With just nine days remaining in the Unite general secretary contest, union members in Scotland are complaining that the union is failing to deliver their ballots.
Incumbent Sharon Graham typically has little support in Scotland. The complaints come hot on the heels of revelations that Unite has failed to deliver ballots to around 5,000 members in Gibraltar.
Graham has been heavily criticised for her treatment of union staff. Her rival in the election is Simon Dubbins, Unite’s international officer, who took many of the union’s biggest sectors and branches in the nominations phase.
Unite members in Scotland complain
On Saturday, a Scottish Unite member wrote on his Facebook page about “corruption of the highest order”, regarding many Scottish members not receiving ballots when “Sharon Graham has no support in the Scottish region”.
The issue appears to be widespread. Branch secretary Donna Collins responded that many members of her branch have still not received theirs.
She wrote:
I’ve already emailed them as the branch secretary as a lot of my branch members haven’t received their ballot papers. This is not on!!
The union told members in Gibraltar that no alternative arrangements could be made to avoid the need to send in ballots by post:
The current legislation governing this election requires ballot papers to be issued by post and for members to be given the opportunity to vote by post. For that reason, the election arrangements must continue to operate within that statutory postal voting framework.
Unite and Graham’s anti-union record
The election has seen a string of former die-hard Graham supporters call on members to vote her out – including the man who wrote her 2021 manifesto. These defections come on top of Dubbins’s unusually strong performance in the nominations phase, winning many of Unite’s biggest sectors and branches that previously backed Graham.
Despite running Unite, Graham has repeatedly been accused of using appalling, anti-union tactics against workers employed by Unite, leading to several strikes. In many cases, these tactics have been seen as Unite’s attempts to protect her husband, Jack Clarke. Clarke is the target of much of the industrial unrest among Unite staff.
Soon after her accession in 2021, Graham created a new Bargaining and Disputes Support Unit (BDSU). Outside of the union’s usual procedures, Clarke was appointed to run it. The appointment was made despite Clarke being on a final warning for bullying and misogyny. As striking workers picketed against Clarke, Graham’s faction staged counter-demonstrations against them and attacked their reps.
Most recently, Graham’s plan to shut down the union’s popular, 20,000-strong ‘Community’ section has been exposed. And she has been accused of letting odious Labour right-winger Wes Streeting and his team write an attack in her name on potential next chancellor Ed Miliband, to boost Streeting’s prospects under Andy Burnham.
Unite lawyers’ explosive admission
Explosively, Unite’s lawyers admitted to Skwawkbox that the union had destroyed evidence that workers had gathered against him. This did not stop further complaints and strike action from workers in his new fiefdom, with almost all the women working under him quitting and 90% of Unite’s HQ staff backing strike action.
The challenger and the hide-and-seek
Dubbins, by contrast, has spoken out consistently against Israel’s genocide and against Unite’s disengagement from wider politics to suit Graham’s narrow ‘workplace only’ agenda. He was suspended as Unite’s international director after refusing to cancel a pro-Palestine fringe event at a Labour conference.
Graham hid from union branches and declined to debate Dubbins at any hustings event during the nominations phase, angering many, including allies, by sending weak proxies instead. Last week, Dubbins publicly challenged Graham to stop hiding and face him in an open debate in front of members.
Any of these issues could and should be decisive in a union election with a history of low turn-outs. Based on recent history, Graham’s paid organiser team will be working hard to secure support for her — but members need to hear the voices of those who used to be prominent in campaigning for her and now see her as an ongoing disaster.
Unite has approximately 150,000 members in Scotland. General secretary elections are typically decided on a turnout of around 10-12% of Unite’s now sub-1 million members.
Graham won her first tenure in 2021 with the backing of just 4% of the union’s membership at the time on a 10% turnout, so around 40,000. With Scottish members, Unite Community members and overseas members likely to back Dubbins, such a level of support looks decidedly vulnerable.
Assuming members in those sections are allowed to get their votes in before the 11 August deadline.
Featured image via Jacob King/ PA and Nurith Wagner Strauss
By Skwawkbox
