Threat to Labour Leader in Unite's Election?

LEN McCluskey stepped down early as general secretary of Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, so as to stand again for a third term.  The New Statesman writer, Stephen Bush wrote in January that 'The contest has potentially far-reaching consequences for the Labour party. McCluskey was elected in 2013 to serve a five-year term; but his supporters hope that the move will allow him to stay in post until the next general election.'

Unite is the largest affiliate to the Labour Party. That makes it a power player in the party’s internal politics, although, writes Bush in the New Statesman of Unites leadership 'their reach and influence may often be overstated.  It is the GMB, a trade union from the party’s centre, which has dominated parliamentary selections so far in this parliament.'
McCluskey, who is 66, has some believe been handicapped by the idea, which Unite's press officers briskly deny, that he favoured Andy Burnham, not Jeremy Corbyn, in the 2015 Labour leadership election:  see the New Statesman, 6th, December 2016.  In the end Unite backed Corbyn.
In the last leadership election for Unite's top job, it was the left-wing candidate, Jerry Hicks, that threatened McCluskey most, and since then McCluskey has been a solid supporter of Corbyn, and it seems Unite 'underwrote much of the Islington MP's second leadership bid' last year.
Yet, according to the journalist Stephen Bush:  'the perception that he is a fairweather friend of the Corbyn project still lingers in some circles'.
The great hope for Labour’s Corbynsceptics and the right-wing centre is Gerard Coyne, the regional secretary in the west Midlands.  It has been said that allies of McCluskey hoped he could be bought off with a parliamentary seat, but  that hasn't happened and some are worried that a victory for Coyne would upset the current political complexion of the Labour Party.
We now know on the left, that Jerry Hicks will not be a contender in the current election for Unite General Secretary, but he has promised that he will support the new left-wing candidate Ian Allinson for the job.
Ian Allinson is Fujitsu's Unite convenor in Manchester, and has been involved in Unite and its forerunners for 25 years. He also has a blog, which records his union activities since 2007.  Whereas Len and Gerard are both entrenched in the union bureaucracy, Ian Allinson makes a claim to being the closest to trade union rank and file membership.  Here is the shop-floor Manchester lad to take on the tired union establishment. men.
The result of this election could well have wider consequences for British politics.

Unite Union Machine Moves to Crown McCluskey

LAST week, with the start of nominations for the new General Secretary of Unite the Union, the Unite bureaucracy moved swiftly to back Leonard David  McCluskey (born 23 July 1950), who has been the General secretary of Unite since 2011.  According to his Wikipedia entry he previously spent some years working on the Liverpool Docks before to becoming a full-time union official.

On the 16th January 2017, Tim Lezard in Union News reported:

'Len McCluskey has swept the board in support from officers and reps in Unite in his bid to be re-election the union’s general secretary.

'McCluskey, who is standing against Gerard Coyne and Ian Allison, has won the backing of nine out of Unite’s ten regions as well as the vast majority of officers, sectoral and regional committee chairs and executive members.' 

Meanwhile, Guido Fawkes on December 22nd, 2016 wrote on his Blog that the 'Pro-Assad agitprop rag the Morning Star has endorsed Len McCluskey for the Unite leadership.'

Guido Fawkes added:  'Their floppy-haired, Oxford-educated editor Ben Chacko explains:  “Mr McCluskey’s support and advice has been of great value to us throughout his leadership”.'

Guido reminds us that 'Chacko’s (Morning Star) paper is in line to receive a good deal more than “advice” should Red Len be re-appointed General Secretary of Britain’s wealthiest union. During McCluskey’s current tenure “support” meant thousands of full-colour Morning Star subscription mail shots sent out to Unite branches across Britain at members’ expense.'

 It seems that in one leaflet Mr. McCluskey decreed:   'There is no substitute for reading the paper but you could also take out a shareholding in the Morning Star and send a regular monthly sum to the paper’s Fighting Fund.'

