Claim your vote!

“Trade unions built the Labour Party,” columnist and author Owen Jones, who is also a committed trade union member, told UNITElive.

That’s why, Jones believes, all Unite members should participate in the upcoming Labour leadership election – to stake a claim in a movement that trade unionists historically helped create.

It’s a view shared by many Unite members who have signed up to take part in the election as affiliate supporters.

Unite retired member Bill Moores explained last week why this election was so important.

“Speaking for our age group, I realise that this particular election will make the decision for our children and our grandchildren’s future,” he said.
“If we don’t grasp this nettle now, the Labour party will be lost forever as far as we’re concerned. This is one attempt to take the party back to what the founding membership was all about, what it was all set up for in the first place.”

Unite member Rhea Wolfson, 25, helped campaign for the Labour party during the last general election. And she believes what’s on offer this time is markedly different – it’s a campaign of hope with Labour’s founding principles now at the centre of the debate.

“During the [general] election, there were little bubbles of hope, but I still felt at the time that we, as union members with Labour values, had to continually be making compromises,” she said. “But now, I can truly see a future within the party in which we don’t have to compromise on our values.”

Another young Unite member, Liam McCafferty, who just signed up with the union last week, told UNITElive that this leadership contest would a decisive one.

“We’re really at a historical turning point now where the party must decide whether it’s going to be a party that stands by and represents ordinary working people, or whether it panders to big business and private interests, the way it has been doing for many years now,” he said.

With only one day left to go before the deadline to sign up to take part in the election as an affiliate supporter, Owen Jones urged Unite members to not miss their chance to take part.

“Claim your vote and help elect a candidate that is part of the Labour movement, that stands up for workers, and will grow and take this movement forward into the 21st century,” he said.

Not sure how to sign up as an affiliate supporter to participate in the Labour leadership election as a union member? Find out more with our step-by-step guide here.  Don’t forget that the deadline to sign up is tomorrow (August 12) at noon.