Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation

Trade Union And Labour Party Liaison Organisation

The Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation (TULO) is a labour organisation in the United Kingdom that was set up in 1994 by a motion to the Labour Party's Annual Conference. It had several forerunning organisations that coordinated trade union support for the Labour Party at election times such as trade unions for a Labour Victory and Trade Unionists For Labour. TULO is different in that, as a more formal organisation, it serves the dual purposes of not only coordinating trade union support for the Labour Party at elections, but also of acting as the channel of communication between the Party and its union partners on an ongoing basis.

Since 2002, the role of TULO has become more proactive in its activities.

Politically, TULO has become more vocal as a basis for trade union policies within the Labour Party, including employment rights, support for British manufacturing, opposition to the Private Finance Initiative, and better pensions. This activity led to the formulation of the Warwick Agreement (2004) between the party and its affiliated trade unions, which formed the basis for much of the 2005 Labour Manifesto.

The organisation has also become the leading organisation in developing new forms of union campaigning, predominantly through the mobilisation of trade unionists in marginal parliamentary constituencies. This is considered to have increased Labour's majority by 15 seats in the 2005 General Election.

TULO has been especially active on the issue of party funding, where it has sought to protect the engagement of trade unions in politics and to defend the role of the trade unions inside the Labour Party against the Conservative Party.