So RMT leader Bob Crow, who has never been a member of the Labour Party, preferring to wield his influence in the Communist Party of Britain and the Scargill Labour Party, has won his little crusade to weaken the union link with the party.
The RMT voted to support the far left Scottish Socialists, Plaid Cymru, Greens, Ken Livingstone in London and even suspended Labour MP George Galloway in direct defiance of the Labour leadership. It also halved its annual affiliation fees from £25,000 to £12,500. A year ago it paid more than £100,000, reports the Guardian.
Quite how this is supposed to increase the political weight of railworkers is not explained by Crow, but he appears not to be too interested in real politics anyway.
“Like a marriage that comes to an end, sometimes it is better if there is a divorce. I am not urging a divorce but how long can we sit back and support a political party that has gone further than the Tory party?
“People say do we want to get the Tories back in again – I say, how would we know?”
How would we know? Well try this for starters Bob – whatever your fantasies most working people are well aware of the differences between the two major parties.
But sometimes it does get confusing I admit. After all which party was it that spent all of the 1980’s in power and lambasting the link between trade unions and the Labour Party? Which party called for an end to the political levy?
Which begs the question – how long will railworkers sit back and support a leader who has gone further than the Tory party?
