Exclusive: Unite exec majority starts legal action over assault on democracy, orders Graham to obey rules

Union general secretary ordered to respect union’s rules and not to squander members’ money on lawyers to defend chair who refused to step down after clear vote

The majority of the Unite union’s elected majority announced last month that it was being forced to take legal action against the union because of a war on Unite’s democracy by Sharon Graham’s management. That legal action has now begun, with a two-pronged move seeking ‘injunctive relief’ at the High Court and ordering Graham not to exceed her authority by instructing lawyers to defend Andy Graham, the pro-Graham ‘exec’ chair who refused to step down in accordance with the union’s rules despite a clear majority vote by members of the executive instructing him to do so.

A statement from the group accused Green of “frustrating the good and proper running of the Union” and Graham of spending “vast sums” of Unite’s money on lawyers to help Green “thwart the majority democratic will of the executive council” – and assures members, staff and officers that their elected representatives “will not flinch from our duty as EC members to ensure democratic control, financial transparency, and good governance of our union, nor will we allow the authority of the EC to be trampled on and marginalised“:

Statement by the majority of the Unite Executive Council Refusal of Andy Green to step down – Proceedings for Injunctive relief lodged at the High Court

As Unite colleagues will be aware the Unite Executive Council voted to remove the former EC Chair Andy Green from his position at a meeting held on the 10th of March 2025. The vote to remove Andy Green was carried by 31 votes in favour, 28 against, and 1 abstention. Regrettably, Andy Green has persistently refused to step down from his position despite numerous requests for him to end the crisis and accept the outcome of the vote. He continues to reject the democratic will of the Unite EC and is frustrating the good and proper running of the Union.

As a result of this impasse the Unite EC were forced to seek legal advice, during which it became apparent that Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham had engaged an extremely expensive external law firm to defend Andy Green in his attempt to thwart the majority democratic will of the EC that voted to remove him as the Chair of the Unite EC on 10th March 2025.

The law firm engaged by Sharon Graham is Farrer & Co. The Unite EC find it reprehensible that the Unite General Secretary is prepared to pay vast sums of members’ money to enable Andy Green to evade the authority and democratic will of the Unite EC.

Solicitors engaged by the Unite EC wrote to Andy Green to invite him to step aside to prevent legal action being taken against him to ensure compliance with the EC’s democratic decision to remove him.

In addition, a letter was sent by the Unite EC yesterday, Thursday the 3rd of April 2025, to Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham making it clear that the Executive Council has revoked her authority to authorise legal action (full text of letter reproduced below).

The Unite EC wishes to assure Unite members, activists, staff, and officers, that we will not flinch from our duty as EC members to ensure democratic control, financial transparency, and good governance of our union, nor will we allow the authority of the EC to be trampled on and marginalised.

Legal action to safeguard Unite’s democracy and financial stability has now commenced at the High Court and we will not rest until our union is firmly back under the rightful and proper democratic control of its members.

An accompanying copy of a letter to Sharon Graham warns her that she has no authority under Unite’s rules to order lawyers to take any action to protect Green from democracy and from the exec’s legal action:

Unite has been contacted for comment.

Sharon Graham is also embroiled in a dispute by union staff working in the department she created for her husband to run, who allege that he and managers working under him have bullied and abused staff. At least three and by some reports four of the five women working in the department have quit and Graham and her team have been accused by furious workers of employing union-busting tactics to break up the strike, including having allies join the GMB union that represents staff working for Unite to try to vote down the strike action, an allegation that the union’s sector committee has demanded be investigated. Unite’s officers have also accused her of using anti-union legislation to stop them organising collectively.

And in a stunning development exclusively revealed by Skwawkbox, lawyers acting for Unite and Graham also confirmed Skwawkbox’s reporting that the union had destroyed evidence gathered by staff, particularly women, who had recorded the behaviour her husband, Jack Clarke, in their complaint that he was behaving abusively and misogynistically.

Clarke was appointed to his current role, after Graham became general secretary, despite being on a final warning from the union for his behaviour. The industrial action continues and threatens to spread to the whole HQ staff after more than 9/10 workers there voted in favour of strike action over the issue.

Graham has also been heavily criticised for her refusal to implement the union’s position, democratically agreed by delegates, to support the people of Palestine against Israel’s apartheid and genocide – instead insisting that she will prioritise arms industry jobs over calls to stand against the genocide. She has also claimed that leaked financials showing the union in a dire financial position are ‘fake’, even though they bore marks of coming from Unite’s internal ‘Sharepoint’ system. Unite has not filed annual accounts since she became general secretary.

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