THE Labour Party was issued a stark call from the CWU union today to change direction “towards the true interests of working-class people,” as the union rejected demands for disaffiliation.

Opening discussion on the union’s political strategy, CWU general secretary Dave Ward spoke frankly in support of a new policy document, which took aim at the “failure of the current leadership and a comprehensive, class-focused approach.”

He told delegates: “The Employment Rights Act is the biggest uplift for workers’ individual and collective rights in decades.

“That is a fact and it wouldn’t have been introduced — started in this trade union — if there hadn’t been supporters of trade unions who understood how important that was within the Labour Party.”

Slamming government decisions on issues such as slashing the winter fuel allowance and the appointment of “wrong ’un” Peter Mandelson, he continued: “The leadership of the Labour Party have eroded the trust of the public.

“We want to move forward with working-class politics.

“Despite everything we’ve said, we can’t walk away from the Labour Party at the moment.

“It would be a mistake for our members on the issues that we’re actually pushing on behalf of our members.”

Moving disaffiliation, Midland No1 branch’s Neil Singh argued Labour was “not a party acting in our interests, it is managing us,” before rounding on Angela Rayner.

“She is cited as someone we can rely on.

“Let’s not forget that Unite withdrew her membership of their union over how she responded to the Birmingham bin strikes.”

South West/South Wales divisional rep Ralph Ferret, however, branded disaffiliation an “absolutely monumental folly of epic proportions.”

“Our members are currently voting on a really important deal, and whatever your thoughts about that deal, the truth of the matter is, the future prospects for Royal Mail,” he said.

Referring to efforts on National Insurance rules to level the playing field in deliveries, he warned: “If we’re not successful, it is not an exaggeration to say that Royal Mail faces the very real prospect of going out of business, which if they do, means none of our members will have jobs.

“And if none of our members have jobs, then we will not have a meaningful independent trade union to go with it.”

After a division, the conference agreed the paper and continued affiliation to the Labour Party.