‘What a remarkable result’

(Like a spaghetti western) ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’.
D Simpson: 60,048
Jerry Hicks: 39,307
K Coyne: 30,603
P Reuter: 28,283
What a remarkable result!
Thank you all those who nominated, those who campaigned and those who voted for me in the election for General Secretary of Unite / Amicus.
It was due to your efforts and generosity that our campaign was able to reach out and touch and win the hearts and minds of tens thousands of our members who returned this magnificent vote.
Our message was clearly and proudly taken into workplaces and homes, across every industry and in every part of the country and inspired, motivated and gave hope to the many thousands who heard it and responded to it. The result is a clear vindication of the relevance of the election and appeal of our policies.
The turnout was low at 15 percent, reflecting as we always said the, disconnect and yawning gap between the union and our members, but the result was extraordinary. It wasn’t so much a battle of ideas as a battle between no ideas, and our idea of what the union needed to do.
When I began my campaign it was in a minority not far short of one as a grassroots rank and file member with no access to the union’s resources, and pressing the case single-handed for an election to take place. So coming second, with nearly 40,000 votes, well ahead of the other two candidates both full time officials, (Reuter was routed and the penny dropped with Coyne!) is a magnificent achievement.
The 15% turn out of our one million members and Derek Simpson’s failure to win more than 38% of the vote is a terrible indictment of his 6 years in office.
All this in spite of the use and abuse of the union’s resources: a letter to every individual member at a cost of £250,000 proclaiming the successes of Derek Simpson, the Spring issue of the union magazine that came out in February and even before the daffodils. Also the outrageous inclusion of the document with the ballot paper, wrongly accusing me of lying in my election address.
Amongst the many questions during the election, one that kept being screamed out was “why Unite keeps throwing tens of £millions at the Labour Party”, and getting nothing back. CWU members, UNISON members and many more across the country must be asking just the same.
Of all the moments three in particular stood out: ‘The good’ ‘The bad’ and ‘The ugly’
First there was ‘the Good’ which was the eruption a few weeks ago of the rumbling volcano of anger in the construction industry, with the unofficial strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery; a very clear example of the frustration within the membership that I was raising at every meeting I attended.
As the construction workers ratcheted up their demands for action, the inadequacy of the union leaders became even more obvious. The Lindsey strike was unofficial – because after three terms of a Labour government the Tory anti-union laws are still in place: but within five days, the members achieved more than they had in five months of delaying tactics from national leaders.
Then there was ‘the Bad’ where I attended a meeting of union members at the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in Aldgate in London. On the agenda was a newsletter for members and the election for General Secretary. This was on the very day the RBS bosses were being put through the wringer in Parliament. The members newsletter headline was “Why should we pay for their mistakes?” – but the union officials would not let them put it out because it might compromise negotiations. So our members never received it and had to read about what was happening to them in the mass media rather than hear from their own union.
And then ‘the Ugly’ where at Cowley’s BMW plant, the management sacked four shifts, 850 temporary staff – at an hour’s notice, with no redundancy pay. When the management left the building after making the announcement, furious members pelted the union reps with tomatoes, seeing the union as part of the problem instead of the solution.
How could it get to this? How is it that after three terms of a Labour government, workers some who had worked for BMW for 4 years can still be treated like that?
Now more than ever before, we don’t just need a “campaigning union” we need a fighting union, one that instils a confidence in members to resist employers’ attacks.
Ours was absolutely a left campaign calling for people before profit, public ownership not privatisation, and a green campaign.
Discussing with our members why it’s wrong for Unite to support more nuclear power stations simply in the name of some jobs when green energies, Sea, Solar and Wind could produce ten, twenty, thirty times as many jobs without leaving a thousand years of toxic waste!
Debating with construction workers that Unite had been wrong to declare support for a third runway at Heathrow – and that investment in public rail transport would create even more jobs with less cost to our environment.
As the campaign progressed so did its support and optimism. By the end we had a real coalition of individuals, branches, committees and almost every left group. The stuff that dreams are made of we were living in reality.
I travelled over 4,000 miles to attend meetings, take part in demonstrations and to give out leaflets at workplaces. All this along with every other cost was funded by generous donations from a few committees and so many individuals.
Everyone who was a part of this campaign got something positive from it. You yourselves will know the people you met or contacted, the places that you leafleted.
Me – You – Us – We were all so close to making history. It has given us a glimpse of what is possible.
Apart from the disappointment of not actually winning the election, a great disappointment has been the failure of sections of the left to recognise and grasp this opportunity for what undoubtedly would have been an historic breakthrough.
The Morning Star urged its readers to vote Simpson (Pro Nuclear, Pro Heathrow, Pro Gordon Brown) on the false pretext of “Vote Hicks, Get Coyne”. This was never going to happen and if it was genuinely believed, was a gross misjudgement.
Unfortunately other left groups couldn’t break with their bureaucratic and sectarian attitudes, and instead of backing me, to begin with threw their weight behind Lawrence Faircloth a right winger, who when he failed to win as many nominations as me, dropped out of the race and recommended a vote for Derek Simpson.
This confirmed the suspicions of many who had always regarded him as a stooge set up by Simpson to prevent the emergence of a genuine left wing challenger.
Even then after that debacle, those sections of the left did little or nothing in the contest for the one clear left candidate.
Madness is making the same mistakes over and over again but hoping for a different outcome.
In Unite we now have an amazing network of people who care and want something better for us. During the campaign I have, promised, pledged and said many things.
To all of those who want to listen and even to those who don’t I promise that this is not the end but the beginning.
The bureaucracy will hang on in there until we build a movement strong enough to move them. But if you fight hard enough, with enough confidence, all things are possible.
Finally I intend to make a complaint as to the legitimacy of the election given all the dirty tricks and wrong doings, especially the letter sent out with the ballot papers.
Expect the unexpected! Keep on keeping on
Kind regards to all.
Yours, Jerry.

