Unite election

Derek Simpson, general secretary of the Amicus section of general union Unite, will face four challengers in this month’s election in his bid to retain his post for an extra year.

In all, five candidates received the required minimum of nominations to stand in the ballot which gets underway this month. They are North West regional officer Kevin Coyne, former Rolls Royce convenor Jerry Hicks and national officer for Royal Mail and steel, Paul Reuter.

In December the Unite executive council agreed outstanding elements of the integration process to complete the merger between Amicus and the T&G. The agreement establishes one administration for the whole union and a single department for each of finance, IT, education and personnel.

The sensitive issue of lay participation structures was to be put before the January executive meeting as Labour Research went to press.