Press release from Jerry Hicks
• D Simpson: 60,048
• Jerry Hicks: 39,307
• K Coyne: 30,603
• P Reuter: 28,283
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.
(Like a spaghetti western) ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’.
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.
