The Press TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1966 The Labour Party And F.O.L.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 14

The Press TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1966 The Labour Party And F.O.L.

Mr Kirk was not entirely unreasonable when he drew an analogy last week between the coincidence of interests in the Labour Party and the Federation of Labour and in the National Party and Federated Farmers In their relationships with the political parties the two federations have something in common. The Federation of Labour sometimes criticises the Labour Party and Federated Farmers frequently criticise the National Party. Although farmers are inclined by nature and experience to support the party more favourable tow’ards free enterprise it would be as untrue to say that all farmers support the National Party as it would be to say that all members of trade unions vote for the Labour Party. Mr Kirk might have added that both the Prime Minister and the Dominion president—and other members of the National Party—have been officers of Federated Farmers. Mr Kirk’s analogy would end there. Branches of Federated Fanners have no political affiliations and when the federation seeks support from a Government of either party it is better placed by remaining aloof from party politics.

The association between the Federation of Labour and the Labour Party is quite different, although the extent of the influence of the federation on party policy is seldom clear and it probably varies with the leadership of the two. The organisation of the Labour Party ensures a strong and, indeed, necessary connexion with the trade unions. This is not unreasonable. The party owes its origins to the trade union movement. Mr Kirk’s attempt to find a similarity between the F.O.L. link with his party and the coincidence between the free-enterprise policies of the National Party and Federated Farmers therefore fails.

It fails for other reasons, too. Party conferences may not always be the most important instruments for forming party policies; but they are significant in the structures of the parties. Unions affiliated to the Labour Party have, by virtue of their memberships, three-fifths of the votes in the Labour Party conference. The Federation of Labour is not affiliated to the party. While it formally reserves the right to support whatever party it considers will best serve the interests and welfare of trade unionists, all its annual conferences have resolved to support the Labour Party. The Joint Council of Labour combines the national executives of the federation and the party. The council meets to exchange information and to co-ordinate the policies of the industrial and of the Parliamentary and political sides of the Labour movement. The last occasion on which the council captured public attention was when it issued a declaration on Vietnam policy after the federation’s annual conference. The policy committee bf the party comprises members of the party’s national executive and members of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Three of the seven members of the party’s central executive are union men. About 60 per cent of the unions affiliated to the federation are also affiliated to the Labour Party and unions provide a substantial portion of party funds. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act protects union members who object to political levies and ensures that the use of union funds for political purposes is approved by a majority of members. All this is unexceptionable. Electors should understand the relationship, even if its operation is seldom clear. Mr Kirk has no need to obscure the connexion.