The Tube Drivers Strike.

[vic mcclymont]

Jim, as far as I am aware employer collects dues and transfers to th Unions free of charge. That's how it worked in the Civil Service.
Vic

[Jim Brady]

Vic in the past I have been a member of two unions the NUS being one of them obviously and I can say both of them did me more harm in time of need than if I stood up to the case in hand myself.So you may say he's militant he's a strong union man well I can tell you that I am not but what I cannot stand is people on here who are full of hatred against people like the tube drivers or anybody else who may decide to withdraw their labour and belong to a union which they are quite entitled to.After reading a couple of posts on this thread it was my intention to not get involved further in it.We have a post saying"the greedy tube drivers" or words to that effect then the same poster further on saying"I wouldn't get out of bed for that money" so what it amounts to he is higher than the working class tube driver who doesn't deserve the money he is being paid (tube driver).
There is one thing about it nobody had their home repossessed because of the tube driver I wonder how many did because of our Financial Advisor.
Regards.
jim.B.

[vic mcclymont]

Jim, I don't hate the Unions in the past they have done a wonderful job, many would argue that without them we wouldn't enjoy many of the fruits that we enjoy today.
What I hate about the Unions is the leaders that try to impose their political thoughts beliefs on the general public. In my opinion they are gutless because they don't have the courage of their own opinions.
If they had the guts they would not hide behind their members but stand on their own feet and let the electorate decide if they agree with heir policies.
As I said right at the beginning of this posting the RMT and the other rail unions always decide to strike or go slow at the August Bank Holiday, inflicting damage on there fellow working man.
As an example I don't like Jeremy Corbyn's Political ideas but I respect the man for having the courage to stand up and tell us his beliefs, and ask the electorate to vote for him, that's a lot more the McCluskey et al will ever do.
Regards
Vic

[John Pruden]

myself and son worked in len mc.cluskey's house in Blundell sands he is for the working man he is highly paid with all the benefits a box at anfield and goodison park he and his wife who was high up in the union in the Manchester area both jaguar cars and all the trappings but as I say he is still a man of the people and dos not believe in unions and politics go together some may not agree with unions and the way they are run but he himself tries to look after the people who pay into unions but you have to have the trapping that go with the job? same as the old saying there is more business done on the golf course than in the office? just my view jp

[Captain Kong]

Len McCluskey


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General Secretary of Unite

Incumbent
Assumed office
1 January 2011

Preceded by
Derek Simpson
Tony Woodley

Personal details

Born
Leonard David McCluskey[1]
23 July 1950 (age 65)
Liverpool, England

Nationality
British

Political party
Labour

Spouse(s)
Ann (????-1994) div - 1xson[1]

Domestic partner
Jennie Formby (1991-????) 1xchild[1]
Paula Lace (????-present)[1]

Leonard David "Len" McCluskey (born 23 July 1950) is an English trade unionist who has been the General Secretary of Unite since 2011.[2] He previously spent some years working on the Liverpool Docks prior to becoming a full-time union


Early life[edit]

McCluskey was born in Liverpool and went to the Cardinal Godfrey School in Anfield.[3][4] After leaving school as a teenager, he went to work for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and remained there for the next 11 years.[3]

McCluskey first became a trade unionist in 1968, while working on the docks.[5][6] He became a shop steward a year later, aged 19, and joined the Labour Party in 1970.[3] He became an officer of the TGWU in Merseyside in 1979 and was its campaign organiser throughout the 1980s,[5][7] during which he supported Militant tendency, but was not a member of it.[3]

McCluskey was elected as the National Secretary of the TGWU General Workers Group in 1990, and moved to London to work in the union's national headquarters.[3][5] In 2004 he became the TGWU's national organiser for the service industries.[5] In 2007, he was appointed as the Assistant General Secretary for Industrial Strategy of the newly merged Unite the Union.[5] He defines himself as being on the left of the union, and has been given the label of "Red Len" in the British press because of his involvement in Unite's dispute with British Airways.[7]

In 2010, McCluskey stood for election as General Secretary of Unite to replace joint-General Secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, who had both announced their retirement. On 21 November 2010, it was announced that McCluskey had won the election.[5] Derek Simpson retired a few weeks later, in December 2010, and Tony Woodley followed shortly after that, leaving McCluskey to take office as the General Secretary on 1 January 2011.[7] In 2013, McCluskey announced that he would be running for re-election as General Secretary.[8] He was re-elected in 2013 with the following results posted. The full election results are as follows:

Len McCluskey: 144,570 votes.

Jerry Hicks: 79,819 votes.

Number of ballot papers found to be invalid: 1,412.

Total number of valid votes cast: 224,389.

Turnout: 15.2 per cent.

In 2013, McCluskey co-signed a letter which was published in The Guardian newspaper to announce his support for the People's Assembly movement.[9] He also gave a speech at the closing plenary of the People's Assembly Conference, held at Westminster Central Hall on 22 June 2013.

