As the anniversary of the 2024 general election approaches, support is growing for the call made by trade unionists for steps to be taken now in the unions to establish a new political voice for working class people.
Various opinion polls are consistently showing Reform UK ahead of Labour. One poll reported by Unite the Union suggests that only 5% of voters in Birmingham are actively considering voting Labour in next May’s local elections, for the biggest council in Europe. Where will the other votes go? The danger is that Nigel Farage could make significant gains, as happened in this year’s locals. Time is not on our side.
A new all-Britain party capable of challenging all the Establishment parties on austerity and war is needed. And only the unions have the resources, membership, and social cohesion to reach millions of people across all working-class communities.
The most recent prominent supporter of the petition calling for trade union action for a new party is Len McCluskey. The retired general secretary of Unite the Union signed at a meeting addressed by Jeremy Corbyn in Liverpool on June 14. In total 37 current and former trade union national executive members are now backing the campaign – listed below – alongside over 1,300 who have supported it online and many more on paper.
The petition can be signed online at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty and the template to print out paper versions to use at meetings, demonstrations can be downloaded at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Petition-template.pdf.
National Zoom meeting
To follow-up the initial petition launch a national Zoom meeting has now been organised to discuss the campaign in more detail.
Different strategies will be needed for affiliated and non-affiliated unions: from challenging Labour funding and building new relationships with independent MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn (as the UCU conference has done), to organising conferences and forums within and across unions to work out the next steps.
At its June meeting, for example, Cardiff Trades Council unanimously voted to organise a conference in the autumn to address the crisis of political representation for the working class in Wales. They are currently inviting all Welsh trades councils and trade union organisations to co-sponsor the event (the full motion is on the Cardiff TUC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cardifftradescouncil).
The Zoom meeting is on Monday 21st July, starting at 6-30pm. Register at https://tinyurl.com/Register4TUnewpartymeeting to receive a link to the meeting.■
Petition: time for trade unions to take the lead in building a new working class party
“The May 2025 election results show the need for a new party that the working class can trust”.
“Stagnant wages, underfunded public services, the scandal of the housing crisis, Labour councils pursuing fire and rehire, cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, reductions in disability benefits, and continued government support for Israel’s murderous campaign in Gaza – and all under a Labour government. Labour isn’t Labour anymore, and Reform UK is becoming a significant beneficiary of working people’s anger”.
“We, the undersigned, believe it’s time for the trade union movement to seriously discuss founding a new anti-austerity, anti-war party. Our movement will be weakened if workers see us as a voice for pro-austerity Labour. We call for urgent discussions within our union and across unions to organise a conference to establish a political voice for working people”.
“The Establishment has four parties – it’s time the working class had one of its own”.
Updated list of current or former union national executive members signing the petition (listed by union, in alphabetical order):
All signatories in a personal capacity
Tosh McDonald, Former National President, ASLEF
Ian Hodson, President, BFAWU
Sarah Wooley, General Secretary, BFAWU
Adam Harmsworth, National Deputy Chair, NAPO Family Courts section and TUSC Steering Committee
Sheila Caffrey, NEC member, NEU
Louise Cuffaro, NEC member, NEU
Denise Henry, NEC member, NEU and TUSC Steering Committee
Dan Warrington, NEC member, NEU
Michaela Wilde, NEC member, NEU
James Kerr, Former NEC member, NEU
Sean McCauley, Former NEC member, NEU
Jane Nellist, Former NEC member, NEU
Martin Powell-Davies, Former NEC member, NEU
Linda Taaffe, Former NUT NEC member, NEU
Marion Lloyd, NEC member, PCS
Bobby Young, NEC member, PCS
Dave Semple, Former Vice President, PCS
Chris Baugh, Former Assistant General Secretary, PCS and TUSC Steering Committee
John Reid, Former NEC member, RMT
Gareth Bromhall, TUC Cymru General Council
Duncan Moore, NEC member, UCU, and TUSC Steering Committee
Christina Paine, NEC member UCU, and TUSC Steering Committee
Marco Tesei, NEC member, UCU
April Ashley, NEC member, Black Members female seat Unison, and TUSC Steering Committee
Jim McFarlane, NEC member, Unison
James Robinson, NEC member, Unison
Dave Auger, Former NEC member, Unison
Roger Bannister, Former NEC member, Unison
Naomi Byron, Former NEC member, Unison
Glenn Kelly, Former NEC member, Unison
Hugo Pierre, Former NEC member, Unison
Bridie McCreesh, Executive Council member, Unite and TUSC Steering Committee
Suz Muna, Executive Council member, Unite and TUSC Steering Committee
Kathy Smith, Executive Council member, Unite
Vanessa Williams, Executive Council member, Unite
Len McCluskey, Former General Secretary, Unite
Amy Murphy, Former National President, USDAW