399:
of the TGWU held on 18 December 2006 supported the merger (Amicus did not hold a recall conference), and a ballot of both unions' membership during
February and early March 2007, also approved the merger. The result of the ballot was announced on 8 March 2007: 70.1% of Amicus members and 86.4% of T&G members voted to support the merger, from a turnout of 27%. The press release announced that the resulting union had the working title "New Union" and the name would be decided by a ballot of the membership.
547:. Some branches were inactive, for example because the workplace they represented no longer exists. In 2005, Amicus began a consultation on reorganisation of branches, primarily intended to close inactive branches or merge them with neighbouring ones which are more active. Not surprisingly this reorganisation was of some concern to branch activists, and prompted a number of neighbouring branches to voluntarily merge in order to pre-empt any action from the centre. Other branches, for example those in the
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there were about 1900 branches. Branches were typically organised on a workplace, geographical or sectoral basis, and varied in size from a few dozen to several thousand members. One reason for the wide variation in branch size and type was that, during the numerous union mergers which culminated in the formation of Amicus, branches were often not forced to merge. For this reason many branches were still based on the structures that existed in long-disappeared unions such as
27:
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An Amicus region typically contained several hundred branches, each of which represent a smaller group of members, running local campaigns on their behalf and providing a means for members to socialise with one another and increase their involvement in Amicus and the wider union movement. Nationally,
450:
The supreme decision-making body of Amicus was its Policy
Conference, which convened every two years. At other times the National Executive Council, which met every two months, was responsible for governance of the union. However, the General Secretary was empowered to make executive decisions in the
597:
Amicus conferences are organised on a two-yearly cycle with national Policy
Conferences taking place in odd-numbered years, and sectoral, national equality and regional branch conferences being held in the intervening years. This differs with MSF and AEEU arrangements where national conferences took
593:
As a general rule any candidate for a position on a committee of the union also had to be a workplace representative, in order to retain the connection with workplaces. However, retired members could hold branch positions; until a rule change in 2005, retired members wishing to hold a position other
398:
about the possibility of merging the three unions into one organisation with potentially 2.5 million members covering almost every segment of the economy. On 14 June 2006 the GMB Conference voted not to continue with discussions although the other two unions pursued merger talks. A recall conference
601:
Due to the two-yearly cycle, Amicus does not have a
President, because legislation requires the position to be elected annually – either by delegates to annual conference, or the entire membership. In view of the cost of a national postal ballot, the Chair of the NEC was given the role of chairing
563:
In general, committees of the union from branch level upwards must be composed of lay members elected by the group of members they represent, as per MSF custom and practice. A notable exception is for the secretary of a regional or national committee, who is usually a Full-Time
Officer employed by
509:
The union operated many other offices across
Britain and Ireland to support activity in each of the union's 12 regions. The four unions forming Amicus each had a fully developed network of offices to support their own operations; there was an ongoing exercise to co-locate staff from geographically
584:
A rule change in 2005 provided for the establishment of Area
Activist Quarterlies (also known as Area Committees) consisting of workplace representatives and branch officers from a given geographical area, to be smaller than the existing Regions. These resemble the AEEU's District Committees. The
518:
Amicus was primarily a sector-based union. The industrial sectors were responsible for electing the majority of
National Executive Committee members, and had the right to submit the majority of motions to the Policy and Rules Conferences. The remainder of NEC positions were regional and women's
559:
The sectoral nature of Amicus contrasts with MSF where branches and regions held the majority of control and where branches were entitled to directly elect delegates to national policy and rules conferences. In Amicus, all conference delegates must be elected by a
National Sector, Women's or
581:. In a legal statement the union's head of information systems said he was instructed by a senior official to amend voting software to allow 730,000 members to vote rather than the correct figure of 618,000, by including former members who had left the union in the preceding two years.
645:
Amicus wrote and created the role of the Trade Union
Disability Champion@Work. Funded initially by a European grant under the Year of Disabled People 2003 there are now over a thousand Champions from nearly 40 trade unions operating in workplaces across the UK and Ireland.
585:
first Quarterlies took place in April 2006, and will be convened four times per year. The primary purpose of the Quarterlies is to allow local activists to share information on local issues such as redundancies and industrial disputes, and co-ordinate local campaigns.
551:, were by their nature small, and made representations to the NEC and the General Secretary in which they pointed out that a small branch is not necessarily an inactive one. As of October 2006 the results of the branch consultation had not been published.
