To take part in political activity unions have to maintain a political fund.
In UNISON you can choose whether to pay a proportion of your subs into the affiliated political fund (Labour Link), the general political fund (GPF), both, or neither.
General Political Fund
The general political fund (GPF) is not affiliated to any political party. The money you pay into the fund is used to support local campaigns, to give a boost to the union’s national political campaigns and pay for political advertising.
Much of the high profile political campaign work you see from UNISON is paid for by the general political fund.
But its not just the big things the GPF funds. All sorts of national and local projects and campaigns benefit from receiving funding this way, such as anti-cuts campaigns or local campaigns against hospital closures for example.
Find out more about GPF
Affiliated Political Fund
UNISONs Affiliated Political Fund (APF) works directly within the Labour Party to take UNISON’s policies into the heart of the party.
We work at local and national level and have a network of Labour Link officers at branch, regional and national levels who work together with other affiliated unions.