Millions of trade union members working on the minimum wage are paying about £10 a month to fund vast bureaucracies, lavish lifestyles and support for myriad eccentric political obsessions.

 

The general secretaries of Britain's 15 biggest unions earn between £80,000 and £110,000 in basic salary, according to the latest accounts. But the figures do little justice to the perks and benefits enjoyed by those who reach the top of the workers' movement and represent the poorest in society.

 

According to figures obtained by The Times, Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite, received £89,035 in benefits on top of his £105,217 salary in 2007 - giving him the largest package of any general secretary. His total pay and perks, including pension, housing benefit, employers' national insurance and car benefit, worked out at £194,252.

 

This means his rewards substantially oustripped the earnings of the other joint general secretary at Unite, Tony Woodley, whose total benefits package was worth £112,202 - £82,050 less.

 

Mr Woodley's own perks sparked controversy in recent weeks, as part of the tit-for-tat warfare inside Unite. Over Christmas it was reported that he was seeking a lump sum of up to £100,000 to vacate a heavily subsidised London flat granted to him as an inter-union favour by the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU).

 

The property, a historic building close to Westminster, was Mr Woodley's home for 15 years, rented at a fixed price of £200 a month with his electricity and heating bills included.

 

This was never declared to the regulator because, Unite says, it is a benefit “from a third party”. It has never been registered as a residential dwelling so Mr Woodley has never paid any council tax on it. Unite refused to comment on this matter.

Details about the internal workings of trade unions are held by the certification officer, whose website reveals that general secretaries receive all sorts of benefits in kind for their work.

 

Keith Norman, the general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers' union, received £21,141 for a car and accommodation, on top of his £71,381 gross salary. Despite Aslef being one of the smaller unions, with 16,156 members in 2007, he received a pension contribution of £22,856 a year that took his total remuneration to more than £115,000.

 

Dave Prentice, who runs Unison, which represents 1.3 million public sector workers, received £11,646 in expenses and a car. Paul Kenny, the head of the GMB, received £8,000 for car travel and £26,000 pension contributions on top of his £81,000 salary.

The highest pension contribution of the main unions went to Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union, who received £44,281 as well as £5,134 in car allowance on top of his £66,389 salary.

 

Others were more frugal. Steve Sinnott, from the National Union of Teachers, who died last year, received £674 in luncheon vouchers. The salaries of union barons other than the general secretary are not disclosed.

 

Source: Sunday Times

 

We rightly criticise Company bosses whe screw their workforce on pay and conditions, but is there any difference in being screwed by the Union leaders who are supposed to help their members?

It sounds bad, but even the largest package given as an example is a fraction of what the City Fat Cats get, so let's put things into perspective here.... 200 grand might sound like a lot, but it's about a fifth of what that Northern Rock bugger walked away with.... <_< and pretty small beer compared to what managing directors, CEOs and company directors get... And, at the end of the day, membership of a union is VOLUNTARY (which is the point which must be stressed here....), if you dont like the fact that the bloke at the top is earning 200k, simple, you just tear up your membership card and stop your contributions innit....? Or vote the bugger out at the next election in favour of someone who wont claim so many expenses, you cant "vote out" your boss if you dont like the fact that he earns too much can you...?:rolleyes: Ironically, when union members actually had more power, they were able to actually affect the pay of their shop stewards and union officials..... :lol: :lol: The whole notion of "middle class" Union Men has come in in the past 20 years or so.....

 

People in the City are walking away with PUBLIC money, I think that this is a far greater scandal tbh.... Oh, but seeing the source of this article - Sunday Times, a MURDOCH newspaper... Yeah, real objective there.... Er, anyone remember Wapping.....?

My reaction to that article was "This is news?"

 

I have to say that when the chips were down and we were on a rolling strike with levies funding it to make it sustainable, our general secretary (successive ones)stepped up to the plate and played hard ball to ensure the strike achieved the best possible outcome for everyone. I never ever grudged paying one penny of my union's subscription fee.

My reaction to that article was "This is news?"

 

This is deemed "news" by the Murdoch press because the Dirty Digger doesn't like Unions, ever since SOGAT stood up to him in the 80s..... You have to read between the lines in stories like these mate, the Tabloids more often than not, have some ulterior motive..... I dont really call 200k for running a national organisation that much tbh, these guys could get a HELL of a lot more in the Private sector.... Oh, and the banking industry of course, where they can just fukk everything up and still get a fat bonus it would seem..... :rolleyes: