9+/10 staff in Graham’s Unite HQ want strike action over bullying and victimisation

Overwhelming result in indicative ballot of GMB members in Holborn

More than nine out of ten GMB members in the Unite union’s head office have voted for strike action in an indicative ballot, in apparent outrage at the bullying and victimisation of their colleagues in the Bargaining and Disputes Support Unit (BDSU) by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham’s husband Jack Clarke – and Unite’s ‘union-busting’ attacks on workers striking earlier this month over the issue and the refusal of the union to suspend the managers accused of bullying and abuse. The head office workers will now be formally balloted to strike in the New Year.

Unite suspended all GMB members in the BDSU who submitted a collective grievance.

In exclusive revelations by Skwawkbox this month, lawyers acting for Graham, Clarke and Unite admitted that at least three of the five women working in Clarke’s BDSU (some reports say four) had left and that at least one had supported the bullying accusations, although they denied insiders’ reports that all the departing women had left alleging bullying by him.

Explosively, the lawyers also admitted that the union had destroyed evidence presented against Clarke by workers in earlier complaints.

In early December, senior union figures counter-protested against the strike called by the BDSU members involved, holding banners accusing the GMB of being sexist, and Unite’s management has claimed two of the workers were suspended for bullying a female colleague and that this was not connected to the dispute that started at the same time – a claim strongly denied by GMB, which says no mention of such allegations was in the suspension paperwork or process. The banners were subsequently displayed on the Unite HQ building.

The strikers and their union also claim that after the initial ballot by the eight BDSU GMB researchers whose pay and conditions were at the heart of the original dispute, managers and self-employed contractors then ‘swarmed to join the GMB online on the eve of the ballot’ and tried to overturn it, which they describe as ‘a transparent attempt to undermine the dispute, followed by ‘a campaign of intimidation against GMB reps’.

GMB London Regional Organiser Danny Adilypour said:

Our members at Unite have sent a clear message of solidarity with their suspended colleagues.

Unite has tried to dismiss claims of bullying and victimisation in the BDSU as ‘vexatious’ and has refused to engage in mediation talks.

Their handling of this industrial dispute and treatment of their staff has understandably caused wider concerns amongst our members in Unite’s head office.

This is why they have voted in an indicative ballot to take strike action – saying with one voice that bullying and union-busting will not be tolerated.

As well as the strike action by workers against her husband, the admissions by her lawyers and the new, wider indicative ballot Graham’s tenure has been marked by:

• allegations of ‘dark money’ spending on advertising, and fielding ineligible and racist candidates in executive elections
• the alleged use of paid organisers in and following the exec election campaign
• the use of Starmerite tactics to try to discredit the executive members, including misogyny and homophobia smears in an echo of the banners now up in Holborn
• allegations that her chief of staff – now the subject of legal action over alleged irregularities in her appointment – 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 collapse of Unite’s strike fund by more than 90%
• complaints that Abellio truck drivers were tricked into accepting a deficient pay deal after they originally voted to reject it
• horror among the union’s anti-genocide activists at her positions on Israel’s genocide in Gaza and her attacks on anti-genocide activists

Unite has claimed that the strike action is targeted at Graham because she is a woman.

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