Usdaw ADM delegates
The shadow of the council elections loomed over retail and distribution workers’ union Usdaw’s Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in Blackpool 4-7 May. Several debates at the conference became, in effect, autopsies of the results.
One of the timetabled debates at the conference was on the growth of the right, put forward by the National Executive Council (NEC) in response to last summer’s election of five Reform UK MPs and far-right riots.
Moving a motion on the riots that was passed unanimously, Socialist Party member Iain Dalton said that the far right bases itself on policies that “divide working-class people and deflect our anger from the super-rich and big business interests they defend.
“It’s the politics of working-class unity and a common struggle to win the resources that we all need which is the only substantial alternative to these policies.”
The motion called for “trade unions to take the lead in combating the divisive policies of the far right,” including organising trade union stewarding of demonstrations.
Iain also moved a successful composite motion opposing the cuts to the winter fuel allowance, demanding the big six energy companies are brought into public ownership under democratic workers’ control.
He pointed out: “When people voted out the Tories at the general election and voted for change, they were not voting for these cuts to the winter fuel allowance, or for not compensating the WASPI women, or changing the eligibility for personal independence payments… We need a government that prioritises the interests of workers rather than protecting big business profits.”
Parliamentary group
Seeking to shield the government from criticism, the standing orders committee ruled out an emergency proposition on the benefit cuts announced in March, on the spurious grounds it also referenced how Labour had not reversed previous Tory cuts! But perhaps the real reason was that the motion also demanded the NEC meet with the Usdaw parliamentary group and call on them to vote against the cuts.
A weaker motion on the Usdaw parliamentary group was debated in the political session, but the speaker raised how at last year’s ADM we passed a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap, yet not a single member of the group voted to do so in parliament. (And the Labour leadership suspended 7 MPs for voting for that!)
The conference had Labour health secretary Wes Streeting as a guest speaker, with a message of ‘giving the government more time’. He personally thanked outgoing Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis for being “pivotal” in electing Keir Starmer as Labour leader and “changing” the Labour Party.
While Streeting received the obligatory standing ovation for guest speakers, a minority of delegates did not join it, and others purposefully wore stickers in support of trans rights in protest at Streeting’s comments on the Supreme Court ruling. Streeting avoided fully answering both a question on this and on the PIP cuts.
Socialist Party fringe
The elements of this debate that weren’t able to be taken up on the conference floor featured heavily at the Socialist Party’s largest ‘Usdaw Activist’ fringe meeting at ADM yet, with Socialist Party national committee and Usdaw member Ryan Aldred speaking.
Discussion on how steps could be taken to form a new workers’ party included how to hold the Usdaw parliamentary group to account and to extend it to include MPs outside the Labour Party who support trade union policy, such as Jeremy Corbyn and the suspended MPs. That includes campaigning to open up the political fund to support MPs and candidates that support us.
