Previous Stories July 2004

amicus.cc exclusive!
General Secretary Lyons forced out!
In a stunning ruling, Joint General Secretary Roger Lyons has been forced to stand down with immediate effect, following a complaint by a member of amicus. The enforcement order was issued today by the independent Trade Union Certification Officer (CO), who included Lyons' Private and Confidential contract in his judgement.

Lyons has done no work for the union for almost a year, and had a very generous secret contract that paid him his full salary (over £103,000 pa) to carry on not working until August 2007. The multi-million pound package, negotiated by Lyons, also gave him his car, phone, pension payments and any pay rises that General Secretary Derek Simpson gets in the next 3 years.

In August 2007 Lyons plans to retire on full pension as if he had worked until that date. However part of his plan involved evading an election which, by law, would have been due in January 2003. Lyons achieved this illegal evasion by manipulating his own retirement date; his aim was to try and take advantage of an exemption offered by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act. The Act normally requires General Secretaries to stand for election every 5 years; Lyons was last elected as far back as April 1997. Had he stood in 2003 there is little doubt that members would have thrown him out following the corruption scandal in the union surrounding his expense claims.

It remains to be seen if the current NEC are prepared to honour Lyons' extravagant contract given that it was the means by which Lyons broke the law. The member who made the complaint plans to turn up at his local police station with the Certification Office decision to see if Lyons can be charged with obtaining monies by deception. The amount of members' money involved in Lyons' contract is well over £500,000. The extra hit on the amicus staff, from their pension scheme, is estimated at between one and two million pounds.

The member, David Beaumont, pursued a complaint originally made by current NEC member Dave Hutchinson, who had done much of the groundwork. Dave uncovered Lyons' secret contract, which (despite the CO's 'balance of probability' ruling), was in fact never shown to the MSF NEC, let alone members, in blatant breach of:

i) undertakings by Lyons himself 'There are no secret clauses and that is how it will remain while I am General Secretary'
ii) the NEC '..committed to a policy of open information and full democratic accountability'
iii) MSF rule 46 'Conditions of employment shall be recorded in the minutes and reported to Annual Conference'
iv) MSF policy '..any attempts to facilitate secret payments constitutes misappropriation of funds'

New! [Sunday Times] 'Fat cat' union leader gets deal to do nothing
[Certification Office] Decision in Beaumont v amicus
[amicus.cc] Lyons' contract
[Roger Lyons] Lyons' promise
[MSF NEC] NEC promise
[MSF] MSF Rule 46
[The late Hugh MacGrillen] MSF Policy
[amicus.cc] Make a donation to amicus.cc
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th May 2004, updated 16th May 2004

amicus.cc exclusive!
Job with the Union? Join New Labour and pass MI5 vetting
An extraordinary internal amicus MSF document has come to light as a result of an Employment Tribunal. It reveals routine vetting of union staff by MI5 and in amicus, outrageous political interference by amicus Joint General Secretary Roger Lyons. The document is an internal MSF memo to the then MSF President Dave Cooke regarding a Full Time Officer job. The selection panel had agreed to appoint one Stephen Smith, the victim here. The memo identifies 'concern that [Stephen Smith] was hostile to the Labour party'. It goes on:

"I suggested that if he wanted to work for MSF he might want to now join the Labour party. He said he would."

The memo writer then proceeded to check with John Sheldon, the then right-wing General Secretary of the civil servant's union PCS, who gave Stephen a glowing reference. All running smoothly so far then.

But Stephen's fortunes took a turn for the worse when Amicus Joint General Secretary Roger Lyons got involved. Would-be peer Lyons contacted his pal Lord Bill Brett, an established right winger. Brett declared Stephen to be "politically extreme left". Stephen's crime was to be connected to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, a body to which MSF officially affiliate and support. The memo goes on:

"Roger told me there were messages on my mobile from Marion [Marion Watson Blake, Roger Lyons' secretary] telling me not to appoint Stephen."

The memo writer then spoke to Paul Noon, General Secretary of the managerial union IPMS, Stephen's previous employer. In an extraordinary revelation Noon revealed that the IPMS routinely submit their staff to positive vetting by the security services, MI5!

"They [IPMS] were possibly going to have him 'positively vetted' by the security services"
"The IPMS did not like to have any one 'fail' vetting."

It seems Stephen was still hanging on to his appointment, until General Secretary Roger Lyons put the final boot in; the memo writer concludes:

"Subsequently Roger told me that he had another conversation with Bill [Lord Brett] who was reaffirming his concerns about Stephen's politics and also now saying Stephen was lazy."

The Job finally went to hardened Lyons supporter Tommy Keogh. It would appear that Stephen Smith is unaware of all of this.

The Employment Tribunal at which this memo has been revealed has been brought by Barbara Martin, chair of the Northern Ireland Health Services branch, who also applied for a Full Time Officer position. Instead of her, the job was awarded to Kevin McAdam, a vociferous supporter of Lyons in his campaign to remove rival left General Secretary candidate Joe Bowers from office.

The tribunal resumes in Belfast tomorrow (10th May), when ex President of MSF Laurence Galbraith will give evidence in support of Barbara. amicus MSF have already made two cash offers to settle - both of which have been turned down.
[amicus.cc] Internal memo to Dave Cooke President, cc Roger Lyons
[amicus.cc] Previous Story: Corrupt Employer, Corrupt Union?
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 9th May 2004, updated 10th May 2004

Amicus Europe U turn (again)
In the complete absence of a democratic policy let alone anything to actually vote 'Yes' on yet, amicus has declared it will support a 'yes' campaign in the forthcoming Euro referendum. Seemingly the union press officer Richard O'Brien made this policy up on the spot the very day Blair announced his U turn. In fact amicus had existing policy against a federal Europe, inherited from the MSF side of the merger. However the discredited ex amicus General Secretary Sir Ken Jackson was a strong supporter of 'Britain in Europe', donating much of members money and resources to the campaign. Shortly to be deposed Spare General Secretary Roger Lyonss also very pro-Europe.

