Prescott resigns in protest from RMT union
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Your support makes all the difference.John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, resigned from the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union last night in protest at demands by its left-wing leadership to oppose private involvement in public services.
Mr Prescott, who joined the union's predecessor, the National Union of Seamen, as a 17-year-old merchant seaman, said it was a "personal and very sad day for me".
This week the RMT cut almost £700,000 from its contribution to Labour over the next five years and stopped funding the constituency offices of several MPs.
Bob Crow, the union's general secretary, said it would switch its support to 14 left-wing MPs who backed its campaign to renationalise the railways and oppose private firms being given a role in the public sector.
But Mr Prescott said: "As a long-standing MP and trade unionist it is unacceptable that my trade union, the RMT, should dictate how a member of Parliament should vote."
The move undermined Labour's rules and would constitute a breach of parliamentary privilege, he said.
The RMT owns a flat in London rented by Mr Prescott's family but as he is a protected tenant he cannot be evicted.
Labour's troubled relationship with the unions will be back in the spotlight today when postal workers decide whether they should break their historic link with the party. Delegates to the Communication Workers Union conference will debate the step as a protest against the Government's plans to end Consignia's monopoly on deliveries.
A CWU spokesman said postal workers were also angry atjob cuts by Consignia.
* Charles Kennedy will become the first leader of a party other than Labour to address the conference of the Trades Union Congress. The Liberal Democrat leader will make his historic speech in Blackpool in September.
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