My father told me that many workers joined unions (in some cases they had no choice if they wanted to work in a certain trade) but did not support the political ambitions of the union leaders and had little faith in the leaders of the Labour party. To say that the unions are representing the views of their members is disingenuous - they may represent the views of some of their members but, I would suggest, not all of them
In a nutshell sunseeker ! Well said.
I had the same conversation with my father.
Not only that. at election time union members are advisedregarding the member they should vote for. I have received this advice whenever Union elections were due and it tends to be the political faction who want a particular candidate installed.
The same happens at the top level because of, I suspect, voter apathy. People join unions but very few give much of a damn about who leads the union. They are not political creatures and go with the flow. The Unions rely on this happening so the more left wing members are voted in. It would take a very big and very strong movement of workers to oppose union advise as to who stands. If the voting turnout is low, which it often is in my experience, the result of ballots is a foregone conclusion.
I would bet the top men only represent and have the support of the people politically active within the union.
As you say sunseeker, they assume they represent workers, and they do for individual cases, but nationally, they are a political enclave in their own right.