Horsham Labour party is proud to acknowledge the involvement of Unite the Union within our Labour party and wish our brothers and sisters from Unite, currently involved in industrial action within BA, our support.As constituency Chair I am both a Unite member and Unite delegate to my Labour party, our Secretary Ray Chapman is also a long-standing member of this union as is our parliamentary candidate Andrew Skudder, who is a workplace representative and delegate to his local party.
All three of us fully support the right of union members to withdraw their labour in the event of being unable to negotiate an agreed settlement with an employer. We recognise that this right, won by previous generations of workers, is an essential component of our democracy.
Let us remember Unite has followed the letter of the law, has balloted its members not once but twice, and on each occasion the members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
The Tories are currently trying to make political capital out of the strike, pointing out that the workers are members of a union which funds the Labour party. This is true and lest we forget, the Labour party was formed just over 100 years ago, when socialist societies and trade unions realised that the best way to see changes working people required and wanted was to no longer work with and through the Liberal and Tory parties but to form their own party.
It is impossible to see the Labour party and trade union movement separately; we were and continue to be two sides of the same coin and, it is what ensures that our progressive politics are informed by the everyday aspirations of working people.
Without the trade union movement and Labour party we would not have the NHS, paid holidays, health and safety protections, the welfare state, the Open University, or the National Minimum Wage. Most of these changes have come about against the backdrop of massive Tory opposition.
Once again the reaction of the Tories to the strike at BA clearly signposts their intentions if they form the next government: they will continue their attack on working men and women, which they waged so aggressively when last in power.
David Hide
Chair Horsham Labour Party and Unite member