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Higginbottom challenges Monks to lead URTU
Page 7
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CM EXCLUSIVE A PERIOD OF upheaval could he on the cards for the United Road Transport Union (URTU) after former general-secretary David Higginbottom announced plans for a comeback.
Higginbottom retired in 2000, prompting the election of current incumbent Bob Monks. However, his five years in office are now up, elections are due early next year and both Monks and Higginbottom are standing.
Higginbottom says that he has been persuaded to enter the fight by messages from I JRTU members and that he is unhappy with the direction URTU is taking. He adds: "What has upset most of the people I know has been the way trade unions generally have dealt with the WTD. Unquestion ably we got a raw deal. It was a missed opportunity.
"What I'm saying to URTU members is that if you want to carry on in an environtnent where nothing changes, don't vote for me."
However, Monks accuses Higginbottom of losing the union both members and money. He says: "When I became general secretary, it was soon obvious that much work needed to be done for our union. Its accounts revealed that it had traded at a loss in every year under Mr Higginbottom's stewardship as general-secretary. This amounted to an accumulated loss of .€1 .4m.
"Also during his stewardship, total overall membership of the union actually went down!"
In response, Higginbottom says the actions he took as general secretary saved URTU from extinction and Monks is benefiting from the measures he put in place. He points out that membership has continued to decline.
Whoever wins the battle, it is sure to leave the union divided. Higginbottom presided over a period during which URTU was expelled from th e TUC following a row with the rival T&G union; it only rejoined in 2001.