Britain's Labor Party Votes to Reform Union Ties
Britain's opposition Labor party voted Saturday for major reforms that will dilute its historical links with the trade unions -- at the risk of losing millions of pounds in political donations.
Leader Ed Miliband hailed delegates at a special conference in London for having the "courage to change" with their vote, by 86 to 14 percent, to support his proposed reforms to leadership elections and union funding.
He said the changes would help re-engage Labor's traditional supporters in politics, insisting: "I don't want to break the link with working people. I want to hear the voices of working people louder than ever before."
Under the reforms, the electoral college system used to choose the Labor leader will be scrapped in favor of giving a vote to each individual member.
Currently the unions, party members and elected members of parliament each cast a block vote -- a system that Miliband used to his advantage when he narrowly beat his brother to the leadership in 2010 with union support.
The party has also voted to end the process by which union members are automatically affiliated to Labor and a donation is paid on their behalf, unless they opt out.
Members of the unions, which helped found the Labor party in 1900, will now have to actively opt in. Many are expected not to bother, with the result that Labor is likely to suffer a major cut in funding.
The GMB union has already slashed its affiliation funding, and Britain's biggest union Unite will discuss its arrangements next week. It has warned that only 10 percent of its one million members were likely to stay with Labor.
The reforms were sparked by a row last year over allegations of vote-rigging by Unite in a Scottish parliamentary by-election, raising questions about the link between Labor and unions.
Unite says it did nothing wrong, and insists it will not be sidelined by the changes.
Miliband admitted he had taken a "big risk" in pushing through the reforms, but said: "We should all be proud of the Labor party that has shown the courage to change."
Tony Blair, Labor's most successful prime minister who held office between 1997 and 2007, welcomed the changes as "long overdue".
Source: Agence France Presse
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