14.07.2004

New Labour dented

Alan Stevens reports on the GMB's financial snub to the Labour government

The GMB became the latest union to snub New Labour last week, when its national executive refused a request for a £744,000 donation to Labour’s central election fund. Instead, following the RMT example, it decided to fund only those MPs prepared to support union policy and to use the withheld money to fund GMB campaigns - mostly against New Labour’s privatisation agenda. There are fears amongst Blairites that the TGWU may follow suit and withhold a further £750,000. This would put a £1.5 million dent in New Labours projected election fund of £20 million.

At a stormy private meeting with union leaders in Westminster the evening following the GMB decision, Blairite MPs accused union general secretaries of blackmail. However, particular venom, and that incredible arrogance peculiar to New Labour, was reserved for the GMB. The rift is particularly serious, in that the latest wave of criticisms and threats comes from the ‘big four’ unions at the centre of the TUC’s ‘reclaim labour’ wing: Unison, TGWU, GMB and Amicus. So far, however, they have kept a discreet distance from the newly established Labour Representation Committee, but they have, it seems, secretly drafted a list of demands for inclusion in the Labour manifesto and could mount a serious challenge in Labour’s policy forums. It appears to be rather tame, but will no doubt be anathema to the Blairites.

An article by Kevin Curran, GMB general secretary, in The Guardian epitomises the big four’s approach. His starting point is to accept that ditching ‘socialist’ old Labour for New Labour made the party electable. But now, as “the Labour government has taken its first real beating in the local and European elections, and the Tories are being taken seriously again”, he wonders whether it is appropriate to change course (‘New Labour is finished’, July 9). That is, the threat traditionally levelled at the left that their behaviour risks ‘letting the Tories in’ is now thrown back at the right. It is New Labour that is becoming unelectable, according to Curran.

He is open about the rearguard action that the union tops are having to fight: “Many of us are working hard to reinforce our relationships, but we are not succeeding. We now spend a lot of effort in trying to persuade our members not only that the Labour Party is worth fighting for, but that we should not contemplate a relationship with any other political organisation.”

He warns that if by midway through a third term Labour has not changed its ways he might be forced to succumb to the pressure and disaffiliate the GMB. While Curran stresses his own loyalty - “I want to maintain the link” - unfortunately “the mood in the Labour Party in the country, among constituency activists and trade union members, is to reduce funding and support.”

Then Curran begins to argue for his meagre rations. The new approach to policy formation he wishes to see is spelt out, although it has to be said that it does not amount to very much. The criticisms of New Labour policies have arisen, apparently, not because of the Blairites’ fundamentally anti-working class nature, but because “we have been excluded from consultation.
So there we have it. A fight for a return to the traditional role of trade union barons to influence and sell government policy in return for a few crumbs. It is all top-down - no democratic involvement of any of the big-four membership in drafting demands for the Labour manifesto - it’s a secret.

Notwithstanding these severe limitations, the move to fund MPs on the basis of a commitment to union policy is a significant advance. And the pressure against New Labour, though still muted, is rapidly growing, as is the fighting confidence of most unions.