Thoughts on the attack from within

An expensive and damaging distraction from the work of your union

In 1971 the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers

was launched on a wave of optimism after a successful campaign under the slogan

“One Union in Engineering”

overcame the craft sectarianism of both white and blue collar workers.

There was near-unanimous support for a venture

which should have been the first step

in eliminating the pointless competition

between competing unions that had been identified as

nine tenths of our weakness in the previous century.

But the AUEW suffered a long slow death in acrimony and litigation.

Significantly one critical legal judgement

hinged on the presence or absence of a comma

in one sentence of the Rule Book.

The prospect, slightly more than 40 years on in January 2012,

of a successfully merged Unite,

with policies, determined by members in Conference,

setting the boundaries for a newly elected Executive Council;

a revised and improved Rule Book, and one General Secretary,

offers the best hope of setting old failures behind us.

Today, with capitalism’s contradictions threatening all our futures,

for anyone to initiate action that will distract lay members,

officers, and staff from responding to the immediate threats

to the livelihoods of thousands of our members is a betrayal.

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SO WHAT HAPPENED ?

A complaint by one disaffected member has precipitated an unnecessary election for Joint General Secretary, disrupting the work of the union, and threatening the merger arrangements overwhelmingly endorsed in three ballots.

For the instrument of amalgamation

For the First Executive Council

For the new Rule Book

In particular the timetable for transition to a single Unite General Secretary,

and the interim duties and responsibilities of the Joint General Secretaries

were spelled out in the Schedule to the Instrument voted on in March 2007.

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"3.7
The General Secretary of Amicus and the General Secretary of the TGWU at the time of the registration of the Instrument of Amalgamation shall both serve asJoint General Secretaries of the New Union; each additionally being responsible for the section representing their respective predecessor union.

3.7.1

The Joint General Secretary of the Amicus Section will retire on his sixty-sixth birthday in order to provide continuity from the transition period into the new union and, together with the other Joint General Secretary, to oversee the election of the General Secretary Designate of the new Union.[my emphasis]

3.7.2

An election will be held for a General Secretary Designate of the new union, elected by all members of the union, in the last year of the term of office of the Joint General Secretary of the Amicus Section such that the election will be concluded within the last month of that term of office.3.7.3The remaining Joint General Secretary shall retire no more than twelve months after the election of the General Secretary Designate.

3.7.4

Upon the retirement of the last remaining Joint General Secretary, the General Secretary Designate shall assume the post of General Secretary of the new union.

3.7.5

All subsequent elections for the General Secretary shall be on the basis of a ballot of the whole membership of the new union."
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The formal documents have at every stage been supplemented by extensive supplementary publicity including a timetable which was a model of clarity.

To imply that members acted in ignorance is either disingenuous or deceitful, and insults their intelligence.

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WHY? OH WHY? OH WHY?

The complainant sees himself as a defender of democracy,

and harbinger of a new society,

but tearing down the temple, as an act of revenge,

demonstrates a blindness more psychological than physical.

When he says

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“The enquiry represents a step closer to the prospect of an election for

General Secretary having to be called.

Under the rules of the merger with the TGWU

Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley could be forced to stand down early

and an election held next year for a new General Secretary

for all the 1.9 million members of Unite.”

---- the full extent of his self regarding folly is revealed.

"Mr Simpson’s decision not to show a personal presence "

becomes sufficient justification for wrecking the transitional arrangements

approved by the members.

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HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?

The Executive Council meeting on October 9 was faced with an unenviable dilemma.

They could press ahead with the immediate abolition

of separate Amicus and T&G sections,

and risk a future decision of the Certification Officer.

But this was unlikely before December 2009,

and could then disrupt the merger process

to an unpredictable degree for an indeterminable period.

They chose instead to lance the boil.
A combination of an election for Joint General Secretary

and a time limited delay in implementing the new Rule Book

which abolishes the separate T&G and Amicus sections

was judged the best available method of getting near

to the negotiated package approved by the members.

The immediate future is the hands of Amicus section members.

The best possible outcome would be that the incumbent Joint General Secretary is the sole valid nominee.

That is not an endorsement of every action of JGS Simpson, nor an invitation to align with any of the fissiparous factions, seemingly based on personal ambition, hopes of future preferment, geographical tensions, or a desire to scratch old wounds, emerging in the union.

We offered the members a road map, which they accepted.

We need to get back on route.

Once there the Executive Council should –

- Encourage prospective candidates for General Secretary Designate, to set out their stall and allow us all the time and space to assess their worth.

- Remind themselves and both Joint General Secretaries of the provisions of rule.
-

“The General Secretary shall be under the control of and act in accordance with the directions of the Executive Council.”

LAST THOUGHTS FOR THE AMBITIOUS

The obligation placed on both Joint General Secretaries

“to oversee the election of the General Secretary Designate of the new Union”

would almost certainly make you ineligible to run for the top job in 2010 were you to succeed this time round..