Unite the Union

Unite – the Union, known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. As part of the merger process, a Joint Executive Council (formed of the executives of both the predecessor unions) took office on the vesting day. Unite has two Joint General Secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, who were the General Secretaries of Amicus and the T&G respectively at the time of the merger to form Unite. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1599614.ece Super union manages to unite on a name at last] ] . It is planned that they will remain in office for three years until Derek Simpson's retirement, at which point both will relinquish their role at the same time to make way for a single General Secretary.

In March 2008, a new Executive Council for the expanded Union was elected, taking office on 2008-05-01 and having a three year term.The Executive Council will put a new Unite rulebook to a postal ballot of members during July 2008. The rule book, if accepted, will not subject to amendment until a Rules Conference is held.

On July 2, 2008, Unite signed an agreement to merge with the United Steelworkers to form a new global union entity called Workers Uniting. The new merged entity, Workers Uniting, will represent over 3 million active and retired workers in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean.

Executive Council

The UNITE Executive Council will consists of 40 seats elected by former Amicus members and 40 seats elected by former TGWU members.

The 40 "Amicus seats" comprised one seat for each of the 10 UNITE regions, four womens' seats and one seat for each of the 26 industrial sectors.

Within both the Amicus and T&G sections, the majority of victorious candidates were from the broad left slate, and a number of positions were uncontested. The first NEC meeting took place in the latter part of May.

Controversy

The participants in the 2008 rooftop hunger strike at Unite's Transport House building in Belfast, were formerly shop stewards of the Transport and General Workers Union, now the T&G section of Unite the Union. [Cite news
url=http://libcom.org/news/unite-hunger-striker-gordon-mcneill-bad-shape-19052008
title=Hunger strikers in bad shape
work=libcom.org
publisher=libcom collective of libertarian communists] The dispute is over legal fees and compensation for an unfair dismissal action against the workers' employer, arising from a 2002 strike at Belfast International Airport, and the related actions of a full-time union official employee. [ [http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4127 Socialist Party ] ] [Cite web
url=http://belfastairportworkers.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/sacked-airport-shop-steward-rejects-union-compensation-%E2%80%9Coffer%E2%80%9D/
title=Press release: Sacked airport shop steward rejects union compensation “offer”
author=Gordon McNeill
date=2008-06-18
accessdate=2008-06-25] [Cite web|url=http://www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/System/Other.asp?NodeID=94372
title=Belfast Airport Shop Stewards - The Truth and Nothing but the Truth
accessdate=2008-06-25
date=2008-06-20
publisher=Transport and General Workers' Union]

References

External links

* [http://www.unitetheunion.org.uk/ Unite - the Union homepage (under construction)]
* [http://www.amicustheunion.org/Default.aspx?page=3647 Amicus webpage explaining the transition process]
* [http://www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=92426 T&G webpage: "Towards a new union"]
* [http://www.unitenecelections.com Web site about the elections]
* [http://www.employees.org.uk/hustings.html Web site about the elections]