Unite insiders have alleged that former BBC and New Statesman journalist Ben Davies quit after ‘c-word’ abuse and was paid 2-3 years salary to sign non-disclosure agreement – a manoeuvre Sharon Graham has previously condemned. Unite responds to enquiry with smear and non-specific denial
Sources in the Unite union allege that the union’s new deputy head of communications has quit after just a few weeks in the job because of abuse by a very senior management figure – and has been ‘required’ to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in return for a pay-off rumoured to be of two to three years’ salary.
Some sources have alleged that the issues were directly related to general secretary Sharon Graham. Others were not specific about the alleged source of the abuse, attributing it instead to ‘senior management’.
Ben Davies, a former BBC and New Statesman journalist, is said to have been so new in the job that his arrival does not even seem to have been announced before his departure.
Seeking the truth of the matter, Skwawkbox asked Unite:
Unite sources have told Skwawkbox that deputy head of communications Ben Davies, a former BBC journalist, has left his post, after only a few weeks, under a non-disclosure agreement after abuse by a senior management member – allegedly Sharon Graham herself. The abuse is said to have included calling him a c*** and he received a payoff of 2-3 years’ salary as part of the agreement, despite the brevity of his tenure.
Please provide the union’s comment no later than 5pm tonight:
- Unite has previously welcomed proposals to ban non-disclosure agreements – why is Unite now using them
- Sharon Graham said earlier this year about Translink: “It is unacceptable for any worker to be subjected to abusive or violent behaviour in the course of their employment” – does she still condemn it?
- How does the union justify spending a significant amount of members’ money to silence unhappy staff?
- Unite has now lost two comms heads in the space of a month or so. Is there an issue between the department and the management?
Unite responded – as has been the case on previous occasions – with a suggestion that Skwawkbox’s coverage is a ‘smear campaign’ motivated by a desire to prevent Sharon Graham from pursuing issues with the Birmingham conference centre built under the previous management and the ‘affiliated services report’, whatever that is. The union did not respond to the numbered questions, but did claim that the sources’ report is ‘untrue’:
This story – like the other stories that The Skwawkbox has published as part of its smear campaign – is untrue. However hard you try, the General Secretary of Unite will not be deterred from publishing the findings of the Birmingham Report and the Affiliated Services report. Lies will not intimidate Unite.
Unite’s response to Skwawkbox’s initial enquiry
Despite Ms Graham’s attempt to distance herself from the Birmingham project, she was a member of the executive that signed off on the project and its execution was monitored by her close ally Tony Seaman.
However, Unite did not respond to a follow-up request for the union’s press office to be specific about which part or parts of the report it says is untrue, either with specifics or with a claim that all parts were untrue rather than some specific detail:
Thanks for your response. Please provide specifics of exactly what part of parts of the allegations are ‘untrue’. I’ll extend the deadline to 6 pm to give you time to answer.
Skwawkbox’s follow-up question to Unite
Sharon Graham, her ally Tony Woodhouse and Unite are currently being sued by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle for allegedly defaming him on two separate occasions. The union has hired one of the world’s most expensive law firms to defend the case.
Ogle has also begun employment tribunal proceedings for abuse he says he suffered from Graham’s team after returning from treatment for advanced cancer.
Sharon Graham’s tenure at Unite has also been marked by a string of other serious allegations – which neither she nor the union has ever denied – of abuse, cover-up and failure to protect women:
- that she attempted to have evidence destroyed in bullying and misogyny complaints about her husband, whom she now employs in her office despite a final warning from the union for his behaviour
- after her supporters failed in their bid to take control of the Unite executive despite ‘dark money’ spending on advertising, ineligible and racist members being allowed to stand and the alleged use of paid organisers in and following the executive election campaign, her faction resorted to Starmerite tactics to try to discredit the executive members’ election of a new left-wing union chair and both vice-chairs, as well as the vital Finance and General Purpose Committee
In addition, she has been exposed behind the union’s decision to ban showings in Unite’s buildings of a film exposing racism, smears, rigging and abuse by the Labour right – and discussions of a book on a similar topic – and has appeared to grow increasingly cosy with red-Tory Labour ‘leader’ Keir Starmer, despite Starmer’s lies, his contempt for democracy, his u-turns on promises to Unite members and his regime’s repeated blocking of Unite-backed parliamentary candidates.
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