Phantom Members
Private Eye - the UK's best and only fortnightly satirical magazine - had an interesting article on the ballot to elect Unite's general secretary - currently Len McCluskey.
TUC NEWS
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey is in another spot of bother over an allegedly dodgy election, hard on the heels over the scrap over allegations of ballot-rigging and who should represent the Labour party in Falkirk.
Back in April Len was elected as general secretary by a handsome margin of of 64,751 votes ahead of sole rival Jerry Hicks. After the election, however, it emerged that 158,000 ballot papers had been sent to former Unite members who were no longer paying their union dues - very much against the rules.
Hicks has lodged a complaint with the trade union certification officer asking that the election be declared null and void. One puzzle is why 77,000 of the disputed papers had no address against them.
In 2011 the construction union Ucatt was forced to re-run its leadership election after ballot paper irregularities came to light. Barrister Jody Atkinson, who brought the case against Ucatt, has agreed to represent Hicks on a pro bono basis.
Shortly before the Unite leadership election was called, the union's McCluskey-dominated executive committee changed the rules so that candidates had to be nominated by 100 branches rather than 50 - clearly thinking it would make any challenge to Len impossible. But under the new rules Hicks ended up receiving more than 150 nominations. Oops!