Falkirk Labour investigation[edit]

Main article: 2013 Labour Party Falkirk candidate selection

In July 2013, McCluskey accused Labour of "picking the wrong fight" over the selection of a prospective candidate in the Falkirk constituency. He described Labour party headquarters' handling of the matter as "nothing short of disgraceful".[10]

In November 2013, McCluskey denied fresh claims that his Unite Union had tried to prevent a Labour Party investigation into alleged vote rigging in Falkirk.[11]

Threat to split from Labour[edit]

In March 2015, McCluskey threatened to disaffiliate Unite from Labour and launch a new workers' party if Labour loses the 2015 general election.[12]

Personal life[edit]

McCluskey was married to Ann for 25 years, and the couple have an adult son.[1][13] After moving to London as part of the T&GWU national operation in 1991 whilst still married, his partner Jennie Formby (née Sandle), gave birth to a child at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton.[3][5][1] In 1994, McCluskey made headlines after it was revealed that he had received a subsidized loan of £90,000 to buy a house with Formby in NW10, London.[13] McCluskey lives with his partner Paula Lace. In 2013, Jennie Formby was appointed Unite's political director on £75,000, replacing Steve (Stephen) Hart, who was the son of Judith Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark.[1]

[Captain Kong]

NATIONAL UNION OF SEAMEN.

The National Amalgamated Sailors' and Firemen's Union, 1887-1893[edit]

Havelock Wilson
The Seamen's Union was founded in Sunderland in 1887 as the National Amalgamated Sailors' and Firemen's Union. Its founder, J. Havelock Wilson became its president. It quickly spread to other ports and had become genuinely national by the end of 1888.

In 1888 and 1889 the union fought a number of successful strikes in Glasgow, Seaham, Liverpool and other major ports. By 1889 it had 45 branches and a nominal membership of 80,000. But from 1890, it began to face determined resistance from shipowners, who formed an association, the Shipping Federation, to co-ordinate their strike-breaking and anti-union activity. The union fought and lost defensive actions in Hull, Bristol, Cardiff and other important centres in 1891-1893. These episodes depleted its funds and led to a large fall in membership. The union also became involved in a large number of expensive legal cases. Although partly due to the actions of shipowners, the difficulties experienced by the union in this period have also been attributed to its officials' taste for litigation and their inadequate handling of union finances. In 1893, the NASFU went into voluntary liquidation to avoid bankruptcy.

The National Sailors' and Firemen's Union, 1894-1926[edit]

Relaunched in 1894 as the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union (having dropped the word Amalgamated) the union continued to experience financial difficulties and low membership. From the summer of 1910 the union worked to promote a national seamen's strike to combat the Shipping Federation. This finally took place in the summer of 1911. The union's control over the movement was incomplete. In many ports rank and file strike committees and activists played a more important organisational role than the union itself, and the union's long-standing programme was over-shadowed by demands for wage increases. Nonetheless, the strike greatly increased both the funds and the membership of the union, allowing it to emerge once again as a significant force. Following the strike-wave, the union gained official recognition from many shipowners.

In 1911/1912 the growth of the NSFU was checked by a breakaway movement in Southampton and Glasgow which led to the formation of the rival British Seafarers' Union. [1] At a national level, however, the NSFU was able to maintain and increase its supremacy.

Contemporaries often regarded the NSFU as a militant organisation because of the strikes in which it had involved itself in the late 1880s and in 1911. Yet from its inception the union expressed a belief in the possibility of industrial harmony, and announced itself in favour of establishing conciliation procedures. The leadership of the union was not greatly influenced by 'socialism'. Its founder and president, J. Havelock Wilson, served several terms as a Liberal Party MP, and the union itself did not affiliate to the Labour Party until 1919.

World War I and After[edit]

After the outbreak of World War I the union began collaborating closely with the Admiralty and shipowners in support of the war effort. From 1916, Havelock Wilson emerged as one of the most vehement supporters of the war in the labour movement, ostensibly because of Germany's conduct of the war at sea, especially the alleged targeting of non-combattant vessels. In 1917 the Union provoked controversy by refusing to convey Arthur Henderson and Ramsay MacDonald to a conference of socialist parties in Stockholm, which had been convened in the wake of the Russian Revolution to discuss the possibility of a peace policy.

A further development in 1917 was the formation of the National Maritime Board as a governing body for the merchant marine. The union's involvement in this body allowed it to negotiate directly with shipowners over wages and conditions. In 1922 these arrangements were extended by the establishment of the 'PC5 system' which was intended to allow the Shipping Federation and the union to exercise joint control over access to employment in the shipping industry.

