Finance union in merger talks

Finance union UNIFI is at the early stage of potential merger talks with leaders of the AEEU engineering and electrical union and the MSF manufacturing, science and finance union. The AEEU and MSF have just agreed to amalgamate.

UNIFI, which has 170,000 members, is also talking to shopworkers' union USDAW and the Communications Workers Union. A spokesperson told Labour Research that "it is very early days, but talks are progressing." Its annual conference this month will discuss whether these talks should proceed.

Meanwhile the AEEU/MSF mega-merger got the seal of approval from members. Ballots in the two unions produced turnouts of around 30% in each case, with AEEU members voting 84.3% in favour of merger and MSF members voting 79.8% in favour.

The new union, which is not yet named, will be the second largest union in the TUC, representing over one million members. It will have assets of over pst100 million, with an annual income of more than pst60 million. It will have a recruitment budget in the first year of over pst1 million and will target a range of sectors including information technology, health, voluntary organisations and manufacturing.

The new union will be led by AEEU general secretary Sir Ken Jackson and MSF general secretary Roger Lyons, as joint general secretaries.

Lyons said: "The new union will be a force to be reckoned with both industrially and politically."

And Sir Ken Jackson added: "We'll have the resources to set the agenda across every sector of the UK economy."