Sunday 29 June 2008

What are the rules of UNITE?

I've had quite a few people asking me this question, and there seems to be a lot of confusion around.

At the moment, UNITE is balloting members on whether they accept the proposed new rules of the union. If accepted, the new rules would come into force from 1st November 2008.

Until the new rules are adopted, the rules are made up of four documents.

At the top level, there is the instrument of amalgamation and general rules that members voted on when they approved the merger.

Underneath these two documents sit the old Amicus and TGWU rulebooks, which form the rules of the two sections of the union. These are subsidiary to the instrument of amalgamation and general rules and only apply in so far as they don't conflict with them.

If you want to understand the process of merger, it's well worth looking at the timeline.



1 comment:

lauraxpeace said...

Is there anywhere online where a discussion is happening about the rule book? I've not been in the union for long and don't know anything about the politics in Unite. If there might be something controversial that makes the ballot more than just a paper exercise, I want to know before voting.

thanks
Laura