Union chief 'demanded £100,000' to leave grace-and-favour London flat
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:54 PM on 30th November 2008
The leader of Britain's biggest union demanded almost £100,000 compensation to move out of his grace-and-favour home, it was claimed yesterday.
Tony Woodley, the £76,000-a-year joint general secretary of Unite, pays just £200 a month for the two-bedroom apartment near Elephant and Castle, in South London.
He was given the use of the flat 15 years ago by the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions in a gesture of inter-union cooperation.
But two years ago, it decided to sell the property for £900,000.
Claims have surfaced that Unite chief Tony Woodley wanted almost £100,000 in compensation to move out of his grace-and-favour flat in South London
According to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Woodley, whose family home in Merseyside is worth at least £350,000, refused to relocate despite being offered £20,000 to move out last June.
Last night critics said he was behaving like a City 'fat cat'.
Mr Woodley's solicitors are said to have asked for £98,000 on the basis it would cost him £15,000 a year to rent a similar flat - adding that he had spent £6,000 on improvements to the property.
A spokesman for Mr Woodley, 60, denied he has been 'greedy' despite only needing a London base for two more years until he retires.
He added: 'Tony has been offered £60,000 compensation and his lawyers wrote back asking for £75,000. Discussions are continuing but he hasn't received a penny yet.'
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Union ? the only "union" these officials know is the union between members dues and their bank accounts
EX E.T.U member ,so i have seen it before
Fat-Cat? Another 'nose in the trough' dyed in the wool NuLiabour supporter, exposed for what he really is- nothing more than a money grabber, just like the rest of them.
Is there no decency or honesty now in people holding high office in public positions? No sense of honour anymore?
What sort of a country are we living in, when everytime you look in a newspaper, there's some money grabbing 'should know better' sticking his or her hand in the till and trying to extract as much cash as possible.
Funnily enough, they're nearly always NuLiabour through and through as well.
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This is typical of the union bosses. The working man pays his union dues simply to allow the unions bosses to live in the lap of luxury.
They advocate strikes and work to rule but it never hits them in their back pocket. They continue to live the high life.
£76,000 a year for doing what I may ask ?. Not a lot.
- Pip Waller, North Yorkshire, 01/12/2008 08:16