New! [Belfast Telegraph] Union to back Labour
[The Times] Amicus to back the 'yes' campaign;EU Referendum
[amicus.cc] Previous Story: Lyons tries to bounce Simpson into Euro
[The Times] Previous Story: Union moves against euro
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th May 2004

Union chief in vote-rigging row up for peerage
By Barrie Clement,Labour Editor, Independent
06 April 2004

The Prime Minister has submitted the name of Sir Ken Jackson ­ the man at the centre of a union ballot-rigging scandal ­ among his candidates for "working" peers.

As joint general secretary of the Amicus trade union, Sir Ken was one of Tony Blair's favourite trade unionists, but was also alleged to have been present when a voting scam was planned to ensure his re-election.

Sir Ken, a right-winger who was defeated in the election by the present Amicus leader Derek Simpson, received about £300,000 from the union on his retirement as a golden handshake. Supporters of Sir Ken voted more than once to nominate him in the meetings which preceded the election.

There is little doubt that, as a peer, Sir Ken would back ministers in any vote in the House of Lords aimed at wrecking or delaying legislation which had been proposed by the Government.Mr Simpson, a left-winger, said that it was "unsurprising" that leaders of large unions appeared in the honours list, especially one who has been described as Tony Blair's favourite union leader.

Other officials at the union said they had heard that Sir Ken's name had been proposed but said it would be "stupid" to do so given the backlash it would create among the unions.

Other names on the Prime Minister's draft list are understood to be: Margaret McDonagh, former general secretary of the Labour Party; Margaret Wall, a former member of the Labour executive and a former Amicus official; Philip Gould, a prime ministerial adviser and party pollster; Professor Anthony Giddens, Tony Blair's "third way" guru; and Margaret Prosser, former treasurer of the Labour Party and deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union.

The list of the "working" peers is expected to be announced within weeks.

New! [Guardian] Labour plays safe on list of peers
New! [Guardian] Union threat in peer row
[Observer] The old communists of New Labour
[Guardian] Union threat to cut Labour funding in peer row
[Tribune] Previous story: 'Amicus Officers hit Retirement Paydirt'
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 20th April 2004

Short Shrift from Simpson
Derek Simpson, described by Rupert Murdoch's Times as 'the influential left-wing leader of the Amicus union', joins in the apparently orchestrated condemnation of Clare Short. This is over her revelations that the US bugged the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, and fed the UK the transcripts. On Short, Simpson is quoted:

“I find it amazing. I cannot understand why and what it has added to the discussion except to create anger about a subject that is at present the least relevant. We need to be concerned about ensuring that a Labour Government is kept in power.”

The Times reports that "a series of heavyweight figures spread the message that Ms Short was pursuing an agenda against Tony Blair."

Seemingly the UK government's GCHQ bugging centre have a swap deal with the US National Security Agency (NSA): GCHQ bug US citizens for the NSA while the NSA bug UK citizens for GCHQ. This cozy arrangement allows Home Secretary Blunkett to declare that we don't bug UK citizens without a warrant (we just get the US to do it for us instead).

You can bet that if GCHQ get transcripts of the UN General Secretary's private conversations, they also get transcripts of what an 'influential left-wing' union General Secretary is up to. So it's all the more sad to see that while the amicus leadership has been so quiet about the invasion of Iraq, when our union finally does speak up it joins in not to condemn illegal war and bugging but to support the witchhunt against the whistleblowers. We would hate to think that GCHQ/NSA are past the stage of needing to bug amicus.....
[Times] Ministers act to leave Short out in the cold
[Guardian] Short left isolated
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 28th February 2004

Minister gets Slapped Wrist for £50,000 AEEU Scam
More whitewash in government. Junior minister John Spellar got an official rebuke for failing to declare the use of benefits estimated at £50,000. The House of Commons committee on standards and privileges said there was no need for further action against the MP. This Guardian article omits the amount involved, for that see Private Eye. No mention of the car either, see the previous amicus.cc article for that.
[Guardian] Spellar rebuked over office complaint
[Private Eye] Previous story - Interfering in amicus
[amicus.cc] Previous story - Minister failed to declare £4,500 a year amicus 'Benefit'
[amicus.cc] Previous story - amicus 'coup plot' by junior minister
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 12th February 2004

Hutton Washes Whiter
Hutton is no stranger to whitewashes. In Ireland in 1972 he played a key role in the judicial cover-up called the Widgery Inquiry. Widgery absolved British troops of murder when they shot 13 civilians on Bloody Sunday. Then in 1978 Hutton defended the British Government before the European Court of Human Rights against a famous ruling that it had tortured detainees from the Irish conflict. In 1999 Hutton led the rightwing attack on Lord Hoffman, responsible for the arrest of CIA backed Chilean mass murderer General Pinochet in London. More recently, Hutton ruled that David Shayler, the former MI5 agent, could not argue he was acting in the public interest by revealing secrets. Huttons distasteful career peaked in 2003 when he was personally selected by Tony Blair to lead 'the Hutton Inquiry'.
[Indymedia UK] Who Is Hutton? - revealing history
[amicus.cc] Other Indy Media news sites
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 30th January 2004

