GMB spokesman fails to condemn Labour for cuts at RCT.

Yesterday, I attended a rally  against the Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) cutsat the Muni Pontypridd  Disappointingly it was poorly attended, but there were some worthy reports from activist.

The poor attendance  may be as "some put it" down to apathy, but for me there may have been some indication from a speaker from the GMB Union,  who seemed to indicate that his Union were concentrating on managing redundancies payments rather than fighting them

Nowhere in his speech did he condemn the ruling Labour group  for the management of the cuts, even if there was a case that cuts were inevitable.

Indeed he managed only to condemn a Liberal Democrat councillor  RCT redundancy packages  were to 'too generous'

He admitted he was a Labour member but from his address we saw the problem with the Unions  who sometimes forget that they main purpose is to represent their members and not the Labour Party.

I had to leave early but I would have liked to pointed out that the Muni the  building we were in was threatened with closure and the sheer irony that just across the road was the GMB area offices which also doubled as offices for local AM and MP and when election comes there will be posters supporting the Labour Party plastered across this building.

Wales has the worst of both worlds a Conservative lib/Dem government in London imposing savage cuts on us   and a Labour Part that runs our Assembly and many of our councils who are content to carry out these cuts blaming  London.

Welsh Unitary Authorities
	Control	Con	Labour	LibDem	UKIP	Green	Plaid	Others
Blaenau Gwent	Lab		33					9
Bridgend	Lab	1	39	3			1	10
Caerphilly	Lab		50				20	3
Cardiff	Lab	7	46	16			2	4
Carmarthenshire			22				28	24
Ceredigion			1	7			19	15
Conwy		13	10	5			12	19
Denbighshire		9	18	1			7	12
Flintshire		8	30	7			1	24
Gwynedd			4	2			37	31
Isle of Anglesey			3	1			12	14
Merthyr Tydfil	Lab		24		1			8
Monmouthshire		19	11	3				10
Neath Port Talbot	Lab		52				8	4
Newport	Lab	10	37	1				2
Pembrokeshire	Ind	3	9	1			5	42
Powys	Ind	10	7	8				48
Rhondda Cynon Taff	Lab	1	60	1			9	4
Swansea	Lab	4	49	11				8
Torfaen	Lab	4	30				2	8
Vale of Glamorgan		11	21		1		7	7
Wrexham		5	23	4			1	19
Wales Totals		105	579	71	2	0	171	325

In this they are being helped by the Unions .

Imagine if it was not Labour running RCT but Plaid . Would the GMB Union be so lukewarm in their defence against the management of the cuts.

Would be the same if the LibDems still led Cardiff and Swansea though I suppose they would be more open to criticism being part of the Westminster government.

But we would certainly not be sitting in Halls  when  a Union spokesman fails to condemn the ruling party for the management of the cuts.

The origins of the Labour Party may be rooted in the Trade Unions bit the former no longer represent Labour  as shown yesterday with the selection of Stephen Kinnock  for Aberavon seat. A man who Father and Mother may have some links to Labour roots but whose career makes him remote from the ordinary people of Aberavon.

It s time for the Unions to stop baking a party that no longer represents their members and concentrate on working on those members interest instead.

dd