Full UNITE executive council results published

The TGWU section of UNITE has now published the results of the elections to their seats on the new UNITE Executive Council (NEC).

They have also helpfully published a combined list including all 80 seats.

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UNITE election results, TGWU section

I reported some time ago that the TGWU Broad Left appeared to have won 25 of the 40 TGWU seats on the UNITE executive unopposed, and where the remaining contests were.

I'd heard that the left had done well in the remaining seats, but few details. Having seen more results, it appears that the Broad Left won 14 of the 15 contested seats, giving them a total of 39 out of 40!

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Election results - UNITE's first Executive Council

The Amicus NEC met today and declared the results of the elections for 40 of the 80 seats on UNITE's first Executive Council. 23 of the 40 seats were won by candidates backed by Amicus Unity Gazette, the broad left grouping.

The TGWU web site doesn't yet show the results for the elections for their 40 seats, but I understand that the TGWU broad left has secured an even larger majority.

A lot now depends on what these Amicus and TGWU broad left candidates actually stand for and how effectively we can work together to develop UNITE in a positive direction. With such a strong mandate there are few excuses...

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Not got your ballot paper?

If you're a UNITE (Amicus section) member, today is the day from which you should be complaining if you haven't had your ballot paper for the Executive Council elections.

Amicus section members
As the union's web site explains, there are a few exceptions.

You won't get a ballot paper if:

1. You joined on 4th February 2008 or later, or
   
2. You are a retired member and your regional seat is uncontested: South West, West Midlands, Scotland and Wales

Otherwise, if you haven't had one or more ballot papers, you should contact the Membership Department on 0845 8504242 (UK) or 1890 946241 (Ireland).

TGWU section members
You should complain if you haven't received a ballot paper by 18th March. The union web site explains the criteria etc.

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UNITE NEC elections - TGWU side

While the list of nominations for the 40 Amicus section seats on the new UNITE Executive Council is published on the union web site, trying to find out who's standing for the 40 TGWU section seats is more difficult.

I wouldn't guarantee it's accurate, but the rumour is that a massive 25 of the 40 seats were elected unopposed - apparently by candidates backed by the TGWU Broad Left.

I believe there are still contests in:

• Civil Air Transport
• Docks & Waterways
• Food, Drink & Tobacco
• Passenger Transport
• Road Transport (Commercial)
• Region 1 (South East & East Anglia)
• Region 4 (Wales)
• Region 5 (Southern)
• Region 8 (North & North-East)
• National Black And Ethnic Minority

Whichever section of UNITE you're in - if you get a vote - USE IT.

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IT industry and the new UNITE rulebook

I've already posted about the draft sector structure for UNITE, and the concerns about the impact on our sector.

The Amicus NEC has since decided it doesn't wish to see the proposed sector structure. As an Amicus NEC member I have not seen any part of the new rules.

The TGWU web site includes a February update on the merger, including both the draft sector structure and the news that the TGWU section's executive (GEC) are seeing each rule as it is agreed by the commission. Good for them!

I've written to Steve Davison, chair of the Amicus NEC and joint chair of the rules commission, asking him to draw to the attention of the rules commission the concerns about the impact of the draft new structure on our ability to organise in the IT industry. Thanks to everyone who had given me feedback on the draft letter and in particular to the following who endorsed the concerns I was expressing:

• Amicus EEE&IT West Midlands Regional Sector Conference
• Amicus EEE&IT North-West Regional Sector Conference
• Amicus EEE&IT South-East Regional Sector Conference
• Amicus EEE&IT London Regional Sector Conference
• Amicus EEE&IT Eastern Regional Sector Conference
• Sean Leahy, chair EEE&IT National Sector Committee, senior staff rep, Ericsson
• John Clark, EEE&IT National Sector Committee member, North East
• John Garvani, EEE&IT National Sector Committee member, Yorkshire & Humberside
• Tony Boyle, EEE&IT Regional Sector Committee member, Scotland
• Colin Lawford, accredited rep, Accenture
• Liz Braithwaite, workplace rep, CSC
• Gilbert Stewart, workplace rep, CSC
• Jeremy Cole, workplace rep, CSC, East Yorkshire
• Mike Cummins, workplace rep, Xansa
• Bernie Clark, workplace rep, Xansa
• Stewart Marshall, workplace rep, EDS
• Richard Milner, Jointly Accredited Office Rep, Steria
• Alasdair Lewis, workplace rep, Fujitsu West Midlands
• Alan Black, workplace rep, Fujitsu Glasgow
• Trevor Palmer, workplace rep, Fujitsu Stevenage
• Robert Dimmick, workplace rep, Fujitsu Staines
• UNITE Reps Committee, Fujitsu Manchester
• John Smith, workplace rep, Electrolux Spennymoor
• Peter Rutherford, Unite Staff Secretary, Siemens Power Generation, Newcastle

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UNITE organising strategy

One of the more interesting debates arising from the merger of Amicus and TGWU to form UNITE is about what organising strategy the new union should adopt. The unions which formed Amicus had a variety of approaches, while the TGWU under Tony Woodley had adopted a strategy heavily influenced by the experience of the SEIU in the USA.

An overall Amicus strategy was agreed by the NEC on 18th July 2007, and is summarised in the NEC minutes:

94/07 Organising Strategy

Paul Talbot AGS and the General Secretary reported on discussions with the TGWU Section concerning a Unite organising strategy.

