Exclusive: Unite strike fund ‘collapses by 91%’ under Graham – falling by £40m

The Unite union’s renowned strike fund has fallen by more than ninety percent in the three years of Sharon Graham’s tenure as general secretary, according to union insiders – and by seven million pounds just since March this year, despite increased member subscriptions that Graham had promised not to impose.

Skwawkbox understands that Unite under Graham’s predecessor had built up a strike fund of £44m at its peak, to pay costs and wages to striking workers and help them win disputes – higher than the previously suggested figure of £35m -and up to March 2024 this had fallen to just £11m as the union, with its membership dropping fast, had failed to replenish it.

But as of last week, the remaining cash in the fund had plummeted to just £4m, £40m down from its reported peak, despite claims by the Graham regime that membership has been growing – claims that involved Graham dismissing previous membership number reports that she had herself managed under Len McCluskey.

The plummeting funds are in line with a leaked financial report in March outlining shaky finances, prompting Graham to send an ‘unhinged’ email members and union officials claiming the report was ‘fake’ – even though it had come from Unite’s official ‘Sharepoint’ storage system. Graham also said the issue of the fake was ‘being dealt with legally’ – but no further action appears to have emerged in the nine months since. The union did not respond to Skwawkbox’s enquiries at the time.

Graham’s tenure as Unite boss, which began in 2021, has been marked by a string of serious allegations, some of them relating to her husband, which neither she nor the union has ever denied, including:

• that she attempted to have evidence destroyed in bullying and misogyny complaints about her husband
• that 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 exec election campaign, her faction has resorted to Starmerite tactics to try to discredit the executive members
• that her chief of staff threatened a (now-retired) senior officer with the loss of a pension bonus if he did not soften his support for Palestinians against Israel’s genocide

The Unite union has also recently been condemned by workers and their union representatives for its attack on staff who complained about bullying in the unit run by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham’s husband, Jack Clarke – who was on a final warning for bullying and misogyny, including incidents recorded and transcribed by victims, before he was promoted to run it, outside the union’s usual procedures, soon after she became general secretary.

The union suspended workers who lodged the dispute – but not Clarke or other managers alleged to be bullying workers – and senior union management figures staged a counter-demonstration against the striking workers picketing outside Unite’s Holborn HQ. The banners that the protest used to attack the striking Unite staff were put up on the Unite HQ building, apparently making it very clear that the union stood behind the anti-worker manoeuvres.

And Graham’s Unite is the subject of legal action – by a member of the union’s executive – for breaking union rules to appoint an ally as her chief of staff without ratification by elected executive members.

Unite has been contacted for comment.

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