Tony Lennon is being challenged as BECTU President by the same opponent as in the last election.
When nominations closed on March 6, the only other candidate for the Presidency was Tudor Gates, who lost to Lennon in 2004, taking only a third of the vote.
In this year's election Lennon is again supported by a long list of BECTU branches, compared to Gates with only one nomination.
Lennon's manifesto concentrates on the industrial issues facing BECTU's 28,000 members, stressing the importance of winning fair pay, decent working conditions, and job security.
This is the third contest in which Gates, a one-time Vice-President, has stood against Lennon. In the 2004 election Gates controversially resigned from the union's National Executive Committee just before BECTU's annual conference.
This manoeuvre enabled him to speak to delegates as an individual, rather than being held to account for the union's record as a member of the NEC.
His tactic was rejected by the conference, which supported a change to BECTU's rules obliging members of the NEC to accept collective responsibility for their decisions.
Voting in the election for President closes on April 28.
