Unite general secretary election - candidates’ messages
Each properly nominated candidate who has accepted nomination is
entitled to submit an election address up to a maximum of 600
words. This page includes the messages from the four nominated
candidates in alphabetical order.
Les Bayliss
Fellow Members
In two weeks time you will be receiving ballot papers along with
an election address in which I will be setting out my request for
your support in the election for General Secretary.
All candidates have been given this opportunity by the Executive
Council.
Who am I?
Like you I am a member, with over 40 years experience
representing our members at all levels in the Union, culminating
with my present role as Assistant General Secretary. My current
duties and responsibilities include handling the finances of the
union, liaising with retired members, and strategic oversight of
the Construction and Building Services Sector.
My Views
That Unite is not just the biggest union but also the best
union. I see our sector structure as essential for providing a
relevant voice to all our members, in an organisation as large and
diverse as ours.
I believe that the officers that serve us should not only be
well trained and motivated but should be drawn from areas relevant
to the members they will be serving. Put simply, construction
workers need dedicated officers that understand the construction
industry, and finance workers need officers familiar with their
sector, and so on throughout the Union.
It is also important that members within each sector have a
voice in the selection process of officers, perhaps through the
sector committees that are themselves elected.
Union Services
With all its massive resources, Unite should be in a position to
provide speedy accurate and professional support to members
whenever and wherever it is needed. As General Secretary I will
establish a support centre available to give members advice 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, be it about problems in the workplace
or legal matters arising from work. This will ensure the speedy
deployment of officers where needed.
Communications
It should not be beyond our ability to provide
- a free diary
- regular journal dealing with sector specific issues
- targeted email bulletins
- information, advice and support
- and last but not least a Unite membership card.
Support
We all pay our contributions and rightly expect a service in
return. We need to know we have the professional support of
research, legal and representative help.
Solidarity and Equality
I expect all members, irrespective of race, colour, religion, or
sexual orientation, to have equal opportunity and be treated
equally. Together we are strong. We all face the same difficulties
and together we gain from unity and solidarity.
Politics
Dealing with politics is unavoidable when representing members’
interests. I believe we are better off with a Labour Government,
but we need one that delivers for working people.
Please feel free to look up further information or contact me
via my web site at:
http://www.les4gs.org/
Les Bayliss
Gail
Cartmail
I am standing as a candidate in the election for general
secretary of Unite supported by branches/chapels and workplaces
which have had the courage to back the only truly
independent candidate in this contest.
As general secretary I will:
- Fight for members’ jobs
- Create an alliance to fight spending cuts
- Campaign for a genuinely progressive Labour government
- Provide a different style of leadership, which puts equality at
its heart
My campaign Together To Win is based
on the belief that Unite members want a general secretary who will
concentrate on fighting for their jobs and improving their terms
and conditions.
So leading a campaign to defend our members’ jobs in both the
private and public sectors would be my number one industrial
priority. Official statistics warn of 1.3 million jobs being lost
as a direct result of this government’s planned spending cuts. All
our workplaces are at risk.
It’s a shocking fact, but sacking UK workers is cheaper compared
to many other EU states. We need to change this and demand a level
playing field. That means winning the political case, not an easy
task but one to which I am passionately committed.
But saving jobs isn’t enough. Unite must be in the leadership of
the campaign to win over support for a different way of running the
economy.
In manufacturing that means supporting industrial policies that
deliver sustainable employment and fair wages and conditions.
In finance, it means an end to the bonus culture and obscene
rewards for some at the expense of members’ jobs.
As general secretary I would put the resources of Unite behind
an alliance to fight spending cuts and tackle the deficit by
investing in growth and imposing tighter controls on financial
institutions.
An alliance that brings the public with us so that they join us in
taking action against cuts to community-based care, youth services,
the NHS and a plethora of local government services that are
currently under threat.
Despite the enormous task of fighting spending cuts, I would at
the same time ensure that the union continues the normal business
of pursuing negotiations with employers in the public and private
sectors at all levels, including government.
As a trade union official who started out as a shop steward, I
know the importance of workplace organisation and will do all in my
power to ensure stewards and reps get the support they deserve.
Under my leadership, Unite will promote the ‘union advantage’
that proves organised workers are better paid and trained, safer
and less vulnerable.
In the longer term I will campaign for the return of a genuinely
progressive Labour government that restores faith in politics.
A government that serves the majority, a government that
promotes a living wage and one that delivers trade union
freedom.
A government that delivers accountable and publicly funded
public services, investment in our manufacturing and transport
sectors and protection for workers at least equivalent to competing
EU states.
Equality should be at the heart of our union, and as general
secretary I would stand on a solid foundation of speaking out for
equality.
This is not always easy but as the only progressive and
independent candidate, I can provide a different style of
leadership for a complete change of approach. I would take
decisions in the interests of all members not just a few and I
would act in accordance with our values, not just talk about
them.
Whatever your politics, I will ensure our union represents your
best interests at work and in society so that Unite is a union you
can be proud of.
Jerry Hicks
This is the most important election for
generations
1.5 million members will decide who is the first General
Secretary of Unite, the biggest and potentially the most powerful
union in the UK and Ireland.
It will prove to be a defining moment for everyone. It comes at
a time when we face savage cuts to services, jobs, pay and
pensions, as the Con-Dem government and employers attempt to make
us pay for their crisis.
