Wow! Someone's Really Got it in For Derek Simpson

Derek Simspon, 64, is the head of a British Trade Union called Unite. Compared to other unions like Unison who refuse to defend members who are being forced to work on Bank Holiday's it is fair to say that Unite are pretty much the only trade union left in the United Kingdom. They were behind 2008's oil refinery walkouts and gave all the support they were legally able to give to the wildcat strikers who walked out in support for British Jobs for British workers. As the lead negotiators for workers in the British auto industry they have been instrumental in pressurising the government to protect that industry in the face of the global recession. They were also one of the driving forces that brought tens of thousands of Irish workers out on the streets of Dublin to protest against rising unemployment in that country. Unite's attempts to give their members a voice in the reshaping of the global economy has clearly not gone unnoticed by the powers that be so the union and it's leadership has been singled out for special attention which has so far taken three forms.

The Overt Smear; On Sunday a number of, mainly right wing, newspapers ran a story about Derek Simpson paying £399 for a £500 per night suite at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in London. There is nothing subtle or discreet about this story and it's message is quite simple. "Trade Union leaders are all self-serving bullies with their snouts in the trough out to exploit those members they're supposed to protect. The British Government has your best interests at heart so you'd be much better giving up on collective bargaining because you're in a much stronger negotiating position out there all on your own(!)"

The Covert Smear; On Monday the Crown court system decided to draw attention to one of the hundred or so speeding offences they prosecute every single day. This particular case was deemed news-worthy because it told the story of a motorcyclist who was caught doing 122mph with his 14 year old son riding pillion. The biker was jailed for six months and banned from driving for 18 months because his careless behaviour had endangered his son. Although I don't know if Derek Simspon rides a motorbike and I'm certainly not 14 years old the coded message in this story is quite simple; By tricking me into supporting the Unite union Derek Simpson has made it impossible for the state to deliver the "rescue package" that was most certainly, definitely coming my way either today or tomorrow so if you support me then you have to hate the Simpson and the Unite union because they're all evil.

This is of course nonsense because the state have had it explained to them on multiple occasions that the ball in firmly in their court and the dynamic will not change until such a time as they act to change it.

The Internal Power Struggle; The short version of Unite's history is that it was formed when two smaller unions, Amicus and the Transport & General Workers (T&GW), combined. They agreed that the new union would be run by Amicus' Derek Simspon until his 66th birthday in 2010 at which point the T&GW's Tony Woodley would take over. By an amazing co-incidence just as the global economic downturn hit some Socialist Worker Party (SWP) connected members from the Amicus' half of Unite decided that they were going to challenge Simpson's leadership a full two years early throwing Unite into the chaos of internal squabbling. Now I'm not saying this to cause further division within Unite but that sounds like a classic example of an MI5 run operation to infiltrate and disrupt a British trade union. A mole is placed within the organisation and then over time rises through the hierarchy with the assistance of a network of sleeper agents and co-opted allies. Then when they've reached an influential enough position they mount a hopeless leadership challenge to either negotiate changes to the way the union operates or simply make sure the union leadership is so busy fighting amongst itself that it's too distracted to do the job they're there to do - Protect the interests of their members.

Of course if you believe that MI5 have a live operation within Unite then it means the British Government had at least three years knowledge that this recession was coming and rather then planning to avoid it they planned how best to exploit the damage it causes for political gain.