TRADE UNIONS

Serious splits in left unity

Amicus member Judy Atkinson looks into the can of worms that is amicus left.

On the evening before the 26th October amicus NEC meeting, the amicus NEC Left Unity Gazette caucus met and voted to expel four of its members. The origins of this split go back to events which occurred at the 7th September NEC meeting, when five Unity Gazette NEC members (correctly) voted against endorsing General Secretary Derek Simpson's repudiation of amicus construction workers who were involved in the Wembley Stadium dispute, and two other left members abstained. Amicus members subsequently won their dispute, despite the NEC's attitude and the actions of amicus full time officials who escorted scabs across the picket lines!

Those who had refused to support the repudiation were accused on 25th October of "breaking discipline", and after a stormy debate the caucus voted twelve to six to expel four of their members (all of whom are members of the Socialist Workers' Party). Two other members, although not expelled, have since chosen to exclude themselves from the caucus. The result is that the original 23 Gazette supporters elected a year ago are now reduced to 15, with six left NEC members now acting independently - leaving two women's seat vacancies created by the death of Vi Huddart and the resignation of Sharon Allen to be filled by by-elections next February. The two left women candidates in that election will be Jane Stewart and Lorene Fabian.

Just three days before these events, on 23rd October, the first national Gazette policy conference had taken place in Preston, with equally disastrous results. All regional Gazette groups were represented and most had submitted motions for discussion, but the most serious decision of the conference was when delegates voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion from Scotland effectively to abolish the regionally based structure of the amicus Unity Gazette national steering committee. This structure had been negotiated in January this year as part of an agreement to merge MSF Unity Left and the AEEU Engineering Gazette. The old structure is to be replaced with a seven member Gazette Editorial Board and generally centralist structures, which will have sole responsibility for the convening of national meetings and the day to day running of the amicus Unity Gazette.

These developments are a serious setback for the broad left within amicus and have destroyed many of the gains made since the election of Derek Simpson on a left manifesto two years ago. They come at a crucial time, when the forthcoming policy and rules conferences in May 2005 give us the chance to reshape the political direction which the union will take in the future.

At its meeting on 2nd November, London Region amicus Unity Gazette called for unity around common objectives and the rescinding of the expulsion of the four NEC members. Meanwhile, attempts are being made to convene an emergency meeting of the Gazette Editorial Board in order to try to resolve differences and to hear representations from the four expelled NEC members.

26 Labour Left Briefing December 2004

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