September 3rd, 2013

I am proud to be General Secretary of our great union at a time when the need for collective trade union representation has never been more obvious.

Over the past 12 months Unite has developed as a Trade Union and achieved enormous success for our members.

We have continued to develop our industrial strategy, continued to organise and recruit in workplaces, continued to win victories in the Courts on behalf of members and continued to develop membership services.

In the industrial setting Unite has won victories for members across all of our sectors. Our successes have been seen in sectors with traditionally the most difficult terms and conditions. In Transport we have won for London Bus Drivers and for Howden employees; in Construction we have won for all members affected by the BESNA Agreement and for all of our members we lead the fight against Blacklisting.

Across all of our sectors we have won, in the last 12 months, over 300 industrial disputes for our members and countless other disputes where your collective strength in the workplace has resolved issues without the need to ballot.

Our officers and workplace representatives continue to fight for you in the work place. Our organising team continues to push for 100% membership in organised workplaces. Our Leverage Department continues to fight against the excesses of Employers who feel that they can conduct themselves in the most unethical and immoral of ways, protected by the anonymity of company status. Our Leverage strategy ensures that companies, their suppliers and their customers are held accountable for how our members are treated.

In the legal setting Unite has achieved victories that would not be possible for any other union. We successfully represented our members in the Mesothelioma Trigger litigation ensuring thousands of our members would continue to receive compensation for contracting mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos; we have achieved magnificent success for our retired members of Waterford Crystal who without Unite would have seen their pensions lost without the protection of a National pension scheme; and we continue to fight on behalf of members such as Visteon Pensioners.

In our UK Regions we have continued to fight for our National Health Service, organising demonstrations and events throughout the country. We have continued to fight against legislative changes that will only damage the welfare services available to our members. We have continued the fight for a living wage, resisted the imposition of the Bedroom Tax and have been at the forefront of seeking legislation to prevent the practices of Loan to Pay Day companies which cost our members thousands of pounds. On these issues, and many others, Unite is at the front of the fight to protect those welfare services working people have built over the last 70 years.

We continue to develop membership services. Over the coming months we will announce the launch of Unite Credit Union which, along with Unite Debt Management, will ensure our members are not driven into the hands of loan sharks.

We continue to develop membership categories. Retired Members Plus provides our retired members with additional benefits for just 50 pence a week. Community Membership (for 50 pence a week) is designed to ensure that those previously without a voice have a collective voice. Back2Work Membership (for 50 pence a week), along with the Unite4Jobs web site, allows us to offer members who would otherwise leave our union the help, assistance and representation they need to return to the workplace.

As the government introduces Employment Tribunal fees of up to £1200, and brings in legislation to allow solicitors to take a percentage of the compensation an injured victim receives, our Executive continues to make decisions to support you. We continue to say to members that you will receive 100% of your damages and that we will fund the cost of an Employment Tribunal. We are the Union who will not shy away from workplace representation and we will not allow this government to promote a culture where our members feel denied access to justice.

Your union has never offered more to members and there has never been more of a need to be in a union.I hope this goes some way to explaining how your membership fees are used and that your Union is fighting for you.

I am confident that if you visit the Unite web site you will have pride in how we use your funds. I am confident you will find services and offers that will more than recoup for you the costs of Unite membership.

Finally, could I ask that you consider becoming active within our great union. You may want to demonstrate on issues relevant to your community; you may want to be active within your workplace branch; you may want to support the union by using the union services or you may simply want to introduce friends and family members to the union by way of the union’s member gets member scheme. In whatever capacity our union is stronger by your involvement, together we can grow and together our voice, for what is good in society, cannot be ignored.

Yours sincerely,

Len McCluskey
General Secretary

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