Delegates at the GMB’s Annual Conference in Blackpool yesterday overwhelming rejected plans for the GMB to merge with Amicus and the T&GWU. Commenting on the GMB’s withdrawal from these merger discussions, Paul Kenny, the union’s recently appointed General Secretary, said that, after consulting the union’s regions and branches, there was “no appetite for a three-way merger”. It is felt that fears that the GMB’s powerful and influential Regional Secretaries would loss much of their autonomy was one of the main reasons for the GMB’s decision to pull out of this merger.
Both Derek Simpson, the General Secretary of Amicus, and Tony Woodley, the General Secretary of the T&GWU, expressed disappointment at the GMB’s decision but stated that they still planned to go ahead with the merger of their two unions. If this merger goes ahead, the new union would have between 1.6m and 1.8m members and will be the UK’s largest trade union.