The 1984 Union law requires unions to ballot their members if they want to continue maintaining their political funds (that can be used to provide financial support for political parties) for a further 10 year term (see article n°8377). Given the political backdrop, with the general election to be held in 2015, and unions hoping for change, all the unions voted once again for the maintenance of these funds.
In the last three months, the final tranche of unions required by law to reballot their members in 2014 on maintaining their political funds have done so. They have secured the maintenance of these funds by winning these ballots. They range from the second biggest union, predominantly public sector union, Unison (with 1.3m), to amongst the smallest, the Unity manufacturing union (with 4,000 members). In addition to Unison and Unity, the other unions have been the small Aslef train drivers’ union, the medium sized CWU communications workers’ union, the RMT transport union and the TSSA travel sector union.
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