Union election takes nasty turn

By Michael Millar
Business reporter, BBC News

Mr Simpson wants to stay in his post for another year.

The race to be leader of the UK's largest trade union, Unite, has turned into a bitter war of words.

Incumbent Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of the Unite union, said rival Kevin Coyne's leadership bid was "all about personal ambition".

Mr Coyne, North West region secretary, said his comments were absurd.

The battle was triggered after Mr Simpson said he would stay in his post until 2010, taking him beyond mandatory retirement age of 65.

The two-million strong Unite union was formed out of a merger between the Amicus and TGWU unions in 2007.

It is currently led by two joint general secretaries Mr Simpson and Tony Woodley, representing Amicus and the TGWU respectively.

A leadership contest to choose a single leader will be held in 2010.

UNITE

Formed out of a merger between Amicus and the TGWU unions in 2007

The UK's largest union with two million members

Led by joint General Secretaries Derek Simpson (representing Amicus) and Tony Woodley (representing the TGWU)

In a private letter to his supporters seen by the BBC, Mr Derek Simpson said his rival's leadership bid was "all about personal ambition...pure and simple…obscured by fine words and clever scripting".

He said that a bitter-fought election would leave Amicus divided and weakened and make unity more difficult to achieve, especially since the post was for only one year.

He also said that "Kevin is bitter about his belief of having being treated badly" - a reference to Mr Coyne's previous appointment as National Officer for the Health Sector - "a job which I believe he thought below him".

'Panicking'

Mr Coyne, currently North West regional secretary for Unite, told the BBC that Mr Simpson was "panicking desperately" in the run up to the election, due to be held in February.

Mr Coyne said the two unions were struggling to merge properly because of "difficulties in leadership that are blocking the system".

He claimed Mr Simpson and Mr Woodley's working relationship "was at a standstill".

"We can't let personalities and petty politics derail the merger - we must sweep aside the cause of the blockage and go on to build a truly great union," Mr Coyne said.

A Unite spokesman denied there was a rift between the union's two leaders.

"That's why we claim Mr Coyne standing (for election) is all about personal ambition," the spokesman said.

He added the joint general secretaries "have a good friendship which underpins a strong professional relationship and the union is moving forward with a single industrial and political strategy".