Grant Shapps says train strikes are under ‘false pretenses’
As union membership has declined over the past four decades, the very political party union that has been created – Labor – has sought new voter bases. Last week, amid the biggest rail strike in 30 years, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer was ambiguous in his support for workers participating in the Railway, Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) action, while allegation prohibited bankers from acting. Trade unions representing doctors, lawyers, teachers and BT workers have since considered or started following the RMT’s leadership, with many predicting a coordinated nationwide strike over the summer months.
Figures released by the Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategy in May show that the percentage of UK employees who were union members fell to 23.1 per cent in 2021, the lowest rate of union membership on record.
Trade union membership has declined since the decline of Britain’s so-called smokestack industries – heavy industries and manufacturers – in the 1970s, although the rate has slowed over the past 20 years.
According to the data, there were 6.44 million registered trade unionists in the UK by 2021, less than half of the 13 million peak in 1979.
Founded by the unions in 1900, the Labor Party has historically represented workers in exchange for financial support.
Trade union membership has dropped dramatically since the 1970s (Image: GETTY)
Mick Lynch, Secretary General of RMT, addresses railway workers outside King’s Cross on Saturday 25 June (Image: GETTY)
Trade unions provide it with donations and through affiliation to the party, with members paying a political levy.
However, as Margaret Thatcher triumphed over high-profile strikes by the steel, mining, and printing industries in the 1980s, restrictive legislation by conservative governments made these roads increasingly expensive.
The Trade Union and Labor Relations Act (Consolidation) 1992 gave a mandate that any trade union money spent on political activities should come from a regulated political fund.
The Act was then amended in 2016 to require new union members to actively sign up to pay the political levy.
READ MORE: GB news: Thatcherite praises the former prime minister for ‘looking down’ on unions
United boss Sharon Graham on frontline of cost-of-living demonstrations on 18 June (Image: GETTY)
Coupled with declining union membership and discounts on large one-off donations during election years, the proportion of Labor’s total funding coming from union affiliations has declined dramatically over the past 20 years, according to the Electoral Commission’s figures.
Seeking a long-awaited return to power and a declining voter base, Sir Keir’s drive to the political center – reminiscent of Tony Blair’s New Labor in the late 1990s and noughties – caused friction with the unions.
Unite, the UK’s second largest union with around 1.4 million members in all sectors of the economy, from transport and construction to food and finance, backed Rebecca Long Bailey in the 2020 Labor Party leadership election, and its executive council followed suit. on a promise to reduce their affiliation fees by 10 percent at the outcome.
Earlier this year, relations between Sir Keir and Unite general secretary Sharon Graham deteriorated due to industrial action by Coventry garbage collectors, which led to speculation that the union would break its affiliation.
DON’T MISS
POLL: Should Boris Johnson call an early general election? [POLL]
Heathrow cancels more flights as airport struggles [REPORT]
Firefighters threaten to strike after receiving ‘insulting’ wage offer [INSIGHT]
Dominic Raab winks at Angela Rayner after ‘wiping the floor with her’ [REACTION]
The rift became apparent before last week’s rail strikes, when Politics Home published a memo issued by the Labor leader to the leading bankers, insisting that they “should not be on wickets”.
In response, Ms Graham said: “It is time to decide whose side you are on. Workers or bad bosses?
Five Labor front-runners defended the order, including the whip Navendu Mishra, along with at least 20 other MPs who showed support for the national outing.
Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner, a former union representative, tweeted: “Workers have left no choice.”
Barristers strike outside Old Bailey on Monday 27 June (Image: GETTY)
According to an Ipsos poll published on June 22 this year, 35 percent of the general public opposed the RMT’s industrial action last week and supported 35 percent.
Yet 56 percent of those who voted for Labor in the 2019 general election expressed support and only 16 percent were against it.
With the latest poll indicating that public sympathy is swinging in favor of striking workers, an Opinion poll commissioned for Good Morning Britain on Tuesday reported 45 per cent in favor and 37 per cent opposed, suggesting Labor is at risk walks to alienate himself from his constituents as well.
MM Lynch, general secretary of RMT, said the campaign would continue until an acceptable settlement was proposed and refused to rule out further strikes this summer.
In the wake of inflation at a peak of 40 years, trade union threats across various sectors have raised fears of a coordinated general strike that could effectively bring the country to a standstill.
Barristers in the Criminal Bar Association, the National Education Union, the British Medical Association, post office workers, British Airways ground staff and BT engineers began or indicated that industrial action.
When asked about the prospect of a “summer of discontent” Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr: “I would definitely not rule it out.”
With the abandonment of the political wing they initiated – which avoided their shrinking membership, took their funding for granted and took an antagonistic political stance – the unions took matters into their own hands and reintroduced themselves into British society. money.