Wednesday 22 April 2009

A lot's been happening!

Apologies for a long absence from posting on this web site. It's not been because there's been nothing to say - I've been moving house, had a death in the family, and been very busy with some issues in my own workplace.

The recession has continued to rip through the economy, but we are at last beginning to see a response. The "Put People First!" demonstration at the G20 summit saw the biggest contingents of trade unionists marching in a long time. The same week we saw the workers at Visteon (the outsourced Ford components company) go into occupation against closure - a fight that is continuing and which deserves all our support.

Within UNITE we had the General Secretary elections, with Derek Simpson re-elected, but on a very poor vote, and left candidate Jerry Hicks coming second with a very impressive vote. The left groupings in Amicus and TGWU have finally come together as the United Left. The process of setting up the lay structures of the new union grinds on very slowly.

We had an Executive Council meeting in March, for which there's an unofficial report on Gill George's blog. I can provide a copy of the official report (not minutes) by email to members who want it.

UNITE has called a national "Unite For Jobs" demonstration over jobs in Birmingham on 16th May, and is laying on transport from round the country. Everyone should be there.