Sheffield #Labour councillors who broke #UCUstrike #picket line trigger #YoungLabour declaration
Packed: the Young Labour rally that Keir Starmer’s Labour conference app falsely stated was cancelled. Now Young Labour is refusing to campaign for party members who break picket lines.
This may have deep repercussions across the Labour Party – and indeed the Labour Movement, although the two are now very clearly separate entities.
After Labour members of Sheffield City Council broke the picket line at that city’s university, where UCU workers were striking over pay, pensions and other working conditions, Young Labour – the party’s youth branch – has announced it will not campaign for such people in any way:
Trade unions are the bedrock of the labour movement and are at the forefront of defending workers rights against corrupt bosses and Tory governments which have harmed the lives of millions of workers.
— Young Labour (@YoungLabourUK) December 3, 2021
We believe if you are elected or seek selection wearing a Labour rosette, you should always respect picket lines and the tough decision workers face to take industrial action against bad bosses.
Labour was founded by trade unionists and we are proud to continue this tradition.
— Young Labour (@YoungLabourUK) December 3, 2021
We will instead direct our energy, our members and events towards contributing to the election of those Labour candidates who explicitly stand by trade unions, respect picket lines and who will unwaveringly represent workers interests in elected office.
In solidarity.
— Young Labour (@YoungLabourUK) December 3, 2021
Make no mistake – this announcement is a calculated slap in the face for Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer, who with his barely-legitimate general secretary David Evans unilaterally cancelled Young Labour’s conference, that must run alongside the main party conference, according to its rules.
That decision was apparently because the Young Labour conference would have featured an event showing solidarity with Palestine – at least, that’s how YL chair Jess Barnard saw it.
Note the line that a lack of solidarity “has no place in our movement”. Keir Starmer is fond of flinging that phrase around and this seems a deliberate choice to fling it back at him.
What will Starmer do?
Will he condemn his councillors and cause a rift with them? Will he condemn Young Labour and cause a rift with them?
Or will he just hide wherever he goes for weeks on end when difficult questions present themselves?
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