Issues

Unite

P2070158 Unite is Britain’s biggest trade union and is organised in both the UK and Ireland. Formed in 2009 after a merger between two other large unions, the Transport and General Workers Union and Amicus, Unite was “created to meet the great challenges facing working people in the 21st century”.

It had 43,426 members in Northern Ireland and 36,859 members in the South, as of 31 December 2009. All sectors of the workforce are covered and, in Northern Ireland, a third of its membership is drawn from the public sector. The voluntary and community sector also makes up around 5 per cent of its members.

“It would be safe to say that Unite organise workers in everything from the cradle to the grave,” says regional co-ordinator Eugene McGlone.

Members are organised in 100 branches, some of which cover one workplace, employer or industry but others are composite branches based on a geographical area.

In Ireland, Unite’s campaigns concentrate on the impact of government spending cuts in both jurisdictions. In particular, it focuses on the impact these will have on the private sector and the manufacturing industry, which Unite views as “the life blood of the economy”.

“Currently, we are campaigning for better public services and more support for private business, improvements in industrial relations, rights at work and pensions,” explains McGlone.

Other major campaigns include the ‘Welfare Reform Campaign’, where the union is calling for the UK Government to “urgently rethink” its plans.

Unite argues that the Government “should introduce positive measures to challenge discriminatory attitudes held by employers, encourage flexible working practices and expand the provision of affordable childcare”.

In the Irish general election campaign, the union called on “all voting people to vote for a left-wing government” in the general election. Unite is an affiliated member of the British and Irish labour parties.

The history of the union has been punctuated by mergers in which smaller and more specialised unions came together to combine their resources and increase their bargaining power and collective strength.

Predecessors include the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union and Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union as well as Unifi and the Graphical, Paper and Media Union.

Unite’s Northern Ireland headquarters is located on the Antrim Road in Belfast and members congregate at an all-island bi-annual conference. The next is scheduled for 22-23 May in Dublin. The Irish Regional Executive Committee leads the union between conferences.

Unite also has close contracts with groups in North America and has relationships with other international colleagues. McGlone says the union “recognises that to be effective in the struggle for our members we need to not only think globally but to act globally as well”.

Subscriptions from Northern Ireland members in 2009 stood at £4,502,100 with a total income of £151,834,000. The union’s funds were £103,417,000 at the end of the year.

General Secretary Len McCluskey

Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly

Members (2009) 1,572,995

Website www.unitetheunion.org

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