TGWU suspends leaders
Maybe amicus's recent election, in which the Left won only 48% of the seats despite getting over 65% of the votes, was not so bad after all. Our independent Election Commissioner, Professor William Brown, has yet to rule on the complaints, however in the TGWU their appointed professor has already reported "what appears to be serious wrongdoing". There are allegations that up to half the TGWU's Scottish ballot papers were forged. This does make failed amicus candidate Dave Houliston's 'print your own' nomination paper scam look amateurish by comparison.
[The Herald] Union suspends leaders in vote rigging row
New [Evening Times] Union chief denies 'dirty tricks' claims over merger
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st January 2004

Unions in slanging match
'Enormous redundancy payoffs' for full time officials feature in this dispute between the T&G, amicus and the GPMU. This time it's not amicus paying. The dispute flared last month after the leadership of the 200,000-strong GPMU narrowly voted to begin merger talks with Amicus.
[The Herald] Unions in slanging match over merger partners
[Evening Times] Union chief denies 'dirty tricks' claims over merger
New [PrintWeek] GPMU members vote for amicus
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 20th January 2004, updated 6th February 2004

Hugh MacGrillen
Hugh MacGrillen, suspended Secretary of amicus MSF London Region, died yesterday morning peacefully in his sleep. He had borne his cancer with fortitude and courage, and to the end was anxious to hear news of the progress of the left in the merged union.

Hugh was a staunch campaigner and battler for the left, badly treated and abused by ex-General Secretary Lyons and his cronies inside MSF. What an irony that he should die, still suspended for supporting Ken Livingstone in 1999, in the week of Ken's re-admission to the Labour Party.

Those who witch hunted Hugh should hang their heads in shame. They stooped so low during his terminal illness as to hold their disciplinary against him in abeyance, just in case he recovered from inoperable lung cancer.

He will be sadly missed by the left in London and by political colleagues both inside and outside of the union. amicus.cc will carry a full obituary shortly.
[Trade Union Review] 'The MSF Witch Hunt – A History' by Hugh MacGrillen
[amicus.cc] 'Is MSF a corrupt organisation?' by Hugh MacGrillen
[rogerlyons.com] Hugh's humorous account of the Lyons v Marcia Solomon Tribunal
New [London Hazards Centre] Hugh MacGrillen
New [Ian Rez] Speech at Hugh's funeral
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th January 2004, updated 21st January 2004

More NEC Expenses Revealed
The Annual Return for the union for 2002 has finally been published, well over six months late and coincidentally just after the National Executive (NEC) elections are done with.

The Return, obtained by amicus.cc, details some of the expense claims of the old NEC; by law they are forced to declare loss-of-earnings claims. Travel, sustenance, hotel, bar bills, takeaways, video recorders, radios, wine, briefcases and bun claims are not declared.

On the MSF side the statistical correlation between loss-of-earnings claimants and NEC seat losers is an amazing 100%. The four claimants Bob Braddock, Dave Houliston, John Gardner and Leonie Cooper are all no longer on the NEC. Serial expense claimer Braddock tops the list as usual, but this time with a personal best of £6,451.

If anyone can explain Houliston's claim of £3,760 please write in, we had always understood that health authorities allowed members to work for the union in the employer's time. Failed businessman John Gardner accepted a full time job with amicus, organising in the West Midlands. The salary's not so brilliant but we hear the pension may be pretty good (he retires this year, an amazingly short career with the union). If anyone has seen Gardner doing any organising by the way, please write in too, jokes abound in Head Office about Gardner's Gardening leave. Leonie Cooper, star of the previous rigged election in amicus MSF, has thankfully disappeared without trace, possibly to darken the doorsteps of Labour party constituencies.

The AEEU executive payments have always been a mystery, who is Mike Hubbold for example, what are his 'delegations and allowances' and why does he get away with a whopping £15,000? Did he pay tax on that?
[amicus] Official Annual Return
[amicus.cc] Original story 'NEC Expenses'.
[amicus.cc] Ex-National Executive Member Bob Braddock
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 8th January 2004

Ex National Executive Member Bob Braddock
Arising from correspondence with solicitors acting for Mr Braddock, amicus.cc have made the following changes to our story dated 17th November 2003, 'NEC Expenses revealed: we have replaced this sentence on expenses

"If they were anywhere near 31% of the total this would come to over £50,000 for this year alone, a staggeringly high amount for any un-salaried 'lay' member of the union."

with

"If any one NEC member were to account for anywhere near 30% of the total for all NEC members this would come to over £36,000 for this year alone, a staggeringly high amount for any un-salaried 'lay' member of the union."

We do not imply and have never intended to imply that Mr Braddock has claimed £50,000 in expenses this year. As the article made clear we do not know what his expense claims amount to. In addition the sentence

"the amicus Executive donated £11,000 this year to Braddock's employer the Merseyside Unemployment Centre (MUC)."

has been replaced with

"The amicus MSF General Purposes and Finance Committee (Chair one Bob Braddock) handed over £11,000 to Braddock's employer the Merseyside Unemployment Centre (MUC). Braddock relinquished the chair for this decision to 'avoid a conflict of interest'."

Also the sentence

"Looking at MUC's accounts, we would expect Braddock to have a salary of almost £40,000 a year from them."

has been replaced with

"Braddock's salary from MUC is just under £24,000 a year. With his loss-of-earnings claims from the union currently running at over £6,000 a year this would indicate that he spends an amazing 25% of his employer's time working for the union. "

We apologise for these errors and we are happy to correct and clarify the position with this apology. amicus.cc are always happy to set the record straight. Sadly Mr Braddock did not win re-election to the amicus NEC.
[amicus.cc] Original story 'NEC Expenses'.
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th January 2004

'Amicus Launches its Own Big Communication'
The union have issued a news release about the new union which officially starts today. Read it first on amicus.cc. New Labour speak still seems to be alive and well in the communications department. Also check out the new-look official website (which doesn't have the press release).
[amicus] Official amicus News Release
[amicustheunion.org] New official website
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 1st January 2004

Former Amicus chief pockets £220,000
A confidential internal Amicus report says Sir Ken Jackson made an estimated £200,000 on property deals, partly financed with union loans: "He managed to exploit the property inflation cycle to quite an extraordinary degree" the report notes with a distinct trace of irony. Sir Ken has threatened to sue Amicus over the report.