In 1921, the National Maritime Board imposed wage reductions which were supported by the NSFU. This acceptance of cuts in pay provoked considerable resistance from ordinary seafarers and from the rival organisations: the British Seafarers' Union and the National Union of Ship's Stewards. Other sections of the trade union and labour movement were also strongly critical of the NSFU's detrimental collusion with employers. This was especially the National Transport Workers' Federation, which helped to merge the rival organisations referred to above into a new organisation, the Amalgamated Marine Workers' Union, intended as a viable alternative to the NSFU. Further wage reductions were made in 1923, and 1925, which again outraged members.

Militant resistance to the NSFU was expressed through the Seamens' Minority Movement (founded 1924) part of the Transport Workers' Minority Movement. Criticism of the NSFU became increasingly widespread with its apparent role in the 1925 Special Restriction (Coloured Alien Seamen) Order, which is now seen as the first path-breaking attempt to expel non-British-born people;[2] its failure to observe the General Strike in 1926; and its support of a 'non-political' Miners' Union in Nottinghamshire. In September 1928, the Union was officially expelled from the Trades Union Congress. However, after the death of Havelock Wilson in 1929 the NUS quickly began to pursue a more mainstream policy and became reconciled with the rest of the trade union movement. It adopted the title 'National Union of Seamen' in 1926. The term failed to recognise that women were also members; some seawomen had earlier organized in an unsuccessful Guild of Stewardesses.

By 1932 the Seamens' Minority Movement was 1,000-strong (less than one-hundredth of the maritime workforce). Attempts were made among SMM black activists to combat the notorious post-war racism. Race riots had occurred in seaports such as South Shields, Liverpool and Cardiff. And the union itself felt a duty to support its white British-born members first during times of high unemployment. Key SMM figures in the 1920s and 1930s included Barbados-born, London-based Chris Braithwaite (a.k.a. Chris Jones). His connections with many anti-racist initiatives including the Colonial Seamen's Organisation and the Pan-African Movement widened the SMM's links and brought international attention to the NUS's failure to back the largest black and minority ethnic workforce in Britain.[3]

The Growth of Dissent and the Seamen's Strike of 1966[edit]

The NUS's almost closed shop made the union stronger. After the Second World War there were widespread calls for reform of the NUS. Many members felt that the union was too closely associated with the employers and that it had failed to defend its members' interests. Rank and File Committees, building on the earlier Minority Movement, were established in many ports, and unofficial strikes took place in 1947, 1955 and 1960. A National Seamen's Reform Movement was established in the latter year.

A degree of reform was conceded in 1962, with the decision to allow a system of workplace representation by shop stewards. This brought the NUS belatedly into line with the general practices of the trade union movement.More importantly it brought greater connection to the union. Seafarers could be away from home for months or years, so to have 'a union man' on board, not far off in the Clapham headquarters, enhanced solidarity.

On 16 May 1966, the NUS launched its first national strike since 1911. The strike aimed to secure higher wages and to reduce the working week from 56 to 40 hours. It was widely supported by union members and caused great disruption to shipping, especially in London, Liverpool and Southampton.

The political importance of the strike was enormous: the disruption of trade had an adverse effect on the United Kingdom's (precarious) balance of payments, provoked a run on the pound and threatened to undermine the Government's attempts to keep wage increases below 3.5%. The Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was strongly critical of the strike, alleging that it had been taken over by Communists whose aim was to bring down his administration. On 23 May, a week after the outbreak of the strike, the Government declared a state of emergency, although emergency powers were not used. The strike finally came to an end on 1 July.

The last major strike launched by the NUS took place in January–February 1988 and concerned ferries operated by P&O.

Prominent Officials[edit]

Prominent figures who have held positions in the NUS include:
##Samuel Plimsoll
##Tom Mann
##J. Havelock Wilson
##Manny Shinwell
##John Prescott
##Captain Edward Tupper

General Secretaries[edit]
1887: Havelock Wilson[1]1894: Edmund Cathery[1]1926: William J. Davies[1]1927: Edmund Cathery[1]1928: William R. Spence[1]1942: Charles Jarman[1]1948: Tom Yates[1]1961: Jim Scott1962: Bill Hogarth1974: Jim Slater1986: Sam McCluskie

[John Pruden]

brian he also has a daughter Victoria she must be about 18/20 now? but I think that's another story!!!!!! jp

[gray_marian]

#42, 'nobody had their home repossessed because of the tube driver I wonder how many did because of our Financial Advisor.'

That is a malicious and appalling statement to make about another member just because you take exception to his opinion. I can hardly believe your audacity.

[Braid Anderson]

My father was a militant Union organiser before WW2. Stalin even offered him a job as Russia's first golf professional! In the 1960s he told me the Unions were the best thing to happen for the working man, BUT they had served their purpose, and should not now be blackmailing the public.

[Braid Anderson]

Strictly a personal point of view, but in my opinion, if employees have the right to withdraw their labour whenever they please, I think employers should have the right to say "I'd like to make your withdrawal of labour permanent." It takes two to tango.