II‑ Labour Political
Involvement ‑ Other Parties
•
Conservatives
•
The Communist Party
–
Significant minority of union officials are party
members especially stewards
–
Not much evidence Communist shop stewards
behave differently from other militant shop
stewards
Conservatives ‑
Little formal contact with unions except at top levels when in government
Thatcher Government really didn’t even bother with that
Has substantial contact and entree to unions
Especially at lower levels