Labour Research September 2015

Union news

Labour leadership

Almost 190,000 union members had signed up as affiliated Labour Party supporters in time for the leadership contest currently taking place.

As the registration period ended on 12 August, the party announced that the total electorate was 610,753, with the numbers being subject to change as the applications were verified. The total comprised 189,000 affiliated members (largely union members), 121,295 registered supporters and 299,755 full members.

In the weeks prior to the ballot five more Labour-affiliated unions announced who they were backing for the leadership. Public services union UNISON, the CWU communications union and the TSSA transport union backed Jeremy Corbyn as first choice, joining general union Unite, rail union ASLEF and bakers union BFAWU.

The CWU and UNISON backed Andy Burnham for second choice votes, while UNISON backed Yvette Cooper for second choice.

The Musicians’ Union joined construction union UCATT and shopworkers’ union Usdaw in backing Burnham, while the Community union was alone in backing Cooper first and Liz Kendall second.

www.aslef.org.uk/information/100012/142830/aslef_backs_jeremy_corbyn/

www.bfawu.org/bfawu_withdraws_support_for_tom_watson_as_deputy_labour_leader

www.community-tu.org/who-we-are/news/labour-party-leadership-election.aspx

www.cwu.org/cwu-backs-jeremy-corbyn-for-labour-leader.html

www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Home/News/2015/Jul/MU-endorses-Burnham-and-Flint

www.tssa.org.uk/en/pixl8-test/a-new-page/a-sub-page.cfm/tssa-backs-jeremy-corbyn-for-labour-leader-and-angela-eagle-for-deputy

www.ucatt.org.uk/ucatt-backs-burnham-and-eagle

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/press-release/2015/07/unison-supports-jeremy-corbyn-in-the-labour-leadership

www.unitetheunion.org/news/unite-announces-corbyn-one-burnham-two-in-labour-leader-vote

https://www.usdaw.org.uk/Campaigns/Usdaw-for-Labour/Labour-Leadership-Election/Andy-Burnham/We-must-choose-not-only-a-Leader-for-our-Party-but