McCluskey became an officer of the TGWU on Merseyside in 1979, and was its campaign organiser throughout the 1980s, during that time he supported the Militant tendency, but was not a member of it.

McCluskey was elected as the National Secretary of the TGWU General Workers Group in 1990, and moved to London to work at the union headquarters.   In 2004 he became the TGWU's national organiser for the service industries.   In 2007, he was appointed as the Assistant General Secretary for Industrial Strategy of the newly merged Unite the Union.  He defines himself as being on the left of the union, and has been given the label of "Red Len" in the British press.

In 2010, McCluskey stood for election as General Secretary of Unite to replace joint-General Secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, who had both announced their retirement.
On 21 November 2010, it was announced that McCluskey had won the election.^[
McCluskey took office as the General Secretary on 1 January 2011.  In 2013, McCluskey announced that he would be running for re-election as General Secretary.^[6] He was re-elected in 2013 with the following results posted. The full election results of those elections are as follows:
Len McCluskey: 144,570 votes.
Jerry Hicks: 79,819 votes.
Number of ballot papers found to be invalid: 1,412.
Total number of valid votes cast: 224,389.
Turnout: 15.2 per cent.

History of mishandling the Falkirk election & disaffiliation threat.

In July 2013, McCluskey accused the Labour Party of 'picking the wrong fight' over the selection of a prospective candidate in the Falkirk constituency.  He described Labour party headquarters' handling of the matter as 'nothing short of disgraceful'.^[8]
In November 2013, McCluskey denied fresh claims that his Unite Union had tried to prevent a Labour Party investigation into alleged vote rigging in Falkirk.
In March 2015, McCluskey threatened to disaffiliate Unite from Labour and launch a new workers' party if Labour lost the 2015 General Election.
After moving to London as part of the T&GWU national operation in 1991 whilst still married, his partner Jennie Formby (née Sandle), gave birth to a child at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton.

In 1994, McCluskey made headlines after it was revealed that he had received a subsidized loan of £90,000 to buy a house with Formby in NW10, London.  Mr. McCluskey lives with his partner Paula Lace.   In 2013, Jennie Formby was appointed Unite's political director on £75,000, replacing Steve (Stephen) Hart, who was the son of Judith Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark.

 Clashes in the current Election for General Secretary

McCluskey and one of the other candidates Kevin Coyne have clashed over the airwaves.  Speaking on the BBC’s Pienaar’s Politics, McCluskey accused his challenger of being a 'puppet of Labour’s hard right'.  Coyne responded, saying:

'Absolutely I am not a puppet.  The reality is I have a vision and a change agenda for our union that is about putting in back in the hand of the members and making the union focus on the issues that are important to them.'

Meanwhile, Ian Allinson in December criticised McCluskey for suggesting that workers could benefit from reforms to the free movement of people when Britain leaves the European Union.


 Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton.^[1][3][11] In 1994, McCluskey made headlines after it was revealed that he had received a subsidized loan of £90,000 to buy a house with Formby in NW10, London.^[12] McCluskey lives with his partner Paula Lace. In 2013, Jennie Formby was appointed Unite's political director on £75,000, replacing Steve (Stephen) Hart, who was the son of Judith Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark


TGWU General Workers Group in 1990, and moved to London to work in the union's national headquarters.^[1][3]
TGWU in Merseyside in 1979 and was its campaign organiser throughout the 1980s,^[3][5] during which he supported Militant tendency, but was not a member of it.^[1]

