With the Tories on the attack over the trade union funding of the Labour Party there has been much discussion on role trade unions play within the Labour Party.
I strongly believe in the role of the unions in the Labour Party and pay into the APF (Labour Link) as well as the GPF (General Political Fund). I'm also an individual member of the party.
Rather than having less influence in the Labour Party, we need to increase the impact that our members make within the party.
Toward the end of last year I attended a Let's Talk event organised by West Midlands Young Labour and Labour Students. The whole 'Let's Talk' thing is a bit naff but this gave young people the opportunity to have their say to a Government Minister about child poverty in the world and at home. I was able to challenge Ed Balls on education policy, the national minimum wage and taxation as well as how we build momentum around eradicating child poverty.
This was also an important opportunity to promote unions and UNISON to other young socialists, able to explain the role unionisation takes in lifting people out of poverty with improved pay, flexible working, protection against discrimination etc.
From this I got into discussions with the Chair of West Midlands Young Labour about how young trade unionists and Young Labour can improve our collaboration. Hopefully this will lead to greater voice for young people within Labour in the West Midlands. This sort of activity, working with Labour's grass roots, is the way we improve our influence within the party.