605:
The only Rules Conference of Amicus took place in 2005. The next Rules Conference was planned to take place in 2009, but following the merger with the T+G it is now likely to take place in 2010, as part of the wider
800:
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than Branch Secretary needed the NEC's consent. A further exception was made for the equalities committees, where a committee member was expected to be in employment but did not need to be a representative.
539:. Each region had a Regional Council which met every two months and was composed of about 35 delegates, elected by regional Sector, Women's, Equalities and Branch Conferences.
359:
who took office in January 2003. In May 2003, Simpson became General Secretary in his own right following the departure of Lyons. 'Amicus' was chosen from the suggestion of
355:. When the merger came into force they both became Joint General Secretaries of Amicus. The AEEU section held an election in July 2002, and Sir Ken Jackson was replaced by
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307:, predominantly in the private sector. At the 2005 TUC Congress it was reported that Amicus had 1,200,000 members of whom 266,986 were female and 933,014 male.
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that would be expensive to remove. For many years Amicus also owned and operated its own Technical Training Department which was based at Cudham Hall in Kent.
573:
exposure of the practice. In June 2002, The AEEU section London and south-east regional secretary, Roger Maskell, resigned following complaints by candidate
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287:, which became the biggest trade union in the UK at the time. It retained that status until late 2018, when it was overtaken in membership numbers by
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In the 2002 General Secretary election, several officials of the AEEU section admitted to double-voting at different branches after a
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of tampering of computer voting records. Roger Maskell subsequently started a constructive dismissal action at an
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place on an annual basis. Similarly, Regional Councils meet every two months as opposed to monthly under MSF.
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697:"UNISON celebrates becoming the UK's biggest union | Article, News | News | UNISON National"
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642:) still operate. Lay members and Amicus employees participate in all these caucuses.
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aims and objectives. There was an attempt to launch an "Amicus The Union Network" or
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the union. However, within the AEEU, branches were often chaired by Officers.
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www.amicus.cc unofficial website – 'what's really going on in our union'
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in south-east London. The union ran two of its own colleges,
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adjacent offices in order to reduce the property portfolio.
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Amicus had a corporate office at 35 King Street in London's
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Equalities Conference or a Regional Branch Conference.
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http://www.amicustheunion.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=6049
323:. The Amicus UK Parliamentary Group included about 120
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announced that Amicus was to begin discussions with a
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In late 2004 two other major unions joined Amicus –
824:"Jackson 'deeply involved' in vote rigging scandal"
51:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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716:"Super union manages to unite on a name at last"
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335:When the merger to form Amicus was agreed, the
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383:(the union for the finance industry) and the
390:During 2005 discussions started between the
250:Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union
494:. A further facility, Whitehall College in
363:MEP for the name of this new union for its
252:), agreed in 2001, and two smaller unions,
919:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom
764:"Union official quits in vote rigging row"
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909:2001 establishments in the United Kingdom
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260:. Amicus also organised in both parts of
111:Learn how and when to remove this message
737:"Union officials admit double vote scam"
240:was the United Kingdom's second-largest
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602:the 2005 Policy and Rules Conferences.
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451:periods between meetings of the NEC.
822:Maguire, Kevin (30 September 2002).
49:adding citations to reliable sources
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934:Trade unions disestablished in 2007
714:Buckley, Christine (2 April 2007).
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279:On 1 May 2007 it merged with the
246:Manufacturing Science and Finance
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893:UK and US unions in merger talks
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735:Maguire, Kevin (25 April 2002).
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385:Graphical, Paper and Media Union
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914:Defunct trade unions of Ireland
762:Maguire, Kevin (12 June 2002).
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36:needs additional citations for
16:British trade union (2001–2007)
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315:Amicus was affiliated to the
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527:Amicus had 12 regions –
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432:multinational companies
409:reported that the name
295:Industry representation
311:Political affiliations
875:United Kingdom portal
403:However, on 2 April,
266:Trades Union Congress
196:United Kingdom &
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434:and their managers.
45:improve this article
650:General Secretaries
579:employment tribunal
428:United Steelworkers
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703:. 6 November 2018.
496:Bishop's Stortford
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832:. Retrieved
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38:verification
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671:Roger Lyons
661:Roger Lyons
657:Ken Jackson
640:AEEU United
632:ATU Network
622:exist. The
608:Unite union
464:Esher Place
345:Roger Lyons
242:trade union
213:1.2 million
138:Predecessor
101:August 2019
903:Categories
799:. London.
683:References
628:broad left
331:Foundation
173:1 May 2007
71:newspapers
721:The Times
492:Sheffield
406:The Times
367:meaning:
209:Members
184:, England
170:Dissolved
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801:Archived
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