POLITICAL FUND BALLOT- INFORMATION FOR REPS AND BRANCHES
All branches have been advised that the CWU’S Political Fund Ballot opens on 24thSeptember and closes on the 15th of October, with counting taking place on the 16th of October.
The purpose of this LTB is to follow up on the Zoom briefing held with branches earlier this week, where we committed to sending out an advance copy of the mailing to all individual members, which details how the ballot works and how the political fund allows us to campaign, as well as recapping some of our political work from the past few years. This is attached.
We have also attached an advance copy of the leaflet that will be included in the ballot paper envelope. This leaflet sets out ten reasons why members should vote yes to retain our political fund.
It is essential that branches forward these materials to all representatives and that engagement takes place with our members before and during the ballot process.
It has never been more important for us to retain our political fund, given the challenges facing our members both in and outside the workplace.
A key point to make when engaging members is that, whatever their personal political views are, we cannot allow businesses and major institutions to be the only organisations to have a voice in politics. We must also make clear that our political fund is frequently used beyond the Labour Party and supports regional and local community initiatives, campaigns and projects.
Furthermore, we must make the point that members already have the individual right to opt in or out of the political fund and voting to continue having a political fund will not change this. Having to ballot to hold a political fund is part of a wide range of Tory anti-union laws that are designed to restrict the trade union movement from having any political voice.
Finally, we will be writing to our retired members and sending an LTB to branches setting out the union’s position on the Winter Fuel Allowance issue. The union has made clear, we do not support Labour’s decision, and we will be submitting a motion to the forthcoming Labour Party Conference which addresses this, as well as a motion on the future of Royal Mail.
Any enquiries on the above should be addressed to the General Secretary’s department jdunn@cwu.org.
Yours Sincerely,
Dave Ward
General Secretary
24LTB307 – POLITICAL FUND BALLOT – INFORMATION FOR REPS AND BRANCHES
Politcal Fund Ballot home mailing
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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