http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/jan/11/jeremy-corbyns-today-programme-interview-politics-live
Unions will strongly oppose Corbyn's bid to change Labour's Trident policy, GMB boss says
GMB boss tells Corbyn unions will fiercely oppose his attempt to change Labour policy on Trident
Sir Paul Kenny, the outgoing general secretary of the GMB union, has just been on the World at One telling Jeremy Corbyn that he might have to think again if he wants to commit the Labour party to unilateral disarmament. Here are the key points.
Kenny indicated that the GMB union would fiercely oppose any attempt by Corbyn to abandon Labour’s commitment to Trident.
Kenny said the GMB would oppose any attempt by Corbyn to change Labour policy making rules in the hope of getting the party to endorse unilateral disarmament. On the Today programme this morning Corbyn confirmed that he was considering this option. But Kenny said that Corbyn could not bypass existing rules and procedures.
The Labour party policy at the moment, reaffirmed at the party conference recently, is the renewal of Trident. Jeremy is perfectly entitled to say he wants to change that policy. He needs to go through the same democratic process that arrived at that policy in the first place ...
There are rules. This isssue of a mandate: I don’t remember any speech anywhere where someone said ‘I’m standing on a platform that I will do what I want, when I want, irrespective of what the rules of the Labour party are’. So let’s just get back to the basics.
Of course people are entitled to want to change policy. Why not? That is how it evolves. But there is a process and there are rules. And if anybody thinks that unions like the GMB are going to go quietly into the night while tens of thousands of our members’ jobs are literally Swaneed away by rhetoric, then they’ve got another shock coming.
(Kenny deserves credit for a particularly creative use of the word Swanee.)
He said the GMB would soon be helping to organise a conference to highlight the tens of thousands of jobs that would be lost if Trident renewal did not go ahead.
There are tens of thousands of British jobs involved here, and British workers. We are going to call a conference. There are about 50 sites around the UK whose livelihoods depend on defence contracts. We are going to ask those people what they think about the Labour party effectively shutting down their jobs. We want their voices heard in this debate.