He

McCluskey was elected as the National Secretary of the TGWU General Workers Group in 1990, and moved to London to work in the union's national headquarters.^[1][3] In 2004 he became the TGWU's national organiser for the service industries.^[3] In 2007, he was appointed as the Assistant General Secretary for Industrial Strategy of the newly merged Unite the Union.^[3] He defines himself as being on the left of the union, and has been given the label of "Red Len" in the British press because of his involvement in Unite's dispute with British Airways.^[5]
In 2010, McCluskey stood for election as General Secretary of Unite to replace joint-General Secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, who had both announced their retirement. On 21 November 2010, it was announced that McCluskey had won the election.^[3] Derek Simpson retired a few weeks later, in December 2010, and Tony Woodley followed shortly after that, leaving McCluskey to take office as the General Secretary on 1 January 2011.^[5] In 2013, McCluskey announced that he would be running for re-election as General Secretary.^[6] He was re-elected in 2013 with the following results posted. The full election results are as follows:
Len McCluskey: 144,570 votes.
Jerry Hicks: 79,819 votes.
Number of ballot papers found to be invalid: 1,412.
Total number of valid votes cast: 224,389.
Turnout: 15.2 per cent.

'Pro-Assad agitprop rag the Morning Star has endorsed Len McCluskey for the Unite leadership. Their floppy-haired, Oxford-educated editor Ben Chacko explains:

“Mr McCluskey’s support and advice has been of great value to us throughout his leadership.”

Guido concluded his critique:  'Len’s “support” has indeed been of “great value” to the Morning Star, least they can do is repay the favour…'

“We’re backing Len” – McCluskey sweeps board with endorsements from officers and reps

16th January 2017 Tim Lezard   News   No comments

An advert in the Morning Star, showing the nominations received by Len McCluskey

An advert in the Morning Star, showing the nominations received by Len McCluskey

An advert in the Morning Star, showing the nominations received by Len McCluskey

Len McCluskey has swept the board in support from officers and reps in Unite in his bid to be re-election the union’s general secretary.

McCluskey, who is standing against Gerard Coyne and Ian Allison, has won the backing of nine out of Unite’s ten regions as well as the vast majority of officers, sectoral and regional committee chairs and executive members.

He said: “I am deeply honoured to have received the over-whelming support of the people who give their time to build this great union and defend our members.

“Their vote of confidence in me is phenomenal.  It sends a signal to our members that despite what one of my opponents may say, this union has gone from strength to strength under my leadership.

“This sends a clear signal to Unite members that their union is stable and united, determined to deliver for them in our workplaces – and wants to stay on this course.

“I hope now that this will persuade one general secretary candidate to desist from the nonsense claims he is making about our union, assisted all too eagerly by parts of the media who are openly hostile to this movement.

“The truth about Unite is that it is proudly united, democratic, progressive and will never, as long as I lead it, ever turn its back on its members.”

Meanwhile, McCluskey and Coyne clashed yesterday over the airwaves. Speaking on the BBC’s Pienaar’s Politics, McCluskey accused his challenger of being a “puppet of Labour’s hard right”. Coyne responded, saying: “Absolutely I am not a puppet. The reality is I have a vision and a change agenda for our union that is about putting in back in the hand of the members and making the union focus on the issues that are important to them.”

Unite the Union: A Challenge to Len McCluskey!

Unite has called a ‘snap election’ but for whose benefit?

by Jo Benefield

UNITE the country’s biggest and potentially the most powerful Union will be holding an election for its General Secretary a lot earlier than was necessary. But why? And who stands to benefit? More importantly - who will pay the biggest price?

This election was not due to take place until 2018. So - was there a demand from Unite’s tens of thousands of workplace representatives?  Was there an overwhelming insistence from its 1.3 million members?  No, neither of those is the case - so why then and for whose benefit?

It is being proffered that McCluskey ‘must stand now’ as he is the only one to ‘save’ Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Yet Corbyn has recently, easily seen off a Labour coup and now sees himself elected twice on massive majorities.

Many,  including Jerry Hicks,are saying “Far from saving the safe Jeremy Corbyn, McCluskey is using Corbyn so he (McCluskey) can cling on to power for another 5 years taking him to 71”.

