Unions & politics

In September 2006 the TUC resolved: “Congress calls upon the Government not to replace Trident.” A few weeks later, Labour Party conference met. The report to it from the National Policy Forum — a new body set up under Tony Blair’s remodelling of the Labour Party — stated: “The question of the replacement for the Trident system is one of central importance... there should be a full debate on the issue.” In a bizarre twist typical of the Blair-Brown Labour Party, this statement that there should be a full debate then became the pretext for denying a debate. Seventeen motions from constituency...

Originally published in our 2000 pamphlet on environmental and climate politics, We only want the earth . On 22 December, 1988, in the north-western Brazilian town of Xapuri, in Acre state, Chico Mendes was assassinated. The leader of the local union of rubber tappers, active member of the growing Workers’ Party, and advocate of “socialist ecology”, Mendes was the sworn enemy of the landowners against whom he had fought and organised for workers’ rights all his life. His death was a tragedy, which received publicity all around the world. But his life was an inspiration. The rubber tappers are...

By: Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis.com Port-au-Prince- On November 18, 2006 Haitian grassroots human rights organizations came together to found a coalition. CONODDH (National Coordination of Organizations Defending Human Rights) explains that it is a grouping of organizations all with deep experience working in the field of human rights. CONODDH has declared its independence of any religious or political affiliation. The registered office of CONODDH is temporarily installed in Port-Au-Prince, but its seat can be transferred at any moment to any place in Haiti. At the November press conference...

By Ann Mack Jon Cruddas MP, the man who likes to style himself the union and grass roots friendly candidate for the post of Labour Party Deputy Leader, has called for the union vote at conference to be drastically cut. In a Compass pamphlet entitled Fit for Purpose? A Programme for Labour Party Renewal, Cruddas (and former Kinnockite youth, journalist John Harris) propose a cut in the union vote at Labour Party conference from just under 50% to 33%. “The settlement of the party's federal structure along lines that have been taking shape for the last two decades. Labour’s decision-making bodies...

Organise local meetings ON 18 October a meeting for John McDonnell's campaign at the Hackney Empire, with McDonnell speaking alongside leading radical trade unionists, attracted over 100 people. The meeting, co-sponsored by Hackney Trades Union Council and the Labour party's Leabridge branch, was pitched towards rank-and-file union activists and Labour party members who wanted to discuss an urgently needed alternative to Blairism; that of working-class political representation. It is vital for McDonnell's campaign, particularly given a lack of resources, that local activists build rank-and...