A COUP by supporters of Amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson has effectively rung the death knell of the existing left organisation in this key union. Leadership lackeys captured the key positions of chair and editor after bussing people who had never been seen before over to the Preston meeting from Labour Party spring conference in nearby Blackpool.
Simpson, one of the "not so awkward squad" has his sights set on a merger with the T&G and G&B in a bid to outdo public services union UNISON to be Britain's largest union.
He has opposed affiliation to the STW coalition and supported the government on ID cards, the Education White Paper and incapacity benefits. So much for his pledge to "give Blair a migraine".
The first major signs of disagreement in the "Gazette" left group emerged during the dispute on the Wembley construction site.
In August 2004 240 workers on the site were sacked for refusing to agree to draconian changes in their terms and conditions. Simpson repudiated the dispute and five members Stitcher in chief Simpson of the union's executive voted against this at the subsequent NEC meeting.
Four of the five "rebels", all members of the Socialist Workers' Party, were subsequently expelled from the Gazette NEC caucus, without any recourse to wider consultation with the Gazette's membership. There have been further witch-hunts, particularly in the key North West region.
Simpson supporters also effectively backed the sacking of Bristol Roll-Royce convenor Jerry Hicks and Amicus NEC member by his employers in August 2005. Industrial action in Hick's section was not spread to elsewhere in the company despite the fact that there was grass roots support for doing this and so the dismissal went through.
Other battles have included the question of the election of full time officials, always a centrepiece of the Gazette's policies and one supported by Amicus conference in 2005.
The union subsequently said it wouldn't implement this rule change, and despite a national meeting of the Gazette rejecting this backsliding, most supporters on the NEC voted to back Simpson.
There has also been a struggle to ensure that there are safeguards for union democracy in merger discussions with other unions.
Following these arguments three left wingers, including the then chair and editor of the Gazette, Jimmy Warne and Des Heemskerk, were suspended from their jobs with the union. The loss of their elected posi tions at the sitched-up AGM would seem to set a seal on their tate.
Amicus activists desperately need to regroup to fight this assault on lay democracy. Workers at the Oil Transportation Company in