About a dozen former Amicus-AEEU officials are to continue receiving up to £750,000 between them for several years under a generous redundancy deal introduced in the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile in the MSF side of the new union, Assistant General Secretary and Right winger Bill Walsh, 55, is planning to retire early at the end of this year. The Union has decided to waive the normal reduction in pension benefit when someone retires 5 years before their time. It is estimated this generous dispensation will dispense another £1/4 million from the already depleted staff pension pot. Another early Xmas present from the Right wing faction, this time using amicus employees' money (albeit originally raised from members' subs), before most of them are booted off the Executive on 1st January.
[Independent] Former Amicus chief pockets £220,000
[Guardian] Amicus boss signs away property perk
[amicus] Official amicus statement
[amicus.cc] Previous Story; More Pay, More Dirt
[amicus.cc] Previous Story: Bill Walsh, How to turn £540 into £200,000 overnight
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st December 2003

Gerrymandered!

ger·ry·man·der   ( P )     tr.v. ger·ry·man·dered, ger·ry·man·der·ing, ger·ry·man·ders To divide voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections. [After Gerry, Elbridge + (sala)mander(from the shape of an election district created while Gerry was governor of Massachusetts).] It is never easy to prove gerrymandering but now the official election results are out it is obvious what the Right in amicus were up to while they had control of our union. If you total the votes for all the winning Left candidates and for all the Right, the split is 65% to 35% (see pie chart above). Yet unbelievably the Right won overall control. This is what currently passes for democracy in Britain's second largest union. [amicus.cc] Crime Does Pay [fairvote.org] What is Gerrymandering? [Guardian] Famous Gerrymanderers: Dame Shirley Porter's 'homes to get votes' New! [FAQ] Frequently Asked Questions Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th December 2003 amicus.cc breaks record - again Last week this web site received 2,190 unique visits, with one day alone accounting for 825, outstripping the previous record set only 3 weeks ago. This is believed to be way ahead of either of the official union sites. Unlike those sites we openly publish our statistics, look for the symbol at the bottom of this page [Nedstat] Independent stats [amicus.cc] Make a donation to this site Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th December 2003 More Pay, More Dirt The respected Tribune magazine have published more details of the recent payoff in amicus first published here and the Guardian and Independent. [Tribune] 'Amicus Officers hit Retirement Paydirt' [amicus.cc] Original Story Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th December 2003 Deputy Spare General Secretary Designate Anderson Apologises to GMB The dis-respectful Private Eye magazine have published more revelations of amicus's brief de-recognition of the GMB union, first published here. [Private Eye] TUC News [amicus.cc] Original Story Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th December 2003 'Left Wins Control of amicus' An optimistic article in the Times. [The Times] Left wins control of Amicus [amicus.cc] Election Analysis Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th December 2003 Election - Results in Full Finally the official results are out, read them on amicus.cc. If you would like a free Excel spreadsheet version email results@amicus.cc. [amicus.cc] Official Results text file [amicus] Official Results (large acrobat file) [amicus.cc] Previous Story - Election Analysis Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 12th December 2003 More Payoffs in amicus Now that the election is over and before the new Executive can take power the payoffs begin. One of Tony Blair's most senior lieutenants in amicus has received a 37% pay increase, giving a massive boost to her severance package. The rise granted to the former Labour Party chair Margaret Wall - more than 11 times the inflation rate - means that her "golden goodbye'' from the amicus trade union increased from about £105,000 to £135,000. The payment was based on her salary, which increased from £45,000 to £62,000. Her pension will rise by £10,000 a year. Ms Wall was a National Secretary in amicus and is to become a paid adviser to Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary. The enhanced terms and conditions enjoyed by Ms Wall, a member of Labour's national executive committee, put her comfortably above any deal awarded to Amicus members, who are receiving pay rises averaging 3.2 per cent. [Independent] Severance package for amicus Blair lieutenant is £135,000 [Guardian] MP attacks official's 33% rise [amicus.cc] Biggest payoff discovered so far - £1/2 million [amicus.cc] Spare General Secretary Lyons' Golden Parachute - £103,500 a year Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 12th December 2003 Election Analysis Once past the initial disappointment that the Left didn't quite gain a majority, a look at the statistics does give considerable cause to celebrate. On the MSF side, the 6 1/2* Left executive members out of 37 (including Dr Sue Michie, suspended by the Right from the date of her election) have now been boosted to 23 members; This represents a massive increase of 265% and an unprecedented swing to the Left of 30%. Turnout was low as usual at 14% but not bad considering the appalling state of our membership lists. You will hear all sorts of reasons for this tremendous boost. We can't help feeling it's because at last the copious evidence of the corruption and sleaze endemic in both AEEU and MSF has finally seeped out to the members; perhaps not to every member but certainly to those members motivated to vote. The days when corruption was kept hushed up with £1/2 million payoffs and with union magazines peddling credit cards and loans to members instead of proper communication are gone. No longer can the head of finance steal £10,000 a year from the union unnoticed, can union employees rig branch records to get Sir Ken Jackson nominated, can General Secretary Lyons claim expenses worth 20% of his salary without being brought to the attention and account of members. You can fool all of the members some of the time, some of the members all of the time but you can't fool all the members all of the time. * the half knows who he is, probably. [Full Results] [amicus.cc] Keep this site running Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 10th December 2003 NEC Election - Final Results The final results are here. The Right wing have a 2 seat majority on the new amicus executive, holding 25 posts against the Left's 23. This is a massive gain for the Left in the face of