ABSTRACT
The Labour connection is a complication, particularly when Labour is in office and appealing to the TUC and unions to modify their behaviour on electoral grounds to help ‘their’ government. It was the trade unions who spawned the Labour Party eighty years ago to achieve those objectives that lie beyond the promise of collective bargaining. In early 1984 the TUC and a number of individual unions decided to separate the political fund question from the link with the Labour Party. The ballot strategy revealed clearly the trade unions’ view of the constitution. The Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee was launched at the 1984 TUC with Keys as its chairman. Most union members help to support the party through the political levy they pay as part of their union subscriptions. Criticism of ‘political’ trade unionism and the political levy found a ready response in the 1983 Conservative Party manifesto and the earlier Green Paper.
