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3 April, 2001Members of the UK's AEEU and MSF have overwhelmingly approved the merger of the two trade union organisations.
GREAT BRITAIN: The results were announced on April 2, 2001. Members of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union and the Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union -- both affiliated to the IMF British Section -- have voted overwhelmingly in favour of merging their two organisations. By means of a secret ballot, 84.3 per cent of the AEEU membership and 79.8 per cent at the MSF approved the proposal.
One of the main priorities in the first year for the new "super" union, which will represent over one million members in all branches of the British economy, will be recruitment, targeting the manufacturing industry, finance and other key sectors.
Initially, the new union will be called the AEEU-MSF, until a new name is agreed, and will be led by joint general secretaries - Sir Ken Jackson, who is the current AEEU general secretary, and Roger Lyons, the MSF's general secretary.
In a press statement issued on the merger, Ken Jackson declared that the AEEU-MSF would have "the resources to set the agenda across every sector of the UK economy." Roger Lyons, who said the membership would see huge benefits through this merger, declared that the new union would be "a force to be reckoned with both industrially and politically, at home and in Europe."
One of the main priorities in the first year for the new "super" union, which will represent over one million members in all branches of the British economy, will be recruitment, targeting the manufacturing industry, finance and other key sectors.
Initially, the new union will be called the AEEU-MSF, until a new name is agreed, and will be led by joint general secretaries - Sir Ken Jackson, who is the current AEEU general secretary, and Roger Lyons, the MSF's general secretary.
In a press statement issued on the merger, Ken Jackson declared that the AEEU-MSF would have "the resources to set the agenda across every sector of the UK economy." Roger Lyons, who said the membership would see huge benefits through this merger, declared that the new union would be "a force to be reckoned with both industrially and politically, at home and in Europe."