At a pre TUC Rally on Sunday lunchtime in Bournemouth, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow will ramp up the call to the trade union movement to support the creation of a “new party of labour” to challenge head on the pro-business, anti-worker agenda of the three main political parties, Tory, Labour and Liberals.

The call comes in the wake of the decision by the GMB union to make serious cuts to its Labour affiliation levels, a decision which has sparked off a major debate in the trade union movement about the future of working class political representation

Speaking in advance of the TUC, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“The whole issue of the political representation of the working class now stands at the crossroads and we need to be bold enough to seize this opportunity. Over the past two months we have seen Ed Miliband dancing to the tune of Tony Blair and the rest of the New Labour conspirators as he seeks to hack away at the last remaining shreds of influence held by those who created the Party that he leads, the trade unions.

“RMT’s message is simple. If others want to stick around and be insulted by those whose only interest is our money and not our ideas then that’s a matter for them, for the rest, there is a whole world of opportunity outside the constraints of the Labour Party and RMT would urge them to embrace it and join us in this new political project.

“As the consensus grows that Labour no longer represents the interests of the vast majority of trade union members the question that throws up is "Who Does?" That is a question RMT will be posing in Bournemouth this weekend as we assemble for what now looks like one of the most timely TUC congresses in recent years.

“RMT was expelled from the Labour Party almost a decade ago and in that time we have actually increased our political influence as we have had the freedom to back candidates and parties who demonstrate clear support for this trade union and its policies. If others now join us after the contempt that they have been shown by Ed Miliband then together we have a world to win. This is a moment of huge opportunity for all those sick and tired of Labour’s embrace of pro-business, pro-EU, neo-liberal policies and we should seize it with both hands.

“Millions of working people are sick and tired of being treated as voting fodder by Labour and the time is right to start building an alternative political party that speaks for the working people and the working class communities that find themselves under the most brutal attack from cuts and austerity in a generation.
Clinging to the wreckage of a Labour Party that didn’t lift a finger to repeal the anti-union laws despite 13 years in power is a complete waste of time. The time for the alternative party of labour is now.”