In a sign that Prime Minister Tony Blair?s New Labour cannot continue to engage in wide scale privatization of public services without seriously jeopardizing support among its core constituency, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) yesterday announced a massive cut in donations to the Labour Party. Outraged by the government?s transportation and labor policies, members at the RMT?s annual conference voted to decrease their contributions to the Labour Party by over ninety percent, and to switch individual financial backing from many leading Labour officials to their left-wing opponents. Faced with the loss off 30,000 post office jobs due to a government restructuring plan, many within the Communication Workers Union are pushing for similar cuts in their contributions to the Labour Party when the CWU conference is held tomorrow.
See DAN ROBERTS and SARAH LAITNER, Financial Times, June 25, 2002