to renew their membership of a passive supporters' may well turn Labour Party, for the rot has set in too deen to be able to rely with any confidence on a campaign that seeks merely to defend the status quo.
There is probably a better chance of succeeding aimed not simply at defending the existing links, but explicitly recognising the need to breathe new life into them.
An appeal will probably need to made policy Labour's plan for jobs, a shorter workfollowed by UCATT freedom effective bigger majority popular support.
ASTMS members.
unionists — not explicitly on Labour atgives further Trade Unionists Affiliated to Se loo 5,502,001 5,787,467 6,511,179 6,101,438 GCHQ;
police powers, fice club, then they their backs on the with a positive campaign be grounds well. as if they were about affiliation to the party, but as campaigns to preserve the of political action by trade unions'. The phrase freedom to undertake political action' could provide an of appealing The only other initiative of note has come from the Labour Coordinating Committee which has argued that it is essential to involve rank and file trade and party members if the argument is to be won. So far, the LCC has called for the setting up of liaison committees between local Labour Parties and union branches and has en couraged the establishment of more Labour Party workplace branches. has also organised a major conference in London for 1 December.
Part of the task will be to link the Tory attack on the democratic institutions of the labour movement with their assault on local government democracy and on civil liberties in general. As they cast their votes in next year's ballots, trade unionists will not only be 1n fluenced by campaigns within their organisations, but by the climate out, when the wider public realise that what is at stake is not just the self interest of the labour movement, but a principle dear to liberal democracy free competition between parties then popular support could swing over as it did during the campaign to save the Greater London Council.
Whether by abolishing the GLC and the metropolitan counties; by rate capping; by denying union membership by oppressive official secrecy prosecutions; or by extending Thatcherism has made an offensive against democratic rights a major priority in its second term of ofBut it may well be that they have provided the left with its first substantial opening since 1979 to challenge Thatcherism's constant (albeit • false claim to monopolise the values of democracy and freedom. If this proves to be the case, then it could help considerably to undermine the ideological basis for the extra working class sup. port which Thatcher managed to win in 1979 and hold on to in 1983.
This is an edited version of un article appearing in the November issue of
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has been pragmatic and instrumental: particular political initiatives by par-