‘The count beckons’

In the final few days of the election I have been full of mixed emotions.

We are surrounded by wholesale job cuts, short time working and attacks to pay and conditions. The union seems a mile off the pace, reduced often to platitudes and hollow demands.

Yet, despite these extremely difficult times I continue to receive messages of support, offers of help and requests for election materials. The election campaign has been a very exciting experience but also a humbling one.

The almost daily revalations in the press regarding the waste and expenditure in the union, albeit mostly the right wing press who would have a very different agenda to us. Highlights what we have been saying for the last ten months when we first launched the challenge (though others remained silent until recently).

I believe that there will be much more scrutiny in future and that members money will be better
In a change to the arrangements for the count, it is now believed that, by adjustment to staffing levels and working hours, it should be able to open the envelopes and sort and count the ballot papers they contain in one day. (I hope the employees are being properly paid for this short notice change).

At 8 am on Saturday 7th March the ballot envelopes will be opened and the process will begin. It is not expected that the count will be completed until late afternoon at the earliest, but that the result will be known at some point on the Saturday.

In the event of a recount then this would have to take place on Sunday 8th commencing at 9 am I will be in attendance and shall endeavour to convey the outcome as soon as I can.

There may yet be even more twists and turns but whatever the result we have done at least three things.

1] Given the union and its members the opportunity to discuss and debate the pressing issues and what we need.

2] We have made this election happen, which enables the union and its members to decicide who they want as General secretary.

3] Our campaign, the policies and principles have given the union and its members a chance for real change rather than more of the same.

Expect the unexpected…………………’Keep on keeping on’

Election Leaflet #2

Election Leaflet #1

A CRISIS WAITING TO HAPPEN

 

STRIKE ACTION ESCALATES

AS WORKERS FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK

But it should come as no surprise!

 

An emergency meeting of the national construction shop stewards forum took place in London as long ago as the 8th January. The meeting discussed the escalating crisis in construction following a series of protests in November and December of last year, over employment rights and also the proposed exclusion of UK workers by foreign companies on power stations and other major UK contracts.

The meeting was originally called for at Newark on the 3^rd December following a series of protests at the gates of Staythope Power Station. At the meeting shop stewards voted overwhelmingly to organise a programme of demonstrations toward targeted construction projects within the UK power generation sector.

Shop stewards and trade union activists find it is hard enough as it is to get a job in the industry because of the black listing by the employers. It is a way of reducing their costs and attempting to break union organisation on the major projects.

Rank and file members are preparing for mass disruption on projects throughout the country that refuse to recognise union national agreements. There will be organised demonstrations strikes and mass disruption. We are preparing for a battle to defend our jobs.

Jerry Hicks a candidate in the coming election for General Secretary in the UK’s biggest union Unite-Amicus is supporting the action. He was present at a recent protest at Staythorpe power station where he sustained a fractured leg, having been assaulted by the police.

He said “This should come as no surprise to anyone. The employers have deliberately and actively been looking for ways to exploit cheap labour while covering their eyes and ears to the growing rage of discontent and ignoring all the warning signs, it’s outrageous”,

He went on to say, “To its shame the union leadership failed miserably to grasp the nettle months ago when the dispute was a crisis in the making. The union needs to confront the employers and organise a national campaign for industrial action.”

The employers watch and listen to everything we say and do. If the union does little and says even less they drive the boot in harder and our situation gets worse.

