Unity Gazette
Unity Gazette is the name of the broad left caucus group in the AMICUS trade union. It includes activists from the former MSF and AEEU trade unions which merged to form amicus. The broad left of AEEU was also known as Unity Gazette. Recent mergers between Amicus and UNIFI and GPMU have resulted in new members from those unions. Membership of Unity Gazette is open to any member or employee of Amicus, regardless of any position they may hold within the union. Candidates for membership must be proposed, seconded and approved by the attendees at the appropriate regional meeting of Unity Gazette.
Activities of Unity Gazette include:
- Regular national and regional meetings to decide policy and lists of candidates, which all members are then mandated to support.
- Encouragement of members who belong to the Labour Party to stand for election to the Amicus Political Committees, which are only open to Labour Party members.
- Publicising and encouraging support for Amicus campaigns and industrial disputes.
Unity Gazette is completely self-financing, by means of members' donations.
The name Unity Gazette derives from a newspaper of the same name which had a regular print run and was circulated within AEEU workplaces. This paper has not been printed for many years. However, pamphlets with the same title are still printed for conferences and in response to industrial disputes.
An analagous caucus group, ATU (Amicus the Union) seeks to attract Labour-supporting members of Amicus who are sympathetic to Blairism. This group is currently less influential within Amicus than its predecessor within MSF, MSF for Labour, was within MSF. MSF for Labour included several influential members of that union's National Executive Committee, some of whom have since left Amicus or are no longer active at national level.