West London Unite Community branch chair suspended, supposedly for post praising old staff member, after two-thirds of members back Beckett
London Unite officials said to be close to Steve Turner have controversially suspended the chair of West London Unite Community, reportedly for sharing,
a picture of an old member of staff and saying he wished there were more like him.
The officials are said to have accused the branch chair of embarrassing the current organiser.
Last month, almost two-thirds of the West London branch nominated Howard Beckett after rivals Turner and Sharon Graham refused to take part in a hustings the Community branch wanted to organise featuring all three candidates, saying they would only participate in separate question-and-answer sessions. Under pressure from local officials at the time of the aborted hustings, the Chair – not the source of the original information – later denied that they had avoided facing Beckett, but members overwhelmingly backed Beckett.
Now, with Turner’s camp pressing hard to try to force left favourite Howard Beckett out of the contest, local Unite members believe Turner’s allies are getting their payback in early for the embarrassment he suffered. One local figure told Skwawkbox:
It’s outrageous. Typical London and East.
Unite Community is the union’s section for people not in paid employment. The West London chair had been in post for a decade, growing the branch to one of the largest Community branches.
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