Unite (British trade union)
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| Founded | 2007 |
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| Members | 1,382,126 (2015) |
| Head union | Workers Uniting |
| Affiliation | TUC, ICTU, AfF, CSEU, Labour (Britain),Labour (Ireland) |
| Key people | Len McCluskey (general secretary) |
| Office location | 128 Theobald's Road, Holborn, London |
| Country | United Kingdom & Ireland |
| Website | www |
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. It is the largest trade union in the UK and Ireland. The General Secretary of Unite is Len McCluskey.
On 2 July 2008, Unite signed an agreement to merge with the United Steelworkers to form a new global union entity called Workers Uniting which represents over 3 million members in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, North America and the Caribbean. Unite retains its separate identity in the United Kingdom.
As part of the merger process, a Joint Executive Council (formed of the executives of both the predecessor unions) took office on the vesting day. In March 2008, a new Executive Council for the expanded Union was elected, taking office on 1 May 2008 and having a three-year term.The Executive Council was tasked with putting a new Unite rulebook to a postal ballot of members during July 2008. The rule book was accepted by a majority of members and will not be subject to amendment until a Rules Conference is held.
The first reduced unified Unite Executive Council was elected in 2011
The first single General secretary of Unite Len McCluskey was elected in December 2010 on a platform of unification and standing for one term of office only.
The Unite special Rules Conference in 2010 agreed a rule change including a formula for how seats will be allocated on the UNITE Executive Council which takes office in 2011. There are a number of factions within Unite.
A private presentation given by Unite's former joint general secretary Tony Woodley showed that membership of the union had stood at 1.44 million in 2007 but declined by 262,740 between 2007 and 2010. During 2012, despite wider falling trade union membership and the tough economic climate, Unite increased its membership by more than 50,000 members.
In June 2011, Unite publicly criticised the serving coalition government for a number of cuts in public services caused a result of the reduction of public funding, in particular cuts to the National Health Service (NHS). Ron Singer, a retired GP of 30 years and Unite member, claimed that there were "serious concerns" over the future of the NHS. However, the union were heavily criticised and accused of scaremongering over similar comments.
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