blatant election rigging; the Right fully utilised the union machine, gerrymandering constituencies and screwing up the nomination notifications of Left branches. Members will now have to trust in at least 2 of the Right wingers having some honesty and conscience, assuming that is that none of the Left winners sell out. The union at last has a chance to shake off its long standing corruption, rampant in both the AEEU and MSF sides. [Full Results] Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 9th December 2003 Mixed Election Results Official results for the amicus National Executive (NEC) elections are not due until Wednesday, however we can reveal the results so far (seats won by the Left out of the total): Energy: 0/1 Food Drink & Tobacco: 0/1 North East: 1/1 East Mids: 0/1 Aerospace: 2/3 Electrical: 1/2 Health: 3/3 Eastern: 0/1 London: 0/1 South East: 0/1 South West: 1/1 Total so far 8/16 Right wing candidates whose behaviour merited a mention on amicus.cc have fared badly; serial expense claimer Bob Braddock looks likely to lose and nomination form filler Dave Houliston was trounced into 6th place in the Health sector. Mark Riches, named in the last election rigging scandal, lost his seat and hopes are high that Leonie Cooper, who 'won' that last rigged election, may also lose tomorrow. However the Right candidate Mo Bonnest, who famously professed in front of London Reginal Council that she had never read the new rule book but had voted for it, incredibly beat regional secretary Pete Gillard for the London NEC position. Suspicions are that a block of CMA votes were moved into the region. Next update 7pm Tuesday approx. Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 8th December 2003 Shorts pays out £117,500 to ex-amicus Reps Strike-hit company Bombardier Shorts has agreed to pay out £117,500 to settle cases of alleged discrimination. The cases involved five amicus trade union shop stewards, from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, who made allegations of religious, political and sex discrimination. Among the five are senior reps Frank Cammock and Kevin Doherty (both illegally suspended by the then amicus General Secretary Roger Lyons), and Noelle Boyle. These three were 'coincidentally' selected for redundancy at the aerospace giant last year, and lost their jobs. The most outrageous aspect of the whole affair is amicus MSF's cosy relationship with Shorts' management - as a result the shop floor reps were not assisted by amicus and got funding instead from the Equality Commission, when they ran out of money ex amicus official (and Lyons' opponent in the last General Secretary election) Joe Bowers represented them (and did an excellent job too). Here's what the then MSF president said in the-speech-they-tried-to-ban about Joe's time at Shorts "Full time officer Joe Bowers was forced out because he told the truth about Bombardier Shorts. I find MSF's behaviour utterly disgusting and distasteful and it only confirms to me and conference once again the transparent collusion between the management at Bombardier Shorts and the union." [Belfast Telegraph] Shorts pays out £117k [Private Eye] TUC News [Belfast Telegraph] Aerospace firm complained about MSF personnel [amicus.cc] Lyons found guilty by Certification Officer [Belfast Telegraph] Bombardier pair are taking legal advice [amicus.cc] Original story: Corrupt Employer, Corrupt Union, or both together? Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 4th December 2003 Amicus Calls Off Shorts Strike amicus workers at the Shorts Aerospace company are to end their strike, breaking ranks with the TGWU. Shop stewards from the Amicus union have agreed to back a deal under there will be no redundancies before the end of March and a controversial new shift system will be discussed as part of pay negotiations. Over 4,000 members of Amicus and the TGWU went on strike last week in a dispute over pay and cost-cutting. Talks between the company and the the TGWU, which represents almost 1,000 workers still on strike, were continuing. [Reuters] Union to end strike [amicus.cc] Original story: Corrupt Employer, Corrupt Union, or both together? Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 3rd December 2003 LRD: Amicus in "rigging" claim Yesterday's highly respected Labour Research Department magazine covers more detail on the main election rigging scandal in amicus, first reported in the Guardian and here on amicus.cc. Their companion article covers the GMB union being told to re-run one of their elections. [LRD] Amicus in "rigging" claim [amicus.cc] Original story [LRD] Labour Research Department main web site Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 1st December 2003 Lyons detained in Israel Hungary, Rome, Columbia, now Israel. amicus Spare General Secretary Lyons does get around since his retirement on full pay+20%. Not only did he get detained, this time he had something useful to say. And what does it say about the current state of Israel, now that they are detaining the very Chairman of the Trade Union Friends of Israel? [HAARETZ.com] British trade unionist, detained at checkpoint [rogerlyons.com] Roger Lyons tribute site Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 29th November 2003 A Colour Photo Finish for the Right Following the glossy promotion of the Right's election candidates in last weeks 'MSF Works' (annual cost to members £1/2 million) the Southern Region magazine SIN [honest that's its name!] has just done exactly the same. No Left candidates are mentioned. The famous David Houliston takes the "Southern Industry News" Sycophancy Stakes in the final (Winter 2003) edition by a nose from Brian Wood and a distance from other NEC candidates. Brian had a 930 word article two photos & contact info; Houliston squeaked home with 4 photos and a 850 word article, a separate mention in the Education report and email and phone info twice each. Bunched behind, finding the going uncomfortable, were Jane Lewis and Ian Templeton (both Finance) and Judy Box (Women's Seat) with 500 word articles, one photo and one set of contact information each. Trailing in at the finish was Olivia Roche (Finance) with a 56 word mention & Jenni Kay and Janet Downie (Health Service) - shared photo with Houliston and Dr John Reid, with name and occupation cited. SIN editor and New Labourite (Millbank tendancy) Paul Matz already has one conviction from the previous Leonie Cooper election rigging scandal. [S.I.N.] (amicus.cc are not responsible for the content of external sites) [amicus.cc] Original story - the election rigging commences Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 23rd November 2003 amicus.cc breaks record Last week this web site received 650 unique visits in one day, outstripping the previous record of 420. We now receive well over 3,000 visits a month, rumoured to be more than either of the