This is not about race or prejudice it is about the exploitation of labour, playing one worker against another. It is about the employers trying to break nationally agreed arrangements and in doing so it is an attack on the union.

Gordon Brown, who at the last Labour party conference said ‘British jobs for British workers’, has created a huge problem all of his own making. He can no longer simply sit on his hands waiting on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, other energy companies are observing what happens next as they seek to further exploit the cheap foreign labour market.

This issue is as a result of the Employers deliberately exploiting a situation, the union leaderships woeful lack of response and Browns pronouncement, Now they act like the like the three monkeys. Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

 

 

WE HAVE A CHOICE-REAL CHANGE OR MORE OF THE SAME

It is with great pleasure and pride that I am able to say that I have now received official notification that I am a candidate in the election for the Unite Amicus General Secretary.

I have received nominations from as far afield as the Shetlands to the Isle of Wight, from East Anglia to the North West, from Wales to Ireland. Support has come from all points of the compass, from every region and sector of the union.

It was inevitable that I had the hardest task given that all the other candidates are senior officials of the union. It is worth remembering that when I launched the legal challenge virtually everyone said there was no chance of success. How wrong they were.

Then it was said I would not secure enough nominations to be on the ballot paper, yet I am already in front of Reuter and Faircloth and within touching distance of Simpson and Coyne. Indeed when Simpson himself won the election in 2002 against Ken Jackson he was much further behind at this stage.

This is still very much a David versus Goliath contest and David won that encounter as well! Another example would be Mark Serwotka, the PCS General Secretary was a part time clerk in the DSS when he went on to win.

At the time of the initial challenge back in May of this year not one of the other candidates was either brave enough or willing to come out in support of the action. Now they all say how many problems the Union faces. Not one of them however said anything about these matters prior to me being successful in forcing the election and that begs the question of their judgement. 

 Crisis of credibility where rhetoric fails to measure up to reality

We are at a crossroads in our relationship with the government, with the employers, and between the union and its members. Our union calls for a windfall tax yet nothing happens. Our union demands no job losses – no home repossessions – but things only get worse. Employers feel confident enough to break agreements and announce even more job cuts, while the union appears as bystanders and onlookers instead of opinion leaders and policy makers!

We are the country’s biggest trade union, and the single biggest donator to the Labour government – £11 million since 2005 and £millions more in loans. We support over 100 Labour MPs. We shouldn’t have to plead for change, we deserve better and should demand more. I say support only those MPs or councillors that give support for our policies.

And what of the merger with the T&GWU? I support mergers if we become stronger, not just bigger. But does anyone feel safer in their workplace as a result of the merger? If we ask the members to list their concerns most will answer, jobs, pay, pensions, health & safety, hours of work.

There is a gap that has become a chasm between the union and its members and it needs to be bridged by returning ownership of the union to where it belongs – the members.

The ‘talking shop’ democracy offered by the other candidates is meaningless.

I believe in lay democracy with lay control. Workplace reps, sector committees, combines and branches all know their problems and the solutions and should be empowered to make their own decisions.

 I promise that if I were General Secretary I would support them, not as they are now, policed by the General Secretary. Let’s turn the pyramid on its head – instilling a confidence long since lost.

The Equality and Diversity structure offers an opportunity for more members to become involved, to have their voices heard and for the union to fight on their behalf. I will make sure that these structures are a model within Unite for the genuine involvement of members.

United, Equal and Diverse, Valued, Involved and Incorporated

  Retired members with a wealth of experience and talent should be recognised as a prized asset, not treated as second class citizens. As with other Equality and Diversity committees, they deserve to have their own section as well as participate fully and equally in all the democratic structures of the union. If elected as General Secretary I would push to make this happen.

 A chance to elect a General Secretary in touch and closer to members

We despise ‘Fat cats’ in the city, why have a ‘Fat cat’ General Secretary in our union with wages of £126,939, a free car and a virtually free £1million house forever, a lifestyle nothing like that of our members. The other candidates would continue with these arrangements. This would end if I were elected. I would only take the average wage of a skilled worker.

Over the coming weeks the campaign proper will begin in earnest. There is a straight choice between the person who sought to stay in office illegally, those who stayed silent when things were going wrong or myself who decided to confront the issues by challenging the leadership.

If what I say reflects your own experience, the life you lead, the world you live in then please would you consider supporting me in my campaign for General Secretary, by way of an invitation for me to speak at meetings. And by making a financial donation make a donation make cheques payable to Jerry Hicks 4GS.

If you wish to help, want to know more, please contact me  Tel:7817827912  Email: jo@benefield.force9.co.uk

Or write to me: 10 York Road, Montpelier, Bristol; BS6 5QE.

