The leader of the Unite union says Labour is not defending working people and they are turning away from the party “in droves”.Sharon Graham said Labour should be “seriously concerned” after the union voted to potentially rethink its relationship with the party, which could result in it formally cutting ties and funding.It comes after Unite said it had suspended the membership of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her handling of bin strikes in Birmingham. A Labour source said Rayner quit Unite in April and defended her action on workers’ rights.A party spokesperson said the Labour government was responsible for the “biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation”.Delegates at Unite’s policy conference voted to rethink their relationship with Labour should any of its members be made redundant in the course of the long-running bin strike.The vote also saw the union decide to suspend Rayner over her role in the strikes.The deputy prime minister has urged workers to accept a deal tabled by Birmingham’s Labour-run city council to end the dispute, saying the authority had “moved significantly to meet the demands of the workers”.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, Unite’s general secretary said Unite members “don’t believe that Labour defends workers in the way we thought they would”.Rayner was attempting a “Houdini act” by focusing on “whether she wasn’t or was a member at this juncture,” she said, and Labour should instead be asking where it was “going wrong”.Ms Graham said its members reflected “what everyday people are saying” about the government.”I have real difficulty in the way that Labour are making decisions,” she said, “in …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe leader of the Unite union says Labour is not defending working people and they are turning away from the party “in droves”.Sharon Graham said Labour should be “seriously concerned” after the union voted to potentially rethink its relationship with the party, which could result in it formally cutting ties and funding.It comes after Unite said it had suspended the membership of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her handling of bin strikes in Birmingham. A Labour source said Rayner quit Unite in April and defended her action on workers’ rights.A party spokesperson said the Labour government was responsible for the “biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation”.Delegates at Unite’s policy conference voted to rethink their relationship with Labour should any of its members be made redundant in the course of the long-running bin strike.The vote also saw the union decide to suspend Rayner over her role in the strikes.The deputy prime minister has urged workers to accept a deal tabled by Birmingham’s Labour-run city council to end the dispute, saying the authority had “moved significantly to meet the demands of the workers”.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, Unite’s general secretary said Unite members “don’t believe that Labour defends workers in the way we thought they would”.Rayner was attempting a “Houdini act” by focusing on “whether she wasn’t or was a member at this juncture,” she said, and Labour should instead be asking where it was “going wrong”.Ms Graham said its members reflected “what everyday people are saying” about the government.”I have real difficulty in the way that Labour are making decisions,” she said, “in …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