official union web sites. Unlike those sites we openly publish our statistics, look for the symbol at the bottom of this page [Nedstat] Independent stats Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 23rd November 2003 amicus at the Employment Appeal Tribunal An EAT hearing on Friday heard amicus member David Beaumont's application for compensation following his illegal expulsion after 20 years of membership. David was expelled for his web site www.rogerlyons.com but was re-instated after 7 months when the National Executive Committee (NEC) sought legal advice. The advice concluded that their act was illegal. The whole morning was taken up with arguments from the union's highly paid barrister and from David about whether the tribunal could hear the case. A decision on this was reserved and will probably be announced after Xmas. The afternoon was spent discussing which documents the union must disclose to David (for example the complaints that resulted in his expulsion, which he has never seen). The union barrister did concede that David had not in any way deserved to be expelled and had not done anything to contribute to his expulsion. This concession is binding on the NEC and flatly contradicts their statement at the time of his re-instatement: "The NEC remains of the view that the correct factual decision was taken concerning Mr Beaumont and that the allegations made against him were proper." NEC minutes 14th Sept 2002 The concession appears designed to limit the area of investigation of the tribunal, it may now not cover Lyons and his 25p bun, the subject of much of www.rogerlyons.com. Coincidentally retired Spare General Secretary Lyons is now a member of the EAT having failed in the selection process according to the Guardian. [amicus.cc] Further and better particulars of the case [amicus.cc] Original story Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 23rd November 2003 Caught at it? NEC member caught with smoking nomination forms Veteran Right-winger, National Executive (NEC) member and candidate in this week's election Dave Houliston appears to have found the nomination procedure he signed off too cumbersome for himself. He provided copies of nomination forms, pre-filled in with his details, on the Internet to be downloaded. They were made available exclusively to his own supporters via his secret email group, to which amicus.cc has obtained access. This bypassed the full time staff who are meant to distribute the forms (blank) and the strict procedure, which is: "Nomination forms... will be available from union offices. Nomination forms should be obtained personally by those so entitled, and should not be photocopied or obtained en mass for wider distribution." Is this the most blatant example of election rigging so far? Judge for yourself: [Full Story] Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 20th November 2003 NEWS FLASH Official suspended re election rigging Today an amicus full time official was suspended in the West Midlands, allegedly for spending their working day out canvassing the factory they cover, with two Right-wing candidates in tow. More soon....... Many reports of rigging by the Right have been coming in, one major scandal in the Health sector we cannot cover (yet) for legal reasons, but watch this space. New! Health sectory story now revealed, see story above! New! [Guardian] Lyons complains of 'Trotskyist plot' Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 19th November, updated 20th November 2003 2003 NEC Expenses Revealed amicus.cc have finally obtained a breakdown of the expense claims of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the corrupt amicus union. Up until now the only figures published were loss-of-earnings claims, which the union is obliged by law to disclose, and the total running costs of the NEC, which are down from a whopping £1/4 million in 1999 to a still hefty £120,635 for this year to October. The loss-of-earnings claims would typically only account for 10% of the total cost, with the remaining 90% hidden. Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons has a breakdown of NEC expenses by type and we publish that here. The totals are down but still high by anyone's standards. The most remarkable figure is the decline in NEC member's sustenance claims, down 66% on 2000, the very year Lyons bought his 25p current bun. Why would that be then? [Full Story] [amicus.cc] NEC Elections - your chance to throw the right out. Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 17th November 2003 Lyons not dieting in Rome this October No sex. Please We did wonder what the Spare General Secretary of amicus would do now that he has retired on full pay + 20%. Well, members may be pleased to see that Roger Lyons is still earning the £103,500 a year package that comes from our subs: He is commissioning surveys on sex and promoting the reputation of the union throughout the World. Around 19% of people questioned by amicus said their sex life suffered because they worked too hard. The poll of 3,500 workers also revealed that most did not have enough time to spend with their partners or children. Roger 'I work 24 7' Lyons commented "Forcing people to work excessive hours is the work equivalent to a low carb diet" This year the well fed Lyons has been 'working 24 7' in Hungary and Rome complete with family, next January they will be off to Columbia. On trade union business of course. [The Age, Australia] No sex please, we're Brits [amicus.cc] Lyons 'working 24 7' in Hungary this year [Washing Times, USA] All work, no play, no sex [Liverpool] Workers too tired for loving Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 13th November The election rigging commences... amicus was in turmoil last night over allegations that Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons abused the organisation's funds to promote the interests of himself, Tony Blair and New Labour. An inquiry has been launched into complaints that the union's £500,000 magazine was used to promote Blairites in the election campaign at amicus. In a reference to Mr Lyons' expected elevation to the peerage, one left-winger alleged that Mr Lyons was "earning his ermine" by advancing the careers of New Labour loyalists at amicus. MSF Works is a very tedious rag to trawl through, nonetheless here are the results. Of the 80 odd candidates only these ten got a mention, a story, a picture and/or quote in 'MSF Works'. Often all four. Strangely they are all Right-wingers and Lyons supporters: Bob Braddock North West page 25 mention, page 29 picture Janet Downie Women's Seats page 18 two pictures, quote Michelle Evans Wales page 17 mention, page 18 two quotes Alastair Fraser South West page 8 story, quote and picture, page 13 quote and story Simon Hemmings East Midlands page 13 quote and story, page 21 picture, quote and story Jane Lewis Women's Seats page 