On August 23rd 2021, the Unite the Union general secretary election had concluded; three candidates had contested for the position of Unite General Secretary – Steve Turner, Gerard Coyne, and Sharon Graham, to succeed Len McCluskey. Howard Beckett had thrown his hat in the ring, yet dropped out early to endorse Steve Turner. Both Turner and Graham are seen as left-wingers, the former endorsed by McCluskey himself, and ran on a platform emphasizing ‘tough talk’ to the Labour Party leadership, which largely amounted to negotiation; Right-winger Gerard Coyne in contrast, focused his campaign on providing reskilling, online support for Unite members and a support team for union reps – his campaign was promoted primarily social media output and writing in columns for The Sun. Sharon Graham’s campaign – under the slogan, “Workers Unite”, eschewed Westminister wrangling, and the internal battles of the Labour Party, emphasizing workplace and shop floor organising, and worker’s battles with employers, she has been as a ‘syndicalist’ for this stance.
On 25th October 2021, Sharon Graham was confirmed as the new Unite General Secretary in a shock victory – receiving 46,696 votes out of 124,147; Steve Turner with 41,833 and Gerard Coyne with 35,334. Graham is Unite’s first female general secretary and the secord woman to lead a major trade union. Turner was promoted among the left as the one candidate to see off the challenge by Coyne, to which Howard Beckett, perhaps mindful of UNISON’s general secretary election agreed to step down. The election itself produced a 12% turnout, leading to some outlets to complain that the voting process was highly unsatisfactory – but that seems to be mostly sour grapes: Unite’s last election had a similarly low turnout of 13% for Len McCluskey to narrowly scrape a victory over Gerard Coyne.
Graham claims that there will be “no blank cheque” for Starmer’s Labour Party, however it is unlikely that Unite will disaffiliate: the trade union has influence within the National Executive Commitee (NEC) – Labour’s ruling body, with members of the board comprising 5% of the seats within it, and a sizeable chunk of voting power within Conference. Unite being the successor organistion to the Transport General and Workers’ Union (TGWU), also carries with it a legacy with Labour that it is very unlikely to break from. It is implied that with Graham, Unite may herald a new age of union militancy, but it remains to be seen.
See also:
- Unite the Union
- Sharon Graham
- Steve Turner
- Gerard Coyne
- Len McCluskey
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