[A-List] UK labour aristocracy: TGWU

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

T&G candidates spurn Blair

As Bill Morris retires, the front runners in the race to lead the
influential transport union are openly critical of Downing Street

Kevin Maguire
Thursday February 13, 2003
The Guardian

Frontrunners for the leadership of one of Britain's most influential trade
unions were openly critical of Downing Street yesterday after Bill Morris,
Britain's most prominent black political figure, announced his retirement.

The decision of all the main candidates to highlight disagreements with No
10 in their initial statements has underlined how far Tony Blair is
considered an electoral millstone in the battle to lead the left-leaning
Transport and General Workers' Union.

During his 12 years in the post Mr Morris, who is to step down as T&G
general secretary in October when he is 65, attempted to shift the 850,000 -
strong union closer to the political centre. Yet the T&G, a major affiliate
to the Labour party, stays on the left. The TUC general secretary, John
Monks, recently warned it was virtually impossible for any one to win a
union contest standing on a Blairite ticket.

Downing Street, shaken by the rise of the anti-establishment union "awkward
squad", is watching the contest closely and is aware that overt support for
a candidate would be the kiss of death. A senior No 10 official has
privately indicated that they would prefer Jack Dromey to win, though the
same well-placed Blair adviser said they expected Tony Woodley to triumph.

Mr Dromey, a T&G national organiser and husband of Harriet Harman, the
solicitor-general, is playing up his radical credentials rather than any
closeness to the Labour leadership. An effective communicator and
campaigner, he first came to public prominence during the Grunwick union
dispute in the mid-1970s, but stood as a Blairite when he failed to topple
Mr Morris in 1995.

Yesterday colleagues pointed to Mr Dromey's recent role in negotiating a
rise for low-paid council workers. "Employers are too strong in the
workplace," Mr Dromey said. "Rich men are too influential in Downing Street
and the door is all too often shut in the face of working people."

Mr Woodley was elected deputy general secretary last summer and his
supporters believe they can get a bandwagon rolling in the union. To the
left of Mr Dromey, Mr Woodley was pivotal in saving the Birmingham Rover car
plant when BMW pulled out and was at the forefront of the effort to persuade
Ford to build Jaguar cars in Ellesmere Port.

"We must reclaim our proud T&G culture, once again becoming a union fighting
back for members," Mr Woodley said. "Our history is as a campaigning and
growing union, and I am determined we can restore that dynamism."

Also standing in the race is Barry Camfield, an assistant general secretary,
to the left of Mr Woodley, who opposes privatisation.

Jimmy Elsby, another T&G assistant general secretary, is expected to throw
his hat in the ring, but may secure little backing outside his Scottish
heartland. Made treasurer of the Labour party at the end of 2001, he is
favoured by Mr Morris as his successor, despite having failed to make much
public impact of late.

Voting closes on May 30 following nominations from the T&G's 6,000 branches
between March 24 and April 2, so the winner will be known before the union's
biennial conference in Brighton during the first week of July. The
first-past-the-post electoral system could benefit Mr Dromey if Mr Woodley
and Mr Camfield split the main left vote and Mr Elsby either does very badly
or decides not to stand.

The T&G election coincides with the acrimonious battle for the leadership of
the GMB general union as its chief, John Edmonds, prepares to retire.

Mr Morris has emerged as an elder statesman of the labour movement, arguing
for a big increase in the minimum wage and stronger employment rights, and
criticising the government's treatment of asylum seekers.

He is close to the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and he has repeatedly attacked
the European single currency.

"The T&G is rightly proud of the importance of democracy and the involvement
of its lay membership, and now the democratic processes of the union will
determine my successor," said Mr Morris.