Labor workers warn Keir Starmer layoffs will lead to strike | divorced

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Labor staffers have put Keir Starmer aware that any move to make mandatory layoffs as part of a drastic cost-cutting campaign is likely to trigger a strike.

David Evans, the party’s general secretary, told staff in July that the party’s management was seeking at least 90 surpluses as they tried to reform Labor finances after several costly legal battles and three general elections in six years.

Labor has said it will seek to make the cuts through voluntary layoffs, but the target represents more than a quarter of all party employees.

Members of two unions representing staff – GMB and Unite – announced on Tuesday that a majority of those consulted in the indicative ballot said they would support the strike if the party attempted to impose forced layoffs.

Among Unite members, 78% of employees who participated in 90% said they would support a strike, while the figure was 76% among GMB members of 79%.

The high turnout and decisive score seemed to indicate great discontent among party staff as Starmer and Evans attempted to transform the party into a less nimble, election-fighting force.

In a joint statement, the two unions said they would meet with Labor management on Friday, and had hoped “the possibility of reaching agreement on a way forward that avoids forced layoffs and strikes”.

The spat comes at a very critical moment for Labor leadership, just weeks before Starmer’s first in-person conference in Brighton, and with increasingly vociferous discontent roiling among some MPs over the party’s direction.

One of the party’s top sources suggested the administration was likely to make concessions, rather than risk the embarrassing spectacle of a strike at a conference where Labor is keen to make pro-labor policy announcements.

Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner – a former union representative – is the shadow secretary of state for the future of work and has stressed the importance of empowering trade unions.

Labor paid a six-figure sum last year to seven ex-employees and a veteran BBC journalist, admitting it had tarnished their reputations in the wake of a Panorama investigation into its handling of anti-Semitism.

The party still faces several other legal suits dating back to Jeremy Corbyn’s reign as leader, adding to its financial problems.

The hoped-for increase in membership income also failed to materialize. Labor membership skyrocketed in early 2020 in the run-up to Starmer’s election as leader, but has since declined.

Business has been contacted for comment.

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