Political Role
THE
RELATIONSHIP
The relationship between the Labour Party and the CWU operates at
three levels: national, regional and local. National The CWU is
represented on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee
in the Trades Union section by Dave Ward, NEC
Member. The Union is represented on the National Policy Forum by
General Secretary, Billy Hayes, and Deputy General
Secretary (Telecoms) Andy Kerr.
The CWU also has representation on the Trade Union Liaison Committee by the General Secretary, which brings trade unions together in order to organise support during election campaigns. Regional There are eleven Labour Party Regions and the CWU is represented on most of the Regional Executive Committees. These act as administrative units to co ordinate the work of the Party. Local Each Branch of the CWU can affiliate to Constituency Labour Parties within their boundaries. The CWU Branch can then send a nominated delegate to CLP meetings to support the work of the Party in that Parliamentary Constituency.
POLICIES
The CWU is able to send delegations of its members to both the
national Labour Party Annual Conference and Regional Labour Party
Conferences. At these conferences, the Union is given voting rights
in accordance with its affiliated membership, weighted by a 50:50
percentage division between trade union and CLP voting strengths.
The CWU has a direct input into debates by being able to submit
motions and amendments and through contributions by its
delegates.
PARLIAMENTARY SELECTIONS
The CWU has nomination rights for candidates involved in standing
for Parliament in individual Parliamentary Constituencies. Up until
1993, trade unions had voting rights in Parliamentary selections,
but the move to a One Member, One Vote (OMOV) procedure limited
trade union involvement to nominations.
PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION
At the last General Election the following existing CWU Constituency supported MPs were re-elected:
- Joe Benton (Bootle) former Girobank Clerical Officer
- Michael Connarty (Linlithgow & East Falkirk)
- Jon Cruddas (Dagenham)
- Peter Hain (Neath) former UCW Head of Research
- Kate Hoey (Vauxhall)
- Bob Laxton (Derby North) former BT Engineer
- Geraldine Smith (Morecambe & Lunesdale) former Royal Mail employee
New Constituency Development Plan Agreements have been established with the Constituencies of the following MPs:
- John Grogan (Selby)
- Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North)
- Sadiq Khan (Tooting)
- Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North)
The CWU also has a special relationship with two members of the House of Lords who are former UCW/CWU officers:
- Lord Clarke of Hampstead and
- Lord Young of Norwood Green
All these politicians are from the Labour Party.
POLITICAL FUND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Internally the CWU has the above Committee to
manage the Political Fund of the Union. By law, the Union is
required to ballot its members on retaining a Political Fund every
10 years. The last ballot was held in 2004 and 73% voted in favour
of retaining the Fund. The PFMC deals with all political matters
except policy issues which are handled by the Policy, Education
& Training Committee.
LABOUR PARTY MEMBERSHIP
Under the new rules of membership agreed by the Labour Party in
1993, trade union members belonging to a union affiliated to the
Labour Party can join the Labour Party as full members for only
£12 a year. The CWU has run many recruitment initiatives to
maximise recruitment to the Labour Party from its own ranks.
