"Five Million Conversations (How Labour lost an election & rediscovered its roots)"

The picture is from last Thursday's social at Custom House branch, West Ham Labour where the guest speaker was BBC political reporter, Iain Watson.  He spoke about his new book on the failure of the Labour Party to win the last general election "Five Million conversations - How Labour Lost an election and rediscovered its roots". 

This is of course a very topical (and to me personally painful) subject that must be addressed by anyone interested in politics. The meeting was chaired by local member UNISON activist, Kim Silver. 

Iain began by speaking about the official Labour Party report by Margaret Beckett, which will finally be published later today. There will be no surprises in the report he thinks. Labour lost due to 4 main reasons:-

1.  Labour never took on the "myth" that they caused the financial crash. 2. Ed Miliband was not seen as strong a leader as David Cameron. 3. Fear of SNP and finally - 4. The most challenging, Labours "lack of  connection" problem with some voters over immigration and benefits.

Ironically Labour was not seen as too left wing, since most of the most popular policies in the campaign were those of the "left".

He doesn't think that Labour Party staff were to blame but surely having 106 "attack" seats and no "defensive" seats was wrong. The Tories had 50 "defensive" and 50 "attack" with far, far more resources. They had on the ground information, since they had surveyed every single parliamentary constituency. Labour thought they could take 3 seats that they didn't even win in 1997.

The pre election attempted coup against Ed Miliband by some Labour MPs didn't help.

Despite being Scottish, the scale of the SNP victory in Scotland surprised him. In the past Labour used to argue successfully against the SNP that "divorce is a expensive business". Now it is clear that many Scottish voters simply don't care about this cost. There has been a "mood change".

He thought Ed was a decent candidate but made mistakes. The Labour campaign was brittle and too protective of him.

After the election and during the leadership elections, Iain remember the trade union GMB hustings in  Dublin. Jeremy Corbyn was the only candidate who was clearly against the Tories benefits cap, Liz was for it but the other candidates did not give convincing answers.

In the Q&A I asked whether with hindsight, Labour was never going to win in 2014. There had only been a single one term government in 100 years and that was in 1974 after the 3 day week. The British electorate do not like one term governments and will nearly always give them the benefit of the doubt.

Also, since I, like so many others, were so absolutely wrong about the outcome of the Labour leadership campaign, we should be humble about any predictions that Corbyn will not win.

Iain responded by saying that the opinion polls actually had Labour in the lead before the election and that it seemed at the time that maybe they could have won under Ed in a minority government with the SNP. The Labour Party faces an enormous challenge to win in 2020.  Boundary changes, the Tories are reducing Parliamentary Short money, the trade union bill will have an impact on its funding and Scotland will remain a problem.

Another question was why does Jeremy Corbyn have such a bad press? Iain thought he was honest and straight talking but the trouble is that he answers other peoples agendas and not his own. For example, what happened over his comments about "shot to kill" and a recent survey that found only 1:20 of people thought that Jeremy was "Anti-Austerity".  When the Tories were under pressure over the Trade Union Bill, Jeremy was side tracked by questions on Trident.

Next was on the threat from UKIP to Labour who came 2nd in 120 consistencies. Iain agreed this was a threat that has not gone away and that Labour in the past did not have a "core vote strategy".

Ali G thought that many CLP Labour campaigns (unlike Ilford north) last year were poorly run. We need to appeal to the "better off" voters. Iain agreed that he was surprised that the Labour policies such as on free childcare for all was hardly mentioned.

Sue asked how will Labour win back Scotland? Iain said that it would be really difficult. Possibly now that the SNP government will be given the power to raise all income tax rates, if they don't then the claim they are on the left and "anti-austerity " will be undermined and they will be open to attack.

This was an excellent evening. Iain was a great speaker and will try to make himself available to plug his book at all different events. Many thanks for the Custom House councillors and ward members for organising this social. 

Keep Calm and Join a Trade Union

This is a modified version of a flyer that I sent out this morning. Up and down the country union branches are sending similar messages to staff.

"The more of us in the union the stronger we become, the greater the protection you will receive and the better the deal we will obtain".

The modern day snowman

I couldn't resist sharing this brilliant photo. Hat Tip Franz Bee

Sadiq Khan for London Mayor "SuperSaturday" in Canning Town & Forest Gate

Picture collage from today's "Super Saturday" campaign in support of Sadiq Khan as London Mayor. Around 20 activists turned up to work with West Ham MP, Lyn Brown, in Canning Town in the morning and a similar number in the afternoon in Forest Gate.