Organising was central to the merger agreement. Amicus strategy for some time had been to set a national recruitment target of a 1% increase in new members per month per region and sector. All full time officials were required to identify two workplaces for recruitment and organisation development. Regional Secretaries lead this work with input from National Officers and the Head of Organising. In recent weeks Amicus had established an integrated national organising team.

The TGWU Section had two campaigns – one based on achieving 100% membership lead by Regional Secretaries and the other based on their National Organising Unit through 80 organisers. The unit had a substantial budget and was currently targeting meat production, building services, logistics and civil air transport.

Over half of Amicus recruitment was currently in eight areas – health, finance, publishing, media, newspaper and packaging, community and not for profit, construction, youth, IT and Business Services and Civil Air Transport. Amicus would also wish to continue to pursue the strategy above concentrating on the eight sectors and to use the TUC Organising Academy where appropriate.

There's a section on the TGWU web site giving information about the TGWU organising strategy. There's also a document on the Union Ideas Network web site.

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UNITE Executive Council elections - the TGWU timetable

The TGWU web site gives details of the timetable for the election of the 40 members of the UNITE Executive Council who will be elected from the TGWU section of UNITE.

In summary, nominations (via branches) will take place from 3rd December 2007 to 11th January 2008. Voting will take place 3rd-28th March 2008.

Though the nomination process and timetable is different from the Amicus section, the actual voting is at the same time. This will make campaigning a lot easier in those workplaces where there are members in both sections of UNITE.

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Getting our heads around the TGWU

Over the last few days I've learnt a lot about the TGWU - the other half of UNITE.

At the moment, though UNITE is one legal entity, most structures and activities still take place within the Amicus or TWGU "sections" of the union. Even the current UNITE executive elections are taking place in parallel - 40 seats for each section.

Yesterday, while visiting workplaces around Manchester, I popped in at the local StageCoach bus depot. Most of the workers (drivers etc) are in the TGWU section, while some of the workers who maintain the buses are in the Amicus section. The workforce are in the middle of a ballot for strike action over pay, which is due to close next week.

I think it's a real weakness that members of our own union can be balloting for (or even taking) strike action, and most of us don't even know about it. If we've got a union of 2 million members, when any group of them feel they have to fight, they should feel they have 2 million behind them. If our employers felt that was the case, members sometimes wouldn't need to fight either!

Today I attended an informal meeting between the Amicus North-West Regional Council and the TGWU Regional Committee. I think it's vital that activists and members from the two sections start to meet each other and exchange information, news, views and ideas.

Part of the agenda involved explaining (or trying to!) the current regional structures of each section. The new union will have different structures, but it will be easier to understand points of view if we all understand where we're coming from.

Branches
The TGWU section have about 350 branches in the north-west, for about 90,000 paying members, whereas the Amicus section has 193 branches for about 140,000 paying members. The TGWU branches seem to be of more consistent size - mostly between 50 and 1000 members, whereas Amicus ones vary from tiny ones up to several thousand members.

The TGWU structure is much more branch-centred, rather than being based on shop stewards / workplace reps. However, TGWU branches are normally workplace-based. They have their own funds (typically about 10% of subs income).

Above branch level, there are three main types of structures: Trade Groups (a bit like our sectors, but broader), geographical structures, and equality structures.

Trade Groups
Branches can send one delegate to any Regional Trade Group for which the branch has at least 50 members. They can send a second delegate provided at least one is female. Some groups can send an additional Black And Ethnic Minority delegate.

The trade groups are:

• ACTS (Misc, white collar - Voluntary sector, Finance, Betting etc)
• Agricultural Workers
• Building & Construction / Building Crafts
• Chemical, Oil and Rubber
• Civil Air Transport
• Docks & Waterways
• Food, Drink & Tobacco
• General Workers
• Power & Engineering
• Public Services
• Road Transport Commercial
• Textile
• Vehicle Building & Automotive
• Passenger
  

Regional trade groups send delegates to national committees. They can also send 1-3 delegates to the Regional Committee.

Geographical Structures
Branches can send one delegate to a District Committee, plus a second delegate as long as at least one is female.

The District Committees are the closest thing to our Area Conferences & Committees, but with some important differences. Firstly, they are branch-based, whereas the Amicus Area structures are open to branch officers AND workplace reps. Secondly, the TGWU District Committees are more part of the main union structure, whereas our Area structures are bit out on a limb.

For the North-West, the TGWU districts are the Isle of Man, Liverpool, Wirral, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Cumbria is also a district, but in the TGWU that is not in the North-West region (it is in the new UNITE regions though). This is fairly close to the Amicus Areas (Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Isle of Man).

Each TGWU District Committee can send two delegates (one male, one female) to the Regional Committee. Don't forget we've already got trade group delegates there; there is also one delegate at the Regional Committee from each of the regional Equality Committees (see below).

The TGWU Regional Committee roughly corresponds to the Amicus Regional Council. It meets quarterly. The Regional Committee elects a Finance & General Purposes Committee, which roughly corresponds to the Amicus "Regional Council Management Committee".
There was a suggestion that we could combine the TGWU's F&GP with the Amicus Management Committee to make the "F'ing Management Committee". Maybe not.

Equalities
TGWU branches nominate to three equality committees, covering Women, Race and Disability. These send delegates to the Regional Committee and to National committees.

It's already clear that the UNITE structure will include a broader range of Equalities strands, as the Amicus one already does.

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