Outside Transport House, home to the old T&G union, hangs a giant Unite
union banner. Inside the building, in Holborn, Central London, the doors and
staircases bear the familiar T&G insignia.
It is emblematic of Unite, Britain's biggest union, the 2.1 million-member
amalgamation of Amicus and the T&G, being united in name only two years
after merger plans began.
Ask almost anyone in the new Unite how the process is going and faces take on
a pained expression. People complain that nothing can be agreed, that the
cultures and structures of the two unions are hugely different.
Each side is critical of the other. It is the biggest merger in the history of
British unions and seemingly the most trying.
Of course, it did not begin auspiciously when the joint-launch 16 months ago
by Derek Simpson, the general secretary of Amicus, and Tony Woodley, the T&G
leader, was boycotted by Mr Simpson.
Yet Mr Woodley is insistent that the merger is crucial to establish a strong
organisation as the union movement struggles with flat membership and a
declining presence in the private sector.
According to Mr Woodley, that work is already under way on the traditional
union battlegrounds of Labour Party membership and taking on the might of
big business: “We are building on our political organisation, going back
into constituencies to reclaim our party and we are certainly having a
strong influence and starting to reconnect with the grass roots of the
party. Industrially, I don't think anyone can doubt that Unite has been
there with the big campaigns, like Shell and Ineos.”
The other key driver for the merged union, one championed by Mr Woodley, is
the resources that it can pump into recruiting members - “organising”, in
union parlance. It has a budget of £15 million and hopes to recruit 20,000
workers a year, with an aim of working across different sectors and
achieving 100 per cent membership in workplaces.
The union has 103 organisers, more than in the rest of the British and Irish
trade union movement.
Since the merger of Amicus and the T&G began to be implemented, Unite has
forged an international link with the United Steelworkers union, which
operates in the United States and Canada. Billed as the first global union,
it goes under the name of Workers Uniting, although its individual members
will keep their own names, for now.
Domestically, Unite has aspirations to bring in smaller unions. It had been
thought that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) could have been a big
prize for Unite, but in the summer the CWU's conference voted to veto any
talks between the two.
The CWU might have found life difficult in Unite, not least because it is the
postal workers' union and Unite's Amicus half represents postal managers.
When Unite's merger was first mooted, it sent shockwaves through Labour. It
was feared that the new union would be too mighty at the party conference.
Since then, the conference structure has changed and much of policymaking
directly affecting the unions is done at Labour's infrequent policy forums.
The last big forum, in July, promised the unions an extension of the minimum
wage and a right to more time off work for carers.
Yet Mr Woodley says that the unions want more from the Government. He will
press on with calls for greater employment rights, including legalising
secondary strike action and making industrial action ballots easier to
conduct and less exposed to legal challenge by employers.
He said: “I do not accept, and I never will, that it is going back to the
Seventies when we ask to take solidarity action when it is, for example, in
the same company.” He cites the recent case of Rolls-Royce closing a factory
in Liverpool. Unite would have wanted to ballot for action to defend the
factory across the whole of the company.
Mr Woodley believes that the unions had a promise for greater employment
legislation from Gerry Sutcliffe, the previous Employment Minister, but he
says that Pat McFadden, the incumbent, has “selective amnesia” over the
commitment.
The Unite boss is even less enamoured with Mr McFadden's boss, John Hutton,
the Business Secretary. He considers him too Blairite and too much on
business's side. Mr Hutton's opposition to a windfall tax bolsters this
feeling. “What planet is this man off to oppose a windfall tax - when you
have excessive, obscene profits and when every household is struggling to
fill their fridges, let alone their car? This fella is in the wrong party.
He should be working for the CBI.”
At the weekend Mr Woodley told the Prime Minister to change political course
to restore confidence among voters and revive his own popularity. He is not
overly confident that this will happen. “Gordon Brown is not going to have a
personality transplant and he isn't going to be an Obama, Clinton or Blair
as a great communicator ... There can only be a difference if he changes.
But can this man who, as chancellor, has been so wedded to the American way,
so wedded to the neo-liberal view, change?”
Mr Brown's performance as Prime Minister and party leader has caused some in
the Labour movement to gaze back wistfully at Tony Blair's era, even though
they disliked him at the time. Does Mr Woodley? “Definitely not. There is
one thing that is more important than the economy and that is world peace
and the damage that Blair and Bush have done to the infrastructure of the
world should never be forgotten. No, I wouldn't want him back. Their role in
history is one of downright disaster.”
Mr Woodley is typically forthright in his views about politicians. But these
days he is slightly less forthright about his co-joint general secretary, Mr
Simpson, amid persistent rumours that they do not get on.
It is a daunting for Unite if they cannot work well together because they
intend, subject to a legal challenge, to stay in office jointly until 2012.
“Clearly, having two people in the job means you have to compromise and that
makes life difficult for one or t'other, but we are where we are. The good
thing about me and Derek is that our politics are identical - that's the
good thing.”
Yet Mr Woodley believes that Unite is not far from being properly united. “We
are different personalities and I wouldn't want to make comment about the
other general secretary, but from November we are one union under one
finance strategy and one set of administrative arrangements.”
CV
Born: January 3, 1948, Ellesmere Port, Merseyside
Career: Car industry (Vauxhall Motors); district officer, T&G;
national official for motor industry, T&G, 1989-2002; deputy general
secretary, T&G, 2002-03; general secretary, T&G, 2003-07; joint
general secretary, Unite, since 2007
Family: Wife, Janet; son, Christopher
Interests: Football
Q&A
- If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial
environment, what would it be?
Reduce the power of business over government
- Who is or was your mentor?
Jack Jones
- Does money motivate you?
No. Getting more money for my members does, though
- What was the most important event in your working life?
Being elected by the members to lead my union, the T&G
- What gadget must you have?
Hands-free mobile in my car
- What does leadership mean to you?
Raising members' aspirations and then doing my best to deliver them
- Which person do you most admire?
Jack Jones again
- How do you relax?
Watching Everton