The fact that it is happening should have come as no surprise as McCluskey has form on calling ‘snap elections’.  He did the same in 2013, then on a different false premise of avoiding a potentially damaging Unite election at the same time as the 2015 General Election.  For the record, McCluskey was instrumental in Ed Miliband winning the Labour leadership, (who then went on to lose the General Election), and shunning John McDonnell’s bid.  Gerard Coyne now a declared challenger for Unite General Secretary was silent throughout all this.  

 Jerry Hicks has phrased it as ‘Two sides of the same Coyne’ and that both want to cash in on a six figure salary (paid out of members’ pockets). They have so much in common.  Both have worked for the Union for decades in appointed ‘jobs for life’ so neither has been on strike for decades.  Both support Nuclear energy.  Both support Trident at a cost of £200bn, despite Unite having over 1million members not involved in Trident but who will be affected by austerity & savage cuts to pay for Trident.  Both believe in appointing all paid Unite officers, thereby denying members a choice of who will represent them - despite paying those officers’ wages.

Jerry Hicks went on to say 'If this were the Labour leadership election, McCluskey would be Andy Burnham and Coyne would be a cross between Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.  Neither would be Jeremy Corbyn.  Ironic then that McCluskey has created the circumstances, and then makes Corbyn the central issue

'McCluskey has set his house on fire and pleads with the members to put it out.

'McCluskey and his followers including many senior appointed officers always rely on ‘the fear’  factor. In 2013, I was ‘the danger’, I was the ‘red’ they mercilessly baited, saying my policies would wreck the Union. In fact, my election address and not McCluskey’s, read like Corbyn’s manifesto.

'Members deserve better than this, a lot better - something completely different.'

Jerry Hicks is an unemployed member of Unite having been unlawfully sacked by Rolls Royce and also on the infamous and illegal employers ‘blacklist’.  He ran for Unite General Secretary in 2013 and received 80,000 votes nearly 40%

News from Jerry Hicks of Unite!

Hi: Two important reminders and one 'big' item of news. Please forward this email to those who you think will have an interest [tweet, facebook and stuff.......... Let me know if you can make the conference [reminder 2] See you there.

1] Unite NEC elections you should by now have [voted!] your ballot papers they will need to be returned by 23rd April.

Please vote and encourage other members to vote for : The candidates [That I know of] who want elected officials. By the members, for the members & accountable to the members!

Nationally : Lesley Mansell for the LGBT seat Email: lesley@grassrootsleft.org Tel 07980 695117 Visit: www.grassrootsleft.org

Nationally : Golam Bhuiyan BAEM seat Email kabiruk@gmail.com Visit http://www.grassrootsleft.org/

Regionally: Glyn Williams for the North East, Yorkshire & Humberside seat. Email glynwilliams@hotmail.com phone 07975595971

2] Saturday 12^th April 2014: 12 noon to 4pm.Grass Roots Rank & File [Unite Fightback] conference:

Birmingham ‘Where we are & what’s next?’ The Comfort Inn: Station Street B5 4DY. Opposite Birmingham New Street Station & is also a short walk from Snow Hill & Moor St stations.

This meeting is open to members of UNITE the union, their families, friends & trade unionists who are supporters.

Finally & significantly There were lots of things wong during the 2013 Unite General Secretary election 'A chance to clean up the union'

3] Jerry Hicks has been granted a full hearing by the independent trade union watchdog [Certification Officer] to be held in London on 22^nd and 23^rd July. And it may result in the election having to be re-run.

Jerry lodged a complaint way back in September 2013 when it emerged that 158,000 ballot papers were sent to members no longer paying fees. During the election there were also attempts to slur the name of Jerry Hicks, and these matters are also included along with misuse of union resources in the 8 point complaint.

The certification officer [CO] has wide-ranging powers. Indeed in 2011 the construction union UCATT were forced to re-run a leadership election, the CO declaring the vote invalid.

This has attracted both national and local press coverage.................................................Watch this space!!