Donations will be receipted. Records will be available for inspection.

OFFICIAL COMFIRMATION

J Hicks

10 York Road

Montpelier

Bristol

BS6 5QE

JG/vb/elect

9^th January 2009

Dear Jerry,

Election of Unite – Amicus Section Joint General Secretary

(for a term of office commencing on

23^rd December 2009 and concluding on 23^rd December 2010).

 

Today is the deadline for submission of nominations. I can inform you that you have received the necessary branch or chapel and/or workplace representative nominations required in order to be a candidate for the election of Unite – Amicus Section Joint General Secretary.

The list of valid nominations received by candidates will be published on the unions’s website as soon as practicable (please note that there are a small number of nominations where issues are subject to further clarification)

In order to be a candidate you must complete and sign the enclosed acceptance form and return it to me. It needs to be received by me no later than 4 p.m. on Friday 23^rd January 2009. If you wish the Union to circulate an election address on your behalf with the voting papers this should be attached to the completed acceptance form. You should also e-mail your election address to me at john.gibbins@unitetheunion.com

Rule 28 (10) provides that the election address shall consist of not more than 500 words. In counting the number of words used, I will apply the following principles:

• Acronyms e.g. “TUC” will count as one word.
• Numerals e,g. “500,000″ will count as one word.
• Subject to the above, each word in a proper name will count as a separate word. This “John Smith” will count as two words and “The Labour Party” will count as three words.
• Punctuation (including bullet points) will not be counted but numbering e.g. “1″ or “(1)” will count as one word.

If the election address you submit exceeds 500 words, the words after the 500^th will not be printed.

Logos, photographs and illustrations will not be allowed.

If you have any other questions relating to the word count or how the election address will be presented, please contact me in advance of the deadline for submitting your election address and I will endeavour to clarify the position.

Please remember that your completed acceptance form and election address must be received by me no later than 4 p.m. on Friday 23^rd January 2009.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

John Gibbins

Returning Officer

Challenger becomes a candidate

It is with great pleasure and pride that I am able to say that we have secured more than enough branch and workplace reps nominations to be on the ballot paper for the election of General Secretary Amicus Section scheduled for February and March. 

This incredible achievement represents tremendous reward for all the efforts that so many people have made during the course of the nomination period.

The scale of recognition by way of support has without any question or doubt vindicated the decision to challenge Derek Simpson’s right to remain in office for 8 years without holding an election. It also presents us with a fantastic opportunity to not only influence the debate in its breadth and depth, but given the number of nominations received, makes it possible to consider the prospect of even greater things and even dare to dream of winning!

At the time of the initial challenge back in May of this year not one of the other candidates was either brave enough or willing to come out in support of the action. Now they all say how many problems the Union faces, “how we cannot afford to have Derek Simpson re-elected” or that the “finances are spinning out of control”, “the merger is in tatters”, that “the union has been too easy on New Labour”.Over the coming weeks the campaign proper will begin in earnest. We will be rightly and proudly able to say that there is a very clear choice in matters of substance, policy and style – how we relate as a Union to the employers, how we rebalance our relationship with the government and how we bridge the gap that has become a chasm between the union and its members.

Not one of them however said anything about these matters to anyone for so long and that begs the question of their judgement when they would have all waited another two years before trying to tackle the numerous issues facing us.  

 A chance for change or more of the same, top down bureaucracy or bottom up control over decision and direction.

 A straight choice between the person who sought to stay in office illegally and who is responsible for the problems, or one of those who stayed silent when so many things were going wrong or someone who stood up and decided to confront the issues by challenging the leadership. It is not what someone says, it is what someone does that matters.  Action over inertia, principle over hypocrisy.

In the meantime I hope that you have a good Christmas and a very happy New Year. 2009 may be many things but it won’t be dull!

‘Staythorpe’ – Why it matters to every member.

Click here to view the statement in full.

Snatched retained funds returned

After it was revealed that GMPU print section branch funds had been taken by head office with little or no consultation, there followed a very stormy National Sector Committee meeting where despite attempts to prevent discussion a vote was taken to overwhelmingly condemn the decision.

 

It now transpires that the GPM branch funds will be reurned to the chapels for them to spend as they see fit, with everyone now claiming they had no idea who had made the original decision!

 

Jerry says “It is amazing what an election can do to focus the mind. But rather than the current leaderships control freakery that led to this appaling situation, lay control and democracy must instead become the standard for the whole union. If this can be achieved during the nominating period just think what we could do when the balloting starts”.  

 

 

It is worth noting that it has been said by some that this election is a diversion. Try telling that to the GPMU section!