Alan Ritchie ©Cuba Solidarity Campaign
The Construction Union UCATT has had its appeal against Union watchdog the Certification Office rejected yesterday by the Employment Appeals Tribunal president, Justice Underhill. This means that current General Secretary Alan Ritchie, forced to stand down in March, remains out of office, with the ruling possibly forcing a new leadership election. UCATT now have until the end of the month to appeal the decision or go to an oral hearing.
The union’s troubles started in March this year when the CO declared void the 2009 election, fought between Alan Ritchie and Mick Dooley. Ritchie won the original election by 6706 votes to Dooley’s 4431- a turnout from only 9% of the membership. The CO made the decision based on the fact that less than 57,000 of the more than 127,000 membership had actually been sent ballot papers. UCATT claimed that this was because members more than 26 weeks behind in their membership payments were precluded from voting. The CO reportedly claimed that this interpretation ‘would sit uneasily with the union’s statement (about its membership total)’, and declared the ballot void.
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