Unite General Secretary's Election Query

Jerry Hicks lodges complaint after revelation that Unite sent over 158,000 ballot papers to 'former members' 

 

What follows is a press statement from Jerry Hicks which Northern Voices' publishes without comment:

 

JERRY Hicks, Len McCluskey’s only rival in this year's election for Unite General Secretary has lodged a complaint calling for the result to be annulled after it emerged that 158,000 ballot papers were sent to members no longer paying fees. And it may result in the election having to be re-run.

Len McCluskey, 63, won the election in April with a margin of 60,000 more votes than his opponent Jerry Hicks, who surprised everybody by polling nearly 40% of the vote. Remarkable given that he [Jerry Hicks] remains unemployed following his unlawful sacking for Trade Union activities by Rolls Royce in 2005. 

But Jerry Hicks is complaining that between the end of December last year and January this year the union increased the number of potential voters in the leadership race by about 158,000. He has written to the trade union watchdog – the Certification Officer - to ask how "former trade union members" could be allowed to vote in the leadership election.

During the election there were some attempts to slur the name of Jerry Hicks, and these matters are also included in the complaint.

 

The certification officer has wide-ranging powers and in 2011 forced construction union UCATT to re-run a leadership election, declaring the vote invalid. The Barrister acting against UCATT on that occasion was Jody Atkinson, and he is now representing Jerry Hicks on a ‘pro bono’ basis [free of charge].   Mr Atkinson said  'it appeared that Unite had been balloting people who had left the union, most likely because they had not paid their subscriptions. And it seems that ballot papers have been sent to people who have not been members for years.'

 

In an interview with ‘The Guardian’s Randeep Ramesh’ Jerry Hicks said 'that he was told by Electoral Reform Services, which oversaw the union ballot, that Unite had identified "there was a group of "members" who the Union had considered no longer to be members of the union' but 'it was decided that they should be treated as continuing members and therefore for the purpose of the election eligible to vote'.  More interestingly it might be that as many as 77,000 of the 158,000 ballot papers had no postal address at all, so what on earth happened to them?. 

Jerry Hicks said he wanted 'Unite's leadership to explain why people who weren't members of the Unite union could vote in the election of its General Secretary. So far I've been offered no explanation.'
Jerry Hicks, said Mr McCluskey called the 'snap election' after the union's Executive Council last September changed the rule book to raise the retirement age of senior officials to 67 and an attempt was made to double the number of branch nominations required to stand in a leadership election from 50 to 100.

Adding 'They thought that would deter me but they failed. I am an ordinary member who managed to get more than 150 nominations," The leadership got arrogant about their own power. They are paid six figure sums and have lost touch with ordinary members.'
Len McCluskey, who has been Unite's General Secretary since 2010, had called the election early arguing he did not want to take to the hustings in the run up to the general election in 2015. Labour's biggest donor by far is Unite, which has provided 20%, about £12m, of party donations since the election. 

Grass Roots Left: 'For a rank & file free from interference of appointed full-time officials'

[Third] National conference in Birmingham. Saturday 9th November 2013: 12 noon to 4pm. Comfort Inn Conference room Station Street, B5 4DY. Birmingham City centre Opposite New St Station: Also only a short walk from Snow Hill & Moor St stations. This meeting is open to members of UNITE the union, their families & friends. Fellow trade unionists who are supporters the Grass Roots left initiative are also most welcome to attend. Refreshments are available from the hotel's bar on the ground floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unite, leverage & Grangemouth: Jerry Hicks BBC Radio 5 live 1st Nov on the Victoria Derbyshire programme: http://bbc.in/1aqxb5r http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ffflz then "Listen Now" & wind fwd to 1hr 20mins

Charlie Pottin's Comment on the historic takeover of the NSSN

CHARLIE Pottin's comment below on the Socialist Party coup inside the National Shop Stewards Network [NSSN] in 2011, that resulted in the departure of the syndicalists and independent socialists 19th, February 2011.  It now seems that the results of this historic takeover by the Socialist Party has ultimately led to the folly of the the Grangemouth massacre of trade union rights in which the NSSN has ended up on the losing side and which may have lasting detrimental consequences for the British trade union movement:

Charlie Pottinssaid...

