Unite officers strike next week against union boss Graham

Unite officers have announced strike action against Sharon Graham and her management cronies later this month. They will be protesting what some describe as “Murdoch tactics” — efforts by Graham to block workers from organising.

Unite Officers Branch statement

In a statement, the group said:

For the first time in Unite’s history, its full time officials, who assist unite members up and down the country on a daily basis, will be taking industrial action themselves.

Quoting a spokesperson from the Unite Officers Branch, the statement continues:

Our dispute is over the decision by Unite Management to unilaterally recognise a staff association with no mandate or majority support from within Unite Officers. This is something that not only goes against a democratic decision taken by the majority of Unite Officers, but stands in contrast to the very principles of collective responsibility, lay member-led decision making, and basic trade union values that Unite as both a trade union and our employer stands for.

In any other Unite workplace, an employer who attempted the same course of action would be strongly resisted, and Unite Officers feel they must now lead by example in their own workplace.

On the 20th and 22nd of April our branch took part in talks through ACAS in good faith to try and find a resolution to this dispute. After an agreement was reached between the parties in the room, the leadership of Unite tried to impose changes which ultimately scuppered the deal and now means our strike will go ahead as planned.

The statement ends:

Most Unite Offices and Buildings will have pickets outside of them starting Monday the 27th of April.

Briefing note

In a ‘Community Unite Officers Branch briefing’ note, organisers explained how their mediation attempts had failed.

They said this was because bosses reneged on the agreement reached almost as soon as it had been made.

The note also outlined the tactics Graham’s regime had used to try to thwart their efforts to organise, by setting up a puppet staff association instead:

This dispute is a wholly unnecessary mess created by Unite management by recognising a staff association, with low levels of support, which undermines colleagues who voted by majority to recognise Community as their independent trade union.

A group of Unite officers called the “Unite Officer Group” was set up and was given collective bargaining rights by Unite management without any consultation with the Bargaining Groups and without majority support. Its reps were not elected and have no mandate as a bargaining unit. This group are Unite officers opposed to collective bargaining through our independent union.

This dispute is easily resolved. It is in the hands of Unite’s management to make the principled decision we would expect any trade unionist to instinctively make not to recognise a staff association.

If we don’t oppose this situation then any employer, regardless of our recognition agreement will argue that non members of Unite should have a representative body at all collective negotiations.

The week commencing 20th of April, our branch took part in good faith in talks through ACAS in a final attempt to resolve this dispute. We believed we had found a solution by agreeing to another trade union being able to seek recognition alongside ours if it could demonstrate it had support.

Sadly after everything was agreed, the leadership of Unite tried to impose changes to the ACAS deal which would allow the UOG to crown another trade union of their choice as being recognised with no consultation, checks or balances with our branch or Unite Officers more widely.

Trade Unions function through mandates not coronations and we were appalled at this last minute change. Unless and until the leadership of Unite put the original ACAS deal back on the table, our branch feels it has no alternative but to take industrial action.

Regional Officers

We are taking action in the interests of the bargaining unit and have a strong industrial action mandate. We call on all Regional Officers to take strike action.

Aside from crossing the physical picket line outside offices or visiting workplaces, there’s also a digital picket line that would be crossed by using laptops or phones to make any work related communications. We call on

Regional Officers to withdraw all labour.

Stand Down Officers & ASCs

We understand the precarious position of Stand Down Officers during this dispute and appreciate the support and solidarity already shown by the majority of our SDO colleagues.

Stand Down Officers & ASCs should respect our picket line. They should not cover any work of another officer’s allocation.

Staff and Organisers

We appreciate the support and solidarity from colleagues across the union in our dispute. We are concerned that whilst the strike is ongoing, pressure will be applied to ask staff and organisers to cross picket lines and cover the work of striking colleagues. We ask you to resist these requests.

We appreciate and support sister unions who have asked for assurances that no worker – permanent, temporary, or agency – would be expected or pressured to cross a picket line.

Lay members

The support we have received from the lay members has been overwhelming. We understand that lay members will feel the biggest effects of this dispute and appreciate their understanding. We are doing what we would want any member to do in the event of their employer undermining their union via an imposed staff association.

We invite lay members to support our action by lobbying Unite management to resolve this dispute, asking EC members to do the same and of course supporting picket lines, demonstrations and support the dispute via social media channels.

We are proud to be Unite Officers and are always open to discussing a resolution to avoid a lengthy and damaging dispute.

Anyone who has not been following Sharon Graham’s tenure as Unite general secretary could be excused for feeling shock at the idea of a union boss using anti-union tactics against union workers. But this is not a one-off or a new development.

Unite workers have taken repeated strike actions against Graham—and her husband Jack Clarke—appointed to a top job soon after she took over. This appointment came despite Clarke’s reputation for bullying and misogyny.

Unite’s lawyers, long after Skwawkbox first reported it, admitted that the union had destroyed evidence. This happened once Graham was running the union. Workers in Clarke’s previous department had gathered evidence against him. Moreover, Graham had asked colleagues to destroy this evidence of bullying and misogyny before she became general secretary.

So bad was this alleged conduct that more than 90% of Unite staff working at the union’s Holborn HQ voted for strike action. Three, some say four, of the five women who worked in Clarke’s department since Graham formed it left. Union sources say they also alleged bullying and abuse.

Unite’s staff branch unanimously condemned the union’s abuse of its staff. The influential Officers National Committee (ONC) accused Graham of using Murdoch-style anti-union tactics against workers and officers unionising and taking collective action.

Now, after fighting Graham’s moves to undermine their attempts to organise since the beginning of 2025 and seeing their Acas deal trashed, Unite’s officer group will begin strike action next week. It is an action that may well impact her attempts to get herself and her hangers-on re-elected this year.

Featured image via the Canary