What’s wrong with trade unions criticising Labour policy & promoting their members interests?
I’m not a huge fan of Guardian columnist Martin Kettle (though he certainly can write interesting columns) and his piece on Joe Biden’s pro-worker agenda was not an exception:
Biden is not my kind of left of centre politician either but sometimes it is more useful to see what politicians actually do when in office as opposed to what they say they will do. Biden has only been US President for a few months but I’ve noted some decent domestic policy announcements. Foreign policy has been less good and no doubt there will be many things to criticise in times to come. This however is not Trump.
The letter I wrote on Kettle’s piece appeared on-line only in the Guardian on Friday and so presumably was read by hardly anyone as you have to make some efforts to find letters in the main digital versions of the paper.
It’s not usual to explain letters either. They stand or fall on their own merits. However it’s worth noting that I had in mind here in particular the Survation poll that the CWU commissioned in Hartlepool. It showed Labour behind the Tories but with much support for what have been Labour policies.
It was criticised by some right-wing Labour MPs because it raised questions for Keir Starmer and the CWU is an affiliated union. Why shouldn’t it however? Unions should represent their members. Surely its not thought that Joe Biden is pursuing a pro-worker agenda but the AFL-CIO didn’t intervene in Democratic Party debates and lobby for policies? Of course they did. It’s a healthy part of democracy.
Martin Kettle is right (8.4) that Joe Biden’s decision to promote decent conditions and respect at work and to tie this into the collective organisation of trade unions, is something that is much needed in Britain. 10 years of a Tory Government should be sufficient reminder that in the present day only a Labour Government will do anything on this agenda.
However that is the first not the last word. Kettle thinks some unions are stuck in the past but then criticises those leaders who are critical of Keir Starmer, as if himself wanting a return to the days, when unions sometimes represented not so much the interests of their members, as the perspectives of the leaders and their desire for political careers.
Certainly many trade unions and trade unionists would hope and work for a Labour Government. They’d also expect to shape and influence its policies in relevant areas. That is surely what US unions have successfully done with Joe Biden.
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