11 story, quote and picture Rod Pickford North West page 13 picture, quote and story Dave Trafford North West page 16 picture, story and quote, page 17 quote, page 29 picture Brenda Warrington page 13 quote, page 18 picture and quote, page 28 picture, two quotes and story Dorothy Wilson Women's Seats page 18 picture Where their name has a link above this means that amicus.cc has covered them too, in a less complimentary way. Senior amicus officials including the personal assistant to Spare General Secretary Lyons were found guilty of election rigging earlier this year. [Guardian] Candidates plugged in glossy mag [Independent] Union chief accused of using funds to boost New Labour [amicus.cc] NEC Election Who's Who New! [Guardian] Earning the ermine Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 11th November, updated 12th November 2003 Report estimates Iraq death toll at 55,000, Bush to visit UK The medical charity Medact has estimated that between 22,000 and 55,000 people - mainly Iraqi soldiers and civilians - died as a direct result of the Bush and Blair invasion of Iraq. Meanwhile war architect Bush is facing a massive demonstration on his visit to London next Thursday, 20th November. [BBC] Iraq faces severe health crisis [Stop the War Coalition] Demo information Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 11th November 2003 'There's a lacuna in my briefs' The old guard at the corrupt amicus union lost another Employment Tribunal last Friday. This case was against a member they had illegally expelled over the anti-corruption web site rogerlyons.com (named after the spare General Secretary of amicus). The union's highly paid barrister was poorly informed, slipping into Latin at one point to apologise to the Chair "there's a lacuna [gap] in my brief", in the manner of a parent trying to exclude a child from a conversation, 'pas devant les enfants'. The document she was missing is this one. The union lost their application to set aside the award of costs. However in their separate application to reduce the amount, they did knock £346 off the £1,381 award. We estimate the legal fees they paid to do this at about £3,000 of members money. In his summing up the Chair repeated some damning condemnations of the union: "We have no hesitation in upholding costs expenses for the applicant", "A cynical attempt by the Respondent to stave off the evil hour", "The Applicant's behaviour in regard to costs and compensation could not be criticised" "The Respondent did not comply with any of the directions of the directions hearing" [amicus.cc] Independent account of the hearing [David Beaumont] What it was all about [David Beaumont] Costs application [amicus.cc] Original Story [David Beaumont] Original ET hearing [Employment Tribunal] Original ET Summary decision [Employment Tribunal] Original ET Extended Reasons New! [Employment Tribunal] ET Review Extended Reasons Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th November 2003, updated 19th November 2003 Michael Howard Now that the nocturnal Michael Howard has stitched himself into the leadership of the Conservative party, amicus.cc have located the famous Newsnight interview which won Jeremy Paxman the 1998 BAFTA's Interview of the Year award. At this time Anne Widicomb uttered the lastingly adhesive saying 'there is something of the night about Michael'. Paxman starts with "Mr Howard have you ever lied in a public statement?". Hear QC Howard dodge the same question an incredible 15 times ("did you threaten to overrule him?")! Paxman concludes with "do you seriously expect to become leader of your party?". [BBC] Click on 'Paxman interviews Howard' Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 30th October 2003 amicus de-recognises GMB Buried away on page eleven of the latest amicus National Executive minutes (MSF section) is the anti-union behaviour of our brand new Spare Deputy General Secretary Designate, Lucy Anderson. It confirms that the two GMB union reps who act for the employees of amicus have been de-recognised. While amicus is fighting for recognition at companies like BAE and Fujitsu, and having just won recognition at The Samaritans, the right wing rump that currently runs the National Executive have "withdrawn credentials" from our own staff's representatives. [Full Story] Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 19th October 2003 Chowcat payoff finally disclosed - £1/2 million amicus MSF member and ex-General Secretary of the Labour Party Jim Mortimer, 82, has finally uncovered the secret payoff made by the union to Assistant General Secretary John Chowcat four years ago. Previous guestimates of £200,000 have proved wide of the mark: Chowcat was paid benefits totalling nearly £1/2 million of members' money. [Full Story] Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 19th October 2003 Awkward War Labour officials say that an unprecedented degree of co-ordination between the "big four" - Unison, the Transport and General Workers (T&G), the GMB and Amicus - has dictated much of the agenda at last week's Labour conference. They claim the unions have refused to take part in the traditional "horse trading" with party officials and ministers. The unions hit back, launching a campaign to Reclaim the Party at a fringe meeting in Bournemouth. However 'Sir/Lord' Roger Lyons, disgraced ex-Amicus General Secretary said: "If we keep telling people that Labour is betraying working people, why will they come out and vote? I indict those union leaders who are giving that simplistic and untrue message. We must add to Labour's appeal, not detract from it." [Independent] Blair declares war on 'awkward squad' union leaders [Guardian] We gave them a bloody nose, unions boast [rogerlyons.com] Roger Lyons tribute site Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th October 2003 amicus in Private Eye [Private Eye] TUC News [amicus.cc] Original story - Minister failed to declare £4,500 a year [amicus.cc] Original story - 'the AmicusBod' Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 17th September 2003 Spare General Secretary opens Golden Parachute, Deputy Spare appointed amicus Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons has handed over all his duties, powers and responsibilities to the elected General Secretary Derek Simpson. At a meeting on Saturday the MSF National Executive agreed to nominate Lyons-lover and Right-winger Lucy Anderson as 'Spare Deputy General Secretary Designate' (SDGSD). Paul Talbot withdrew his name as a potential SDGSD, following some in-fighting between the two rival Right-wing camps of Anderson/Braddock and Talbot/Gardner (more on this soon). A Senior Management Team (SMT) of five was also agreed: Danny Carrigan Doug Collins Les Bayliss Paul Talbot Lucy Anderson Each will have a portfolio covering both sections of amicus. The AEEU side of the Joint Executive (JEC) have