IN claiming to not take sides in strikes (February 11), Hugh Bayley seems to have forgotten that the Labour Party was founded by trade unionists to give political expression to their interests.

This apparent neutrality leaves the field clear for the Tories to make an undemocratic call for strikes to be banned (Evening Press, February 6).

Caught between the oppressive hostility of the Tories and the cowardly "neutrality" of Labour leaders, it is not surprising that next month hundreds of trade unionists will attend a Socialist Alliance conference to discuss the future of the unions' political levy.

Frank Ormston,

Waverley Street, York.

Updated: 11:06 Thursday, February 21, 2002