by René Lavanchy
UNITE, Britain’s biggest union, will provide more money and campaigning support to Labour between now and the next general election, its political director Charlie Whelan indicated this week.
The union is working to use contact lists of its two million members and computer software to mobilise its members to vote Labour at the next election.
Its increased activity was underlined at Labour’s conference by a fringe meeting where international development minister Douglas Alexander called on Unite members to ring up their colleagues and persuade them to give Labour their vote.
Mr Whelan sounded a confident note about the union’s powers of influence: “We’ve got an £8 million political fund. We’re ahead of the game”. He told the meeting: “People need to know that a union can mobilise its members to support a candidate that the union likes.”
“Anyone who believes you can write off Gordon Brown can think again. It’s ordinary working people and their families who would suffer most under a Tory government.”
Mr Alexander agreed: “What the trade union represents is a very potent weapon in the war of communication.”
Unite is targeting 50 “key parliamentary seats” in Labour’s less safe constituencies, containing over 100,000 of its members. Union officials say that their membership in each constituency tends to be greater than the MP’s majority.
But Mr Whelan admitted that at least 35 per cent of its members who have previously voted Labour say they will not vote at the next election. Separately, nearly a third of Unite members have indicated that they intend to vote Conservative.
The union is utilising the demographic sorting software Mosaic in conjunction with extensive polling of its members to find out what issues matter to them. It is also using individual contact with members to encourage them to relate to Labour more.
One official said: “We are much more clearly organised [than before] in terms of using new technology. We still have the traditional ways of communicating but we’re adding onto that.” They confirmed that the political fund would be increased by an undisclosed amount from November.
The campaign underlines the closeness of the union to Labour and Gordon Brown, whom Mr Whelan served as press secretary from 1994 to 1999. Unite and other affiliated unions have reacted to leadership speculation by rallying behind Mr Brown, both in public statements and private meetings with the Prime Minister.
Deborah Mattinson of Unite’s research and engagement division insisted that her members were supportive of Labour policies: “The main thing that’s going to get people out to vote is fear of the alternative. People don’t know what [David Cameron] stands for. He doesn’t ring true. Being a lightweight is not what people want at the moment.”
