With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass
The unions, alongside the Labour Party, will help rebuild Britain after nine years of Tory austerity
MICK WHELAN, leader of train drivers’ union Aslef and chair of Labour Unions, reflects on the importance of the labour movement to the Labour Party

I HAVE been a member of the Labour Party, and an active trade union member, all my working life.
For me, as for many people, including all those of us who read the Morning Star every day, they go together.
Why? Because the Labour Party was built by the collective voice of the trade unions — and the work on the streets of Britain by hundreds of thousands of trade union activists — at the start of the last century.
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