Greater London Assembly (GLA) candidates, Unmesh Desai and Tom Copley, also turned up to talk to residents. After the Forest Gate session, canvassers revived themselves from the cold weather with hot coffee (or cold beers) at the Forest Gate Tavern.

It was great to see new members to the Party take part and campaign for Labour alongside existing activists. The London Mayor and GLA election in May will be by proportional representation so every vote will count. It will be absolutely vital that we get the Labour vote out in Newham.

Monitoring Employees' Use of the Internet

Be warned!!!! I have made a number of urgent messages to union members over the years asking them to remove a post on social media about their employer or work colleagues.

"Is the right to respect for private life and correspondence breached if employers monitor employees' personal communications at work?

No, subject to reasonableness/proportionality, according to the European Court of Human Rights in Barbulescu v Romania.

Mr Barbulescu was an engineer who used his business Yahoo Messenger account to send and receive personal messages with his fiancee and his brother, including messages about his health and sex life. This was in breach of his employment contract. His employer, discovering this accidentally, dismissed him. Mr Barbulescu argued that the Rumanian courts should have excluded all evidence of his personal communications on the grounds it infringed his Convention rights to privacy.

The European Court of Human Rights held that Article 8 (right to respect for private life and correspondence) was engaged, but that the Rumanian courts were entitled to look at that evidence in deciding whether the dismissal was justified. The European Court was swayed by the fact that the Romanian court judgment did not reveal the precise content of the personal messages, but only the fact that they were personal messages. The Court recognised the need for employers to be able to verify that employees are completing professional tasks during working hours".

hat tip Daniel Barnett

Angela Rayner new Shadow Minister for Pensions

Congratulations to Angela Rayner MP for Ashton-under-Lyne who has been appointed as Shadow Minister for Pensions.

Angie is a former home care worker and UNISON branch secretary.

It is fantastic that we have a shadow pension minister who knows first hand how important decent pensions are for working people. 

I warn the financial services industry that she will not stand any of their nonsense.

I have met up with Angie, her husband Mark (UNISON pension rep) and their lovely children at various UNISON conferences over the years.

Angela was featured in a Guardian article a couple of years ago and I posted at the time that  "Angela typifies the very best of UNISON and how it can grow its activists".

"Apology to Dave Prentis"

"Apology from Jon Rogers to Dave Prentis

In December of last year, prior to the conclusion of the election for the post of General Secretary of Unison, I made various comments about Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison, who has now been re-elected for a further term, on social media and in other forums. 

I accept fully that Mr Prentis has "clean hands" in relation to the meeting of Unison staff in the Greater London Region which took place on 21 October 2015. I wish to make clear that I have no grounds to believe that Mr Prentis sanctioned or condoned any misuse of Unison staff resources at that meeting. 

Further, I also wish to make clear that Mr Prentis has done nothing, to my knowledge, that warrants his disqualification as a candidate or gives grounds for the election to be re-run.

By making this statement, I apologise unreservedly to Mr Prentis for the concern and distress I have caused him and for any negative impact my words may have had upon his or Unison’s reputation.

I am happy to confirm that I have provided Mr Prentis with undertakings which he has accepted that I shall make no statements which are at variance with this apology.

I recognise that Unison’s interests are best served by everyone giving their full support to the investigation currently being undertaken by Roger Mackenzie, Unison’s Assistant General Secretary into the circumstances surrounding the 21 October meeting. I recognise that there should be confidentiality around that investigation and, whilst it is ongoing, I have confirmed that I will refrain from commenting on the investigation or from circulating any material concerning these matters. No one should prejudge the outcome of the investigation.  Mr Mackenzie must be allowed to conclude the investigation without further speculation, interference or distraction.

I am also happy to confirm that I will abide by and respect the outcome of the investigation as required by Unison’s Rule Book as determined by the members at Conference"

West Ham Labour - Past, Present, Future

On Saturday ward members from West Ham branch went out campaigning in Paul Street E15. We had 2 newly active members out with us for the first time ever "on the knocker".  They seemed to enjoy it - talking to residents, mastering the art of using the "drop key" to open entry doors, the rain and even the prospect of meeting "Buster" (a huge Staffordshire Bull Terrier - who is actually as soft as butter) did not faze them.

West Ham Constituency Labour Party now has a staggering 1264 members (and hundreds of affiliated and other supporters). 251 members are under the age of 27. This is amazing growth. In 2009 we had only 423 members and even in 2014 (year before the general election) we had just 689.

While I will not agree with all that the new members may say or believe (just as I don't agree with many of the existing members) at the risk of being a patronising git - I think that it is great to have people interested in politics who want to change the world, joining and taking part in the Party.

