{"id":5218,"date":"2015-08-11T17:10:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T16:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5218"},"modified":"2015-08-12T12:26:01","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T11:26:01","slug":"claim-your-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5218","title":{"rendered":"Claim your vote!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrade unions built the Labour Party,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 columnist and author Owen Jones, who is also a committed trade union member, told UNITElive.<\/p>\n

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That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why, Jones believes, all Unite members should participate in the upcoming Labour leadership election \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to stake a claim in a movement that trade unionists historically helped create.<\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a view shared by many Unite members who have signed up to take part in the election as affiliate supporters.<\/p>\n

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Unite retired member Bill Moores explained last week why this election was so important.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSpeaking for our age group, I realise that this particular election will make the decision for our children and our grandchildren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grasp this nettle now, the Labour party will be lost forever as far as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite member Rhea Wolfson, 25, helped campaign for the Labour party during the last general election. And she believes what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on offer this time is markedly different \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a campaign of hope with Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s founding principles now at the centre of the debate.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDuring 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut now, I can truly see a future within the party in which we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to compromise on our values.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really at a historical turning point now where the party must decide whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bClaim 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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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\u00c2\u00a0here<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget that the deadline to sign up is tomorrow (August 12) at noon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrade unions built the Labour Party,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 columnist and author Owen Jones, who is also a committed trade union member, told UNITElive.   That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why, Jones believes, all Unite members should participate in the upcoming Labour leadership election \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to stake a claim in a movement that trade unionists historically helped create.   It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a view […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[324],"wps_subtitle":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose your last chance to register","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5221,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions\/5221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}