This is a guest post by Graham Taylor, former Chair and Election Agent Tower Hamlets Labour Party
In my last post I got it a bit wrong, as I thought the Labour Party NEC would make the same mistake as last year and let any Tom, Dick or Harriet have a vote for three quid. That went up to £25 and the deadline was yesterday. Ordinary members need to have been around for six months, but … members of affiliated unions have got until 8 August to register as an affiliated supporter and will get a vote providing they were a member of their union before 12 January 2016.
Recent opinion polls have shown that union leaders support for Corbyn is increasingly out of step with the rank and file membership with around 70% of members of the big five believing he’ll lose the next election
In last year’s leadership election only 71,500 ‘affiliated supporters’ (union members) voted. The list below is the unions affiliated to the Labour Party, a brief description copied form the Labour Party’s TULO website, and their most recent membership size by affiliation to the TUC last year. By my calculations that’s over 4 million people that could sign up for a vote by 8 August.
There’s a good chance that our friends, family, vague acquaintances are members of unions. One caveat, there a sizeable chunk of unions that aren’t affiliated to the Labour Party – in particular education, health (with the exception of nurses) and the civil service. But have a look at the list below and think about people you know – old friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, Betty in the Co-Op, your postman, the bloke down the pub you occasionally chat to, tube or train station staff, shop workers, local government staff or contractors, engineers and shop floor staff, post office and BT staff, firefighters, train drivers, bus drivers, musicians, TV/radio/theatre staff – the chances are they don’t want Corbyn.
SIGN THEM UP.
Unite – for general workers in the public and private sectors [1,319,413]
UNISON – the public service union for all those providing services to the public whether employed in the public, private or voluntary sectors [1,301,500]
GMB – for general workers in public and private sectors [613,384]
USDAW – Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers – retail, distributive and related industries [425,652]
CWU – Communication Workers Union – post and telecommunications [201, 875]
UCATT – Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians – construction and building workers [84,377]
COMMUNITY – industries in and around steel, metal and textile communities [50,012]
FBU – Fire Brigades Union – firefighters and other workers within fire and rescue services [41,270]
MU – Musicians Union – performers, writers and teachers in the music industry [30,446]
BECTU – Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union – broadcasting, film, video, theatre, cinema and related sectors [23,779]
TSSA – Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association – railways, London Underground, travel, haulage, shipping [22,762]
BFAWU – Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union – food industry [20,371]
ASLEF – Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers (railways – drivers, operational supervisors and staff) [19,236]
NUM – National Union of Mineworkers [1,853]