The Labour Party is going through a difficult period of adjustment and is still bitter about defeat but the new leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has kept the Party together and he must be given his chance to succeed. We will only win power if we remain a coalition of democratic progressives, left and centre left. That doesn't mean mind that the Party cannot re balance British politics towards the left - both locally and nationally.

To bring about change, the new members will have to participate in all the boring party structures. Branch meetings, Executive committee, General Committee, Local Campaign Committee and affiliate meetings. They will also be expected to canvass and deliver leaflets. They will have to be disciplined, organised and be prepared to turn up and argue their case and to vote for the motions, officers and the representatives they want.

Being a life long collectivist, I would also hope and expect them to be collective, pragmatic and to seek consensus whenever possible. Lets see if a "new kind of politics" will actually work in West Ham.

Redbridge Mayor's Appeal Burns Night Dinner

Knowing the Redbridge Mayor I am sure that the band (and piper) will be excellent!

Trade Union Bill and the Labour Party

On Thursday evening I was invited to speak to a joint meeting of both Forest Gate Labour Party branches on the Trade Union Bill. It started off with a quiz on trade unions, which was an excellent ice breaker and introduction. I then spoke about trade unions and the Labour Party and how the Tory Trade Union Bill (which tomorrow will have its 2nd reading at the House of Lords) is not only undemocratic and authoritarian but will actually worsen industrial relations.

I spoke in my personal capacity. There then followed a wide ranging question and answers session. I think people understand the argument that you need to have a strong union in the workplace to ensure that workers are treated with dignity and respect.  Employment law is important but many workers over estimate their legal rights at work. It is a safety net only and the best protection in work comes from your union.

Unions have been in relative decline following previous Tory legislative attacks since the 1980s but recently this has stabilised and there has been some growth. Unions still have over 6 million members and we remain by far the largest civil society organisation in the country. 

The new Tory Trade Union Bill attacks union funding and it will make it more difficult for strikes to take place, but strikes are already at all time low level. There was more strikes during the the second world war than in recent years. If legitimate calls for strike action are outlawed then it is likely that "unofficial" action will take place instead. Allowing agencies to provide "scab" labour to replace strikers will result in industrial mayhem.

Unions must have a realistic ability to call out its members on strike (as a last resort) in order to give them bargaining power with management to ensure that any negotiations are meaningful. Unions re- balance power in the workplace in favour of employees and away from a too dominant management.

If the Tories really wanted to modernise unions, as they claim, why don't they allow on line voting or workplace ballots? Why is it alright for the Tories in London to pick Zac Goldsmith as their Mayoral candidate on line by computers or mobile phones but not allow union members to make any decisions on line?

Why is it acceptable that MPs, Councillors and Police Commissioners are elected with very small turnouts but union ballots would have to have a say 80% majority on a 50% turnout.

The Bill will also attack trade union funding of the Labour Party, while doing nothing to stop Tory funding by hedge funds and financial services. This will destroy a political convention that Governments should not misuse their power to stop funding for their opposition. It will also interfere in the rights of employers to make their own agreements with trade unions.

Quite rightly it wasn't a trade union "love in" and I will be the first to admit that trade unions are not perfect and we need to change and update. We need to look again at the traditional Anglo-American model of trade unionism and look to countries where there is greater union density and influence.

In response to a question about many workers don't think that unions are relevant in their workplaces. I agreed that is true. Many workers are Thatcher's grandchildren and know little or nothing about unions and don't understand its importance. One of the worse things about being a trade union rep is turning down sometimes pretty desperate requests for support at work from colleagues, who have not joined the union. Unions need to explain themselves better but also we need to make unions more relevant to workers.

Trade unions and the working class in this country have traditionally bought themselves economic and social benefits by the ballot box. The Labour Party was formed in the first place by unions since we needed political support to protect us from Tory laws, hostile employers and the courts. We desperately need a Labour Government in power but we also need the next Labour Government to help make unions more relevant in the workplace. If unions had more power in the workplace, then more workers will join. 

The Labour Party needs trade unions not only for the money but also to achieve its historic mission of greater and fairer equality.  In the book "The Spirit Level" you can see that countries that tend to be more successful and have greater equality have higher levels of trade union membership.

Stronger trade unions will not only result in greater fairness in work but will result in a greater share of wealth going to the many and not the few. The decline in trade unionism has been mirrored by a decline in real wages and a concentration of wealth and greater income inequality.

There has already been some "improvements" in the Bill during its passage in the Commons such as the really stupid requirement for unions to give 2 weeks notice of any social media announcements. What we need now is to keep up the pressure while it goes through the Lords.

Finally, I pointed out that whatever happens, unions are here to stay and we will not be going anywhere.

(Many thanks to Heather and Rachel for organising this event).