ASLEF membership and their affiliations

[bigdoor]

Hi everyone.

I'm just posing the question of, does ASLEF membership go towards the funding of political marches?

Or is that money from the separate political fund that you can opt out of contributions.

I opted out of the political contributions, because as a floating voter, I didn't want to be associated with a specific party.

I also don't want to be associated with any movements. I want to keep my work separate from everything.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

 

[RPI]

I'd be interested to know if TSSA are the same

 

[bengley]

You can keep your work separate from everything by not attending any of the aforementioned marches.

I suspect those causes are funded by the political fund but if they're not it won't affect your day to day work and union membership

 

[godfreycomplex]

You can keep your work separate from everything by not attending any of the aforementioned marches.

Quite

 

[43066]

Hi everyone.

I'm just posing the question of, does ASLEF membership go towards the funding of political marches?

Or is that money from the separate political fund that you can opt out of contributions.

I opted out of the political contributions, because as a floating voter, I didn't want to be associated with a specific party.

I also don't want to be associated with any movements. I want to keep my work separate from everything.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

You can opt out of the political bit, which means you won’t contribute to the Labour Party directly (AIUI - ages since I checked). Clearly the union itself has certain political affiliations, and will be present at certain political rallies and marches, however these have very little to do with why most people become members, and there’s no obligation or expectation whatsoever that members attend.

You can keep your work separate from everything by not attending any of the aforementioned marches.

I suspect those causes are funded by the political fund but if they're not it won't affect your day to day work and union membership

Precisely. The union membership has a range of political opinions represented, from hard left to far right, and everything in between. The reason being the benefits of a strong union are so obvious that even those not pre disposed to belonging still choose to join.

 

[Chucky]

Any organisation ASLEF contributes to locally and nationally will have been decided democratically at branches and AAD. If you have a problem with any of it you can attend your branch meeting and propose a motion to change it.

Lots of union members appear unaware how it works, for further details of the union's structure and processes, have a look in your ASLEF diary.

 

[Carntyne]

Hi everyone.

I'm just posing the question of, does ASLEF membership go towards the funding of political marches?

Or is that money from the separate political fund that you can opt out of contributions.

I opted out of the political contributions, because as a floating voter, I didn't want to be associated with a specific party.

I also don't want to be associated with any movements. I want to keep my work separate from everything.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

ASLEF would likely be the best people to give an insight into this.

 

[renegademaster]

Do you have a tick box when signing up to opt into the political fund? That's what the teaching unions do and i presumed it was statutory.

 

[357]

Do you have a tick box when signing up to opt into the political fund? That's what the teaching unions do and i presumed it was statutory.

Yes

 

[6Gman]

Hi everyone.

I'm just posing the question of, does ASLEF membership go towards the funding of political marches?

Or is that money from the separate political fund that you can opt out of contributions.

I opted out of the political contributions, because as a floating voter, I didn't want to be associated with a specific party.

I also don't want to be associated with any movements. I want to keep my work separate from everything.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

I think it's unlikely that general subscriptions could legally be used in that way.

The political fund might be used in such a way but frankly by the time they've paid their affiliation toward the Labour Party plus any sponsored MPs I doubt there'd be much left over!

The last figures I saw suggested the political fund was around £250,000 per annum which is not a huge amount in practical term. I also understand that around 20% of members opt-out.