Amicus

Amicus was the United Kingdom's second-largest trade union, and the largest private sector union, formed by the merger of Manufacturing Science and Finance and the AEEU (Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union), agreed in 2001, and two smaller unions, UNIFI and the GPMU. Amicus also organised in both parts of Ireland and was affiliated to the UK Trades Union Congress, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Scottish Trades Union Congress. On 1 May 2007 it merged with the TGWU to form Unite, which became the biggest trade union in the UK at the time. It retained that status until late 2018, when it was overtaken in membership numbers by Unison. Industry representation Amicus organised workers in almost every industry, predominantly in the private sector. At the 2005 TUC Congress it was reported that Amicus had 1,200,000 members of whom 266,986 were female and 933,014 male. Political affiliations Amicus was affiliated to the Labour Party in Britain, and to the Irish Labour Party. The Amicus UK Parliamentary Group included about 120 MPs.