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| Socialist Appeal supports Jerry Hicks |
A Message from Jerry Hicks:
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”.
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.
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.
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!
Many thanks and kind regards, Jerry.
‘Keep on keeping
on’.
