At an emergency meeting of the National Executive of the Unite union in October a decision was made to postpone the implementation of the Unite Rulebook until May 2008 and to call an election for a twelve month period of office for a Unite-Amicus section General Secretary. The decision, supported by both current Joint General Secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, was made as a result of the legal challenge by former Bristol Rolls Royce convenor Jerry Hicks over the extension of office of Derek Simpson without election until December 2010. The Instrument of amalgamation voted for last year by members of the Amicus & TGWU provided for the new union rulebook to be in place by the 1st November this year.

The successful challenge from Jerry Hicks would have forced an election for a new general secretary of the whole of Unite next year with both Simpson and Woodley having to stand down early. It was this prospect that led to the row between the two at the TUC in September with both announcing in the press they would stand for election against each other. The decision of the Executive to delay the new rulebook and call an election for just Amicus section members has removed this possibility. But the decision has been challenged by several branches of the union, who say that the Executive has acted beyond its power in overturning a member’s ballot for the Instrument of Amalgamation. If the branch complaints are upheld it could then result in an election for a general secretary for the whole of Unite next year.

Simpson was elected by members of the AEEU following his own successful legal challenge to Sir Ken Jackson over the same issue of extending office beyond retirement without an election.  He criticised Jackson during the election in 2002 saying “the Policy Conference was misled about the legality of Jackson continuing without an election. Having a General Secretary over 65 years of age and working in two jobs is not the best way of pressing the case for a shorter working week and earlier retirement.” He also argued that the majority of AEEU members were unable to vote during Jackson’s election in 1995 with only members of the EETPU section allowed to vote.

Members of MSF were unable to vote in 2002 and there have been further mergers with former print workers union GPMU and banking union Unifi. The merger of Amicus and the TGWU in 2007 to form Unite means that over 80% of Unite members have been unable to vote in an election for Derek Simpson.

Simpson has departed from many of his 2002 election promises. During the election he wrote “I want to see a return to elected officials that are answerable to the members and not to some corporate strategy handed down by a General Secretary whether that is Sir Ken Jackson or myself. They can split the Labour Movement with blind support for Blair and New Labour when they pursue policies that are not in the interests of workers. This is why they wanted to get rid of elections of officials so that they could appoint their cronies to consolidate their power and control”. Soon after the election of officials was passed at the 2005 Amicus rules conference Simpson began to undermine the decision, finally abandoning the principle altogether in the merger with the TGWU.

He also complained about “the closing of many branches”. Since his election over 600 Amicus branches have been closed and recently an attempt was made to confiscate £1 million from the former GPMU branches, the money only returned after a threat of legal action by the GPM Sector committee while Simpson claimed he knew nothing about the move.

Under Simpson’s election leaflet headed “Has Jackson and the Executive gone mad?” Simpson wrote “Closing many local offices proves to be false economy and placing Full Time Officials in distant locations serves neither the best interest of officers or members.  The bulk of the income from contributions seems to be spent on Head Office and as a result benefits to members are at a record all time low. They want to spend £5 Million on a corporate Head Quarters in London. A fat lot of good that will be to you! Just think what that amount of your money could do for our members in the localities.” He promised to “bring an end to centralised control” and to “put the union back in the districts”. But over the last few years over 40 regional offices have been sold for an estimated £14 million while millions of additional pounds has been spent on ‘renovations’ at the ‘corporate Head Quarters in London’.

Simpson argued “I want to see legislation to prevent the destruction of manufacturing jobs and better protection for our members and will insist that this is a priority in exchange for continued support of New Labour. Instead of having one eye on what the employers want and the other eye on what Downing Street wants we should have both eyes on what our members want”. Yet during the Labour Party leadership election last year he refused to give backing to John McDonnell, instead backing Gordon Brown, the architect of New Labour and PFI.

Following the walkout of Simpson supporters at the Amicus Unity Gazette AGM last May a new centre right organisation called ‘Workers Uniting Group’ has been set up at a meeting in October addressed by Simpson. Jerry Hicks legal challenge to force an election was opposed by the remaining members of the Amicus Unity Gazette who called it a ‘distraction’ that had little chance of success. Since the success of the challenge and the calling of the election the Gazette have chosen to back a former right winger Laurence Faircloth, who was elected onto the AEEU Executive in 1998 as part of Jacksons right wing AEEU United group, always voted solidly on the Executive with the right wing and was rewarded with a job by Jackson in 2000. Faircloth has never been actively involved with the left and only attended his first Gazette meeting to be selected! On the day of the emergency Executive meeting he had approached two NW Gazette EC members to canvas their support for his candidature. The selection meeting in Preston was determined at a pre-meeting of the North West group, held a fortnight before, with the decision to back Faircloth and instructions to their supporters who turned up to vote for him or face expulsion. Procedures drawn up in advance by the Editorial Board obliged any candidates to stand down if not selected at the meeting. As a result of this travesty of democracy Jerry Hicks made the decision not to attend the meeting.

Socialist Appeal supporters will be backing Jerry Hicks in the election for general secretary as the only credible left candidate. He does not call for disaffiliation from the Labour Party but does call for an end to slavish support for the Brown government. He wants the union to have better value for money by only supporting those candidates that pledge to support Unite polices. He stands for repeal of all anti-union legislation, public ownership and opposition to privatisation of jobs and services and a programme of building affordable council homes for rent. He supports the election of all officers of the union and he has pledged that he will only draw an average skilled member's wage if elected. He wants increased lay-member democracy in the union. The election will take place in February and March next year.