Unions have moved on to form positive partnerships

I have noticed a distinct anti-union bias creeping into Personnel Today in recent months, mainly centred on commentary on the merger of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and Amicus to form the new ‘super-union’ Unite.

In your article ‘Super-union plans to take casual approach to boosting membership’ (Personnel Today, 8 May), you suggest a lack of unity in the new union on the basis that Derek Simpson, the joint general secretary, failed to turn up for the official launch of the union.

The Guardian newspaper subsequently reported that the reason why Simpson failed to turn up was because he was delayed travelling across London by the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 May.

This was the latest in a series of articles suggesting that Unite is a union born out of desperation, that will try to exert a disruptive influence on the sectors where it is represented.

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Your view of unions seems to be stuck in the 1970s, and fails to acknowledge that they have moved on, and for the most part form positive partnerships with employers, and deliver better pay and conditions of employment for their members than staff in non-unionised organisations are able to enjoy.

Neil Clarkson, chartered MCIPD