Unite’s leadership failed to hold Labour in government to
account, squandering £10s millions and wasting 13 years. Seeing us
dragged into the High Court on balloting technicalities, witnessing
our members being suspended and sacked by BA are the consequences
of the failure to repeal anti-union laws. Though union policy, it
was never a priority. That failure has left us vulnerable and angry
as we now face the Con-Dem onslaught.
The other candidates, all appointed Assistant General
Secretaries in a ‘job for life’ must share collective
responsibility for the mismanagement of Unite. They’ve become ‘part
of the problem’, not the solution.
Crucial questions:
- Are we best placed to resist cuts to jobs, pay and
conditions?
- Do we feel that we control our Union?
- Do the members decide which officials represent them?
- Have the mergers made us feel stronger?
I believe the answers are NO
We should be stronger, feel safer, and we can, with fundamental
change:
Transforming a top down union, run like a business, to a bottom
up one where members decide, the union provides. Bridging the
massive divide between the leadership and the members by returning
the union to where it belongs – with the members.
- Election of all union officials.
- Giving workplaces, branches, combines, sectors and regions,
independence and authority over decision making and
organisation.
- Becoming a fighting union, not just campaigning, for public
ownership and against privatisation, for pensions, services.
- Scrap Trident saving £75 billion. Spend £25 billion on schools,
hospitals, houses, providing100,000 jobs, the first 3,200 to
blacklisted workers. £25 billion on green energies creating a
million jobs, £25 billion on pensions. Bring the troops home from
Afghanistan saving lives and £billions.
- Exceptional times will require extraordinary responses and
confronting anti-union laws, whether UK or EU, and backing
unofficial action when necessary.
- Making the Equality and Diversity structures a model for
genuine involvement.
- Ensuring retired members, a prized asset, have equal rights in
the union.
The need for a more powerful union enabling us to protect our
livelihoods is absolute, and judgement is crucial,
- The union shouldn’t have thrown £10s millions at Labour in
return for so little.
- We should have supported the occupation at Vestas on the Isle
of Wight.
- Len McCluskey, Gail Cartmail and Les Bayliss support appointing
officials, denying members the choice. I don’t.
- They would take six figure salaries and benefits. I would take
an average wage.
- I wouldn’t carry on giving £millions to Labour, we should only
support Labour MPs and councillors who support our policies.
During 30 years at Rolls Royce I was elected to senior rep and
elected to National Executive Council with the highest vote in my
sector. In 2003 when offered a job in the union I declined, on
principle. I support elections not appointments. In 2005 I was
unlawfully sacked by Rolls Royce for trade union activities.
More of the same won’t do. We need a General
Secretary that’s not part of the establishment. I am the only
candidate that’s not a union official. Last year I confounded
critics coming second in the election for Joint General Secretary,
let’s go one better. Please vote to make a
difference.
Visit http://www.jerryhicks4gs.com/
email: jerryhicks4gs2010@yahoo.co.uk
Len
McCluskey
In a couple of weeks from now, you will be asked to vote for the
first General Secretary of Unite.
You will need to feel confident that the person you choose has
the ability, experience and commitment to work for YOU.
I know that hundreds of thousands of our members are worried
about job security, pay and pensions, and in recent months I have
met with thousands of your shop stewards and representatives to
listen to those concerns while sharing our vision for the
future.
I know you want
- A union that delivers for you
- A union that is there for you when you need it
- A union that is not afraid to stand up against bad employers
and speak up against injustice
- A union that defends jobs, improves pay and protects
pensions
- A union where you matter and your voice is heard
We need a united union more than ever. We are all proud of our
heritage; TGWU, AEEU, Unifi, GPMU and MSF, but it is now time for
us to go forward as UNITE.
I will embrace all of the talents that we have to ensure
we succeed.
I have been humbled by the breadth of support that I have
received from every industrial sector and region across the union.
Support from over 830 Branches and Workplaces, representing over
400,000 members, only comes when people have reason to know and
trust you. I am proud to have earned that trust. I will not
let you down.
With a recession biting and employers attacking our union to
weaken us, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE.
I have a proven track record for supporting and winning for members
- 40 years as a shop steward, officer and now as Assistant General
Secretary. I have led campaigns: saving workplaces and thousands of
jobs while securing better pay and conditions for workers.
My experience covers the Public and Private sectors, Skilled and
Semi-Skilled as well as Blue and White collar workers, and I intend
to use this experience to deliver for the whole union.
Unite has the potential to be a great union but change is needed
if we are to make you proud.
Too often support members get is simply not good
enough.
Members when they contact the union are entitled to expect a
rapid response, not be pushed from pillar to post. It’s no excuse
to say resources are limited whilst vast sums of money are spent on
extravagances at the top of the union.
I will stop this and make sure all resources are
channelled to help members.
I will re-launch Unite:
- Uniting our members and the public against devastating public
spending cuts, imposed by the Con-Dem government and threatening
jobs and services for millions
- Campaigning for economic policies that supports jobs in
manufacturing, finance, transport and construction
- Creating a 24/7 “one stop shop for members”
- Committed to equality, combating racism, prejudice and
advancing the role of women
- Using the skills and experience of retired members seeing them
as a valuable resource
- Committed to organising. I will build on our achievements
whilst learning from our mistakes
- We need value for money from in the political arena. No more
blank cheques for New Labour
I am not bothered by the personal attacks from the right wing media
or their ‘dirty tricks’. It tells me I must be doing the right
thing for workers.
I pledge to commit all of my energies to support you and my
guiding principle will be:
MEMBERS FIRST – not Ministers or Managers.
Visit unite4len.com
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