indicated that they will not interfere with the MSF choice at the JEC meeting this Tuesday, which will ratify the SMT and SDGSD. As part of the deal already negotiated by Lyons, the Ex Spare General Secretary will retain the title and the salary package of £103,500 a year until August 2007, with the addition of any pay rises Derek Simpson receives in that period. With his 20% pay rise and handing over of all duties, Lyons has now become both the highest paid and lowest working union leader in the UK, ever. This represents a significant personal progression for him from the dark days when he would routinely charge a 25p bun to his members. The Left MSF National Executive members refused to endorse Anderson as SDGSD on the basis that no such post exists within any rules and that there is no need for a SDGS. Anderson currently receives a basic salary of £67,980 in her post of 'Spare Assistant General Secretary' (SAGS), a post that Lyons himself had made redundant after the last Assistant General Secretary John Chowcat helped blow the whistle on Lyons' massive expense claims. [TUC] Roger Lyons is the new TUC President [rogerlyons.com] Roger Lyons tribute site Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 15th September 2003 Minister failed to declare £4,500 a year amicus 'Benefit' John Spellar also received a car from amicus Government minister John Spellar failed to declare a £4,500 a year "benefit" he received from amicus, it is revealed today in a 150-page dossier on financial irregularities at Amicus-AEEU under Sir Ken's leadership. The document has been sent to John Hendy QC, who is assessing whether there is a case for prosecution. It also contains details of controversial big pension deals to former members of the union's executive and the sale of assets, including a training company. The new general secretary of amicus Derek Simpson said "There is widespread concern about how the union was run and a number of apparent skeletons in the cupboard occasionally jump out and rattle their bones. Where we get clear evidence, in the interests of transparency and openness we will investigate and make the results public." [Independent] Minister takes five years to declare '£4,500' office space at union HQ [Guardian] Minister failed to register interest [amicus.cc] Previous story - 'coup plot' by minister Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 8th September 2003 'Derek the Red' Interview amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson has done this interview with the Guardian. [Guardian] Not awkward, he just wants his questions answered Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 8th September 2003 amicus 'coup plot' by junior minister No. 10 shows signs of interference in the forthcoming amicus National Executive elections, so much so that General Secretary Simpson has written to Blair to discuss the "meddling", including an alleged coup plot. Using the principle of 'plausible deniability' Blair appears to have been delegating the dirty work to junior minister John Spellar. On amicus.cc today we publish the Independent's article and the letter referred to in it, authored by councillor Victor P. Silvester of Brandhall Labour Club, Spellar's constituency, which invites Right-wingers to the inaugural meeting of 'Members First, For Amicus Right Minded Members'. The contentious coup plot note seen by the Guardian was headed "not to be photocopied" and signed "Yours John". The author suggested attempting to "remove" Mr Simpson by this month [December], and warned: "It will get very messy, full of legal challenges etc", adding: "We underestimated him and now he's underestimating us." [Independent] Keep minister out of union's affairs, Downing Street told [Brandhall Labour Club] 'Members First' inaugural letter [Victor P. Silvester] Author [amicus.cc] John Spellar? Who's he? New! [Guardian] Union boss demands investigation into 'coup plot' by minister Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 5th September 2003, updated same day Highest paid GS makes Private Eye (again) Having been appropriately slaughtered by tax inspectors on Unversity Challenge this week (310 points to 95) Amicus Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons is on page 7 of Private Eye with his new £103,500 salary package. [Private Eye] TUC News [amicus.cc] Original story [amicus.cc] Previous Private Eye story Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 3rd September 2003 Fat Cat Lyons settles for 20% (with a little help from his friend) Amicus Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons, after putting in for a 30% pay rise earlier this year, has settled for a 20% rise, backdated to January, in a proposal put forward by TUC General Secretary John Monks. This lucrative deal was accepted by the amicus Joint Executive on 15th July, over the heads of the MSF National Executive. Amicus.cc has seen evidence that Lyons' basic is now exactly £92,700 - with benefits a package of around £103,500, the highest paid union General Secretary in the country. The rise is a massive increase as shown by this graph, especially when you consider amicus is running with the luxury of two GSs. The three Assistant Spare General Secretaries on the MSF side have had similar increases, taking their basics to £67,980. All this has raised concerns amongst ordinary staff, who received 3%, about the future of their pension scheme. Even with the half a million pounds put in by the executive earlier this year, it is expected that the next actuary report on the pension pot will identify it as under funded. If you consider this worked example you may see why: How to turn £540 into £200,000 overnight. Spare Assistant General Secretary Bill Walsh plans to retire at the end of this year. He has just received an extra £15,000 on his basic salary, backdated to January. His pension, because it's based on his final year's salary, will go up by an extra £10,000 a year for the rest of his life, after that his widow then gets an extra £5,000 annually. Assuming he doesn't die soonish and with an average life for his wife, he is getting an extra £200,000 worth of pension, for which he will pay in a one-off contribution of 6% of his pay rise, for this year only, some £900, less tax relief at 40%, a mere £540. Similar calculatons apply to SGS Lyons and SAGS's Lucy Anderson and Paul Talbot when they retire. [amicus.cc] Graph of Lyons' Salary [amicus.cc] Correspondence with Lyons [amicus.cc] Previous Story [amicus.cc] "Fat cattery has to be tackled" - R Lyons Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th August 2003 Previous stories The amicusbod, Bob Braddock, Lyons in the sun, Lyons £20K pay rise, Lyons announces retirement, [previous stories] Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th May 2004 Currently no Unions Funds are used in the production, hosting or promotion of this Web Site.