I don't know about all 89 who voted against the SP resolution reconvening at the pub, I was a delegate from Brent TUC and voted against (as mandated) but didn't know about the meeting afterwards so didn't attend.
Remembering how the SP walked out of the Socialist Alliance when the SWP got a majority, I found it ironic that they charged others with wanting to take their ball away when they didn't like a decision. I was also amused to hear an SP member in Unison complain that the SWP and others had backed a "Labour Party supporter" in preference to him in union elections, when exactly the same charge could be levelled at the SP members in my own union, Unite, who voted for Len McCluskey rather than Jerry Hicks. I remarked on this to Jerry when I saw him later in the meeting, I think he too had found it amusing.
Anyway, the SP's move seems to have gone as I anticipated, despite their success in mobilising an overwhelming vote majority, they are left holding a hollow victory. Instead of creating a unified anti-cuts movement under their leadership they have succeeded in splitting the National Shop Stewards Network.
It will be ironic if the SWP who were the main butts of their denunciations are the only ones to stay. And if after such fierce denunciation they can try to erect some facade of unity for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (assuming that's still on).
Meanwhile back on the cuts front I am sure a united movement is emerging in each locality, usually centred on trades councils and community campaigners, and from what I can see, SP members and SWPers alike are like the rest of us, being drawn into working class activity without worrying about the empire-building rivalry which pre-occupies leaders of sects.

Saturday, 19 February 2011 17:08:00 GMT

Jerry Hicks now accuses Unite leadership of 'acting like donkeys'

The material below is the full contents of an e-mail denouncing the Unite leadership handling of the Grangemouth dispute, which we publish here without comment purely for the information of our readership:

 

Jerry Hicks was runner up in Unites General Secretary election in 2013 when receiving 36% nearly 80,000 votes. He is considered by many as being the only alternative voice inside Unite.

Jerry Hicks was unlawfully sacked by Rolls Royce in 2005. He is on the now infamous illegal blacklist of workers.

Unite is the biggest union in the UK with 1.3 million members and the biggest single donator to the Labour Party.

He can be contacted on 078 178 279 12 or email jerryhicks4gs2010@yahoo.co.uk

Grangemouth - ‘Botched from the very beginning and ending in surrender’.

When faced with yet another outrageous bullying exploitative boss, this time at Grangemouth in Scotland, Unite’s top leadership displays its abject failure. But where did Ineos get their confidence? And in a Union where all its officials are appointed, who would dare to speak out?

The members of Unite have been superb, doing all that was asked of them, acting like lions, while they have been let down by the Unions top leadership acting like donkeys.

Unite’s failure stems from not having the correct industrial and political strategy. This led to the prospective parliamentary candidate selection debacle at Falkirk. Where despite Labour being given members’ [£millions] money hand over fist and unconditionally. The man Unite gave £10,000s to become Labour leader, Ed Miliband, treated them with complete and utter contempt.

 

This led Ineos to believe it could attack the Unite convener at Grangemouth. Which led to the Grangemouth ‘dispute’, which led to the biggest most powerful union in the country sending the worst of all signals to all employers and the Con Dem government alike - threaten us [Unite] and we will cave in.

 

Unite should have an avowed intention to campaign for and to demand public ownership of utilities, transport, health, education and all energy supplies.

 

Unite should end immediately its disastrous ‘reclaim Labour’ and with it the infantile, unfunny comic capers of infiltration through recruiting members to the Labour party.

 

Unite should have only one relationship with Labour - “You follow our policies then you get our support”, and that goes for any party on the left.

 

With these things, members will be clear what their union stands for. Employers, Con Dems and Labour will know what to expect.

 

In my view then, the chances of winning disputes will increase as will the numbers of people wanting to join a principled, fighting, effective union - Where survival doesn’t have to mean surrender.