Defend the Union Labour Link

A new campaign has been launched to defend the trade union Labour link in response to the Collins review which will make recommendations on a new relationship between the Labour Party and members of affiliated organisations. The campaign will hold its first meeting at 7PM on 3rd September at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London with speakers including Manuel Cortes General Secretary of railway union TSSA and Professor Keith Ewing, leading expert on UK political party finance and independent adviser to the Kelly Commission on the funding of political parties:
http://defendthelink.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/defend-the-link-2/

Tolpuddle Weekend is here

#Tolpuddle13 This year’s Tolpuddle Festival got off to a rousing start last night with a Campaign for Trade Union Freedom rally at Tolpuddle Village Hall. Speakers included Professor Keith Ewing who outlined the severe threat to trade union political involvement posed by the new Lobbying Bill. Today former UNISON General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe will be speaking in the Unizone and this morning Assistant General Secretary Roger McKenzie will discuss the legacy of Martin Luther King in a debate at the Martyrs' Marquee:
http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/index.php?page=programme

Plan to restrict union political funding 'a de facto ban on electoral free speech'

The government’s recent announcement on lobbying was soiled by its unexpected inclusion of an attack on trade union support for the Labour Party, writes Keith Ewing. Apparently the government is proposing that any money spent by an affiliated union campaigning at an election is to be treated as not as a ‘third party expenditure’ as at present, but as an expenditure by the Party for the purposes of electoral law. It will also count towards the Party’s electoral spending limit.