Aslef
On the back of so much Tory sleaze and betrayals by Labour, many working-class people can’t be blamed for having no faith in any of the establishment parties.
That’s why I put forward a motion in my union branch in Birmingham, to go to our annual Aslef rail workers’ union delegate conference, that we should support and encourage our rank-and-file members to stand as anti-cuts candidates in the upcoming May local council elections.
The motion was passed undisputed. It calls on our members to stand for any party that truly represents trade unionist, socialist and anti-austerity values.
And with a motion on the conference’s unofficial agenda to disaffiliate from the Labour Party, the idea of standing anti-cuts candidates, including against local Labour councillors could soon be building up more support in the union.
Kris O’Sullivan, Aslef member
RMT
RMT tube strike, December 2021 (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
At a Piccadilly and District West RMT branch meeting, Dave Nellist, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in the Erdington by-election, spoke on the need for a political alternative.
His speech was well received and the branch donated £200 to his election campaign.
A number of RMT members have committed to stand as TUSC candidates in the upcoming local elections. For a long period, the RMT was alone as a trade union in supporting other candidates to the left of Labour. But the decision by the 18,000-strong Bakers’ Union to join the campaign for political representation has not gone unnoticed by a large section of the RMT, and has given a further impetus in the campaign for a new mass party of the working class.
