Les Bayliss - Letter to Unite Officers & Staff

The following letter was emailed to all Unite Officers & Staff earlier this week.

To Unite Officers and Staff

Dear Colleague

I want to thank all the officers and staff, who following my initial email, responded with messages of encouragement and support for my decision to stand in the election for the position of Unite General Secretary.

Over the coming months I will set out in detail the policies I intend to put before our membership at the election. You can follow this process on my web site www.les4gs.org or come to one of the many election events that will take place around the country. I will be open and frank with all Officers and Staff about the problems we face and how I intend to address them.

Before this though I want to deal with a very serious problem that has come to my attention over the last couple of weeks of election related bullying.

At the National Industrial Sector Conferences in Brighton in November last year, Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley told delegates of the importance of developing "a tolerant union, in which fear plays no part."

I fully endorse that statement. That's why I am very concerned to be told by a number of officers that they have been put under undue pressure to support a particular candidate.

I understand that officers in some regions of the union have been warned that their careers will come to an abrupt end after the election should they fail to support the candidate preferred by their Regional Secretary or National Officer.

Unite rightly campaigns for the eradication of bullying and intimidation from the modern workplace and so we must not tolerate it in our union. I intend to take steps to ensure that officers and staff are protected from this unacceptable behaviour.

If you feel you are being pressurised or you have been threatened by your line manager to support a particular candidate, please report your concerns in confidence on this

e-mail address, lesbayliss@les4gs.

A strong well, organised union can only flourish by empowering the officers and staff and building on their expertise and experience.