Labour leader Keir Starmer addressed union leaders at a dinner in Liverpool, urging them to “keep their eyes on the prize” ahead of the UK’s general election, which could be held within months. Most Labour-affiliated unions support a package of workers’ rights policies recently agreed by the party’s National Policy Forum, including the right of unions to organise in any workplace, a ban on zero-hours contracts and the repeal of anti-strike laws. Angela Rayner, Starmer’s deputy, guaranteed that the package would be introduced within the party’s first 100 days of government.
One union, however, Unite, has argued that the party has weakened the package, a position that prompted Labour officials to accuse the union of “petty” politics. One source claimed that Unite’s criticisms of the package were intended to appear provocative. Tensions between Unite and the party leadership have risen since the departure of Jeremy Corbyn, a close ally of the union’s incumbent general secretary, Len McClusky.
Other union leaders praised the package, with the GMB’s Gary Smith describing it as “an exciting package from a government in waiting”. Christina McAnea, general secretary of public sector union Unison, urged Labour to provide “much firmer spending commitments to protect public services”. Members of some unions are privately raising concerns over other issues as well, including a £15 minimum wage and further public service spending.
The Trades Union Congress, the umbrella, non-aligned organisation for unions, urged voters to “vote for working people, vote for chance, vote for the party we named for our movement: vote Labour”, in remarks by its general secretary, Paul Nowak
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