My reply to the Unite Executive Council Statement

By Jerry Hicks

I stand by my election address statement.

During his election campaign in 2002 Derek Simpson wrote (of Sir Ken Jackson):

“You are being urged to nominate and elect a 65 year old, on a part time basis, whose self confessed brief is the merger, and only then because the Policy Conference was misled about the legality of Jackson continuing without an election.”

Derek Simpson legally challenged Sir Ken Jackson on the very same point on which I have made my challenge regarding his extension of office. So surely he would have known the legal position? Yes, the Executive is comprised of ordinary workers of the Amicus and T & G section. So they should have been advised of the legality of their actions. Derek Simpson in his letter announcing the decision of the Executive on October 9^th 2008 to call the election said that it been made “in light of the potential success of a legal challenge.” That is why an election is taking place! So if the Executive were not misled then why did they recommend to the members an instrument of amalgamation which could be challenged in law?

In 2002 Sir Ken Jackson made the very same claim contained in the Executive statement - that he had not asked to stay on as General Secretary, it was the members who wanted him to stay on. The subsequent election result proved otherwise!

The Executive Statement says that Mr Simpson’s salary is currently under £100,000. Whether deliberate or not this seems to me to be completely untrue and as such should give reason for concern.

Derek Simpson’s salary has to be reported by law in the Annual Returns for Trade Unions filed with the Certification Officer which can be accessed on the Certification Office website. The following two links are to the reports that detail Derek Simpson’s salary and benefit details for 2007 (please allow time to download as they are large files). The report and details of his 2008 salary will not be available until June.

http://www.certoffice.org/links/pdf/772T_2007.pdf

http://www.certoffice.org/links/pdf/795T_2007.pdf

The first report is for Amicus from 1^st January 2007 until April 26th 2007 and details Derek Simpson’s salary for this period on page 10.

The second report covers the period from the merger and formation of Unite on the 27^th April 2007 until 31^st December 2007 and details Derek Simpson’s salary for this period on page 12.

Derek Simpson’s salary for 2007 was £105,000, as can be seen from the above reports submitted by the union to the certification officer. It can also be seen in the details from the certification office reports published in the table below. This is not “under £100,000” as stated by the Executive. In fact with Derek Simpson’s allowance, benefits and pension added in it takes the total amount of remuneration he received in 2007 to a staggering £180,748 (excluding National Insurance payments).

	2006	2007 (total)	2007 (1st Jan to 26th April)	2007 (27th April to 31st Dec)
Gross salary	£93,089	£105,217	£42,544	£62,673
Car allowance	£7,992	£13,333		£13,333
Housing benefit	£31,552	£38,128	£11,947	£26,181
pension	£22,831	£24,070	£7,914	£16,156

How can it be in the “union’s benefit” to pay Derek Simpson £38,128 per year for his house? I have promised to only take an average skilled members wage and further pledge that I will not take any housing benefit, car allowance, extravagant pension or first class travel expenses. All of my expenses will be open to scrutiny and fully accountable to the members.

Jerry Hicks

www.jerry4gs.com

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