MSF steps up witch-hunt against left – and Livingstone
One of the manoeuvres in the desperate battle to prevent Ken Livingstone becoming Mayor of London has been the debarring of four unions from the electoral college set up on October 12.
And, what a surprise, MSF, RMT, ASLEF and BECTU were all thought likely to cast their votes for Ken.
The exclusions were supposedly for late payment of affiliation fees – a fair enough reason you might think. Well certainly that was what you were supposed to believe: but the reality is a little more complex.
Firstly it is absolutely common practice for affiliation fees to be paid late. In any event in the case of MSF, by the time it was excluded from the electoral college on October 21 both its 1998 (in July 1999) and 1999 (in October 1999) fees had been paid. The cheque sent in July had not been returned, and the union had been treated in all others ways as an affiliated union.
Secondly there is a complete difference between the way individual members have been treated and the attitude taken to trade union levy payers.
Margaret McDonagh, General Secretary of the Labour Party, wrote to CLP Secretaries recently urging them to assist the party in chasing up members in subscription arrears and extending the deadline for doing so until November 5.
She argued that this needed to be done so that the widest number of members could have their say. Indeed the electoral college was treated as an opportunity to get in back subscriptions – including from 1998 – from individual members.
This has rightly been taken up by both the RMT and activists in MSF to highlight the fact that their exclusion should be overturned.
Within MSF, the late payment has been used in a despicable way by General Secretary Roger Lyons and the National Executive Committee to refuel their long standing witch-hunt against the left in London region.
The first most MSF members knew about what was going on was when their General Secretary proclaimed in the media that they had been deprived of their votes – not because of unfair rules imposed by the Labour Party, but incompetence from Regional Council Secretary Hugh McGrillen!
This public abuse continued for days, and was followed by a circular to the London membership – probably costing around £5000 – again denouncing lay officers.
This was done without any attempt either to find out the real facts of the situation – or, even more importantly to get the votes back. For a union that claims to have such influence with the government and party, the priorities were clear. Not to defend the rights of members but rather to attack the left.
Legal advice
In the meantime the London Region Management Committee of MSF had agreed to seek legal advice as to whether the Labour Party’s decision to exclude them could be challenged. It was made clear at the meeting that no union funds would be used and that at this stage no action be taken.
After seeking a written opinion from a barrister, it seemed to the Regional Secretary that there was a very strong likelihood that the decision could be challenged – but only if he acted quickly – before ballot papers were issued.
At this stage, after informal consultations with as many people as possible, he asked his solicitors to write to the Labour Party stating that the decision should be rescinded .
At this point the MSF leadership who had effectively been silent for nearly two weeks sprang into action – not to add their weight to the plea to restore democracy – but to throw further vitriol on the head of McGrillen.
Despite the fact that written assurances were given by both Hugh and the Regional President, Susan Michie, that no union funds were involved, the National Executive Committee on November 13 suspended the three principal officers of the Regional Council, froze its funds and launched an investigation into the preceding actions.
While they claim they want the matter dealt with speedily it is more than a little convenient that all this may well mean that the three suspended members are ineligible to stand for office at next year’s AGM.
London Regional Council of MSF on November 20 overwhelmingly passed a vote of confidence in all its officers, called for the suspensions to be lifted and, most importantly called on the NEC to concentrate on getting back the votes of our members.
In the meantime, six individual members are pursuing action in the courts to see if the decision to exclude can be overturned.