Unite General Secretary Election

[Sprocket.]

Just been announced on Sky News, I am getting used to Sharon Graham’s being pre-fixed with the words Left winger.
Hoping that she receives the support now to see her thoughts on change come to fruition.

 

[Fedayn]

One of more enjoyable developments is reading the various ‘celeb lefts’ who backed Turner/Beckett now congratulating Sharon. I give it a month and they’ll be writing as though they’d backed her all along rather than the candidate of the dead left. Fortunately, I’ll be here to remind them of their pro-Turner shilling

Regardless of the symbolism of a woman winning the GS position in that union, note to some lefties, women can have shite politics too, it is inany ways a welcome departure from the hack kind of social media/www campaigning and use of the FT network and simply relying of well meaning Lefts high up in the union to do a campaign. I have seen a few up here, on social media,, naming without naming SG in a disparaging and oooh Trot splitter invective way,. Now it may be the summer swallow but if your starting point is having an actual campaign in the union and organising to be ramped up it is a refreshing change to what has been so stodgy before.

 

[belboid]

Unite official statement

Sharon Graham announced as Unite's new general secretary

…

www.unitetheunion.org

 

[Smokeandsteam]

 

[magneze]

Good news. All that stuff about the left vote being split turned out to be shit. Well, it was split I suppose but it just didn't let Coyne in. Result.

 

[oryx]

Momentum congratulates hard-left candidate set to be next Unite leader

Sharon Graham has warned ‘no blank cheques’ for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party

www.independent.co.uk

I hadn't realized I'd voted for the hard left Nice that they balance that up by always calling Johnson and his crew hard right - backed by the EDL and BNP.

I followed this election a fair bit and calling Graham 'hard left' is ludicrous!

Pleased she's won although I voted for Turner. I was concerned about the possibility of Coyne winning.

I'll be very interested to see how she turns out.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Good news. All that stuff about the left vote being split turned out to be shit. Well, it was split I suppose but it just didn't let Coyne in. Result.

There will be a lot to discuss over the next months as the dust settles. But what I sense was that Sharon Graham's support combined the best elements of the left - those who want change in the union - along with new and developing areas of membership where the organisers had some leverage.

Turner's vote was a combination of the machine vote that was deliverable and reproducible by FTO's, some senior lay types and a section of activists who want Unite to focus on labour politics. (we can safely discount Beckett supporters from Graham's count: they wanted a canddiate focussed on Starmer rather than the shop floor).

I think there is an important shift in emphasis taking place here: away from rebuilding the union left in the Labour Party and towards rebuilding working class power in workplaces.

However, the caveat is that all of this is relative: 88% of members didn't even vote. So there is a lot to do....

 

[belboid]

The Guardian piece saying Starmer welcomes her win as amusing. Doubt he'll be saying that when the leverafe campaigns against labour in local government start (campaigns which Turner opposed, it should be pointed out).

 

[Sprocket.]

Just realised this will be the last leadership election I have taken part in as a full member as I’ve now retired.
Thankfully I voted for the winner.

 

[belboid]

This is a good piece

Sharon Graham wins stunning Unite victory

rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century

www.rs21.org.uk

 

[Pickman's model]

I followed this election a fair bit and calling Graham 'hard left' is ludicrous!

Pleased she's won although I voted for Turner. I was concerned about the possibility of Coyne winning.

I'll be very interested to see how she turns out.

Edward Heath or James Callaghan would be dangerous lefties by current standards

 

[The39thStep]

This is a good piece

Sharon Graham wins stunning Unite victory

rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century

www.rs21.org.uk

Call me a syndicalist but any move towards building work place organisation independent of the Labour Party gets my vote ( even though I’m in Unison retired members)

 

[Sprocket.]

Sadly though, I can’t see a return to the good old days when strike action was indicated by a show of hands in the workplace

 

[Smokeandsteam]

This is a good piece

Sharon Graham wins stunning Unite victory

rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century

www.rs21.org.uk

Thought you were in the Labour Party??

That is a good piece however especially this "The Unite structures that aren’t fit for purpose are still in place. She will undoubtedly face resistance from sections of the officer-corps who don’t want to see a greater focus on organising. None of the Regional Secretaries backed her, and some will doubtless want to hold on to their power rather than moving to a structure that better matches the employers members face. The Labour Party establishment, not just the right, will pile on the pressure against challenges to Labour local authorities and mayors. We will need to extend the activist networks beyond those directly involved in her campaign to ensure that her programme is implemented. To achieve the changes members voted for, we will need pressure from below that not only supports her plans but goes beyond what she can do from the general secretary’s office. We need every Unite workplace strike-ready and to inspire workers to organise everywhere"

Also agree that serious thought needs to be given to joining whatever new left grouping forms around her: unless its top down and run by paid officials that is. What we really need is a genuinely independent rank and file network.

 

[two sheds]

Momentum congratulates hard-left candidate set to be next Unite leader

Sharon Graham has warned ‘no blank cheques’ for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party

www.independent.co.uk

I hadn't realized I'd voted for the hard left Nice that they balance that up by always calling Johnson and his crew hard right - backed by the EDL and BNP.

She's no longer hard left . That's quite a political swing within a day. And they've now struck Momentum out of the hard-left political bingo card.

Sharon Graham becomes Unite union’s first female leader

Left-winger takes almost 5,000 more votes than nearest rival

www.independent.co.uk

 

[splonkydoo]

One of more enjoyable developments is reading the various ‘celeb lefts’ who backed Turner/Beckett now congratulating Sharon. I give it a month and they’ll be writing as though they’d backed her all along rather than the candidate of the dead left. Fortunately, I’ll be here to remind them of their pro-Turner shilling

Still not even a peep out of the Irish section since the result. I am going to savour this one for a while yet.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Still not even a peep out of the Irish section since the result. I am going to savour this one for a while yet.

Ha ha ha! Sadly won’t be long before they were Graham supporters all along/or trying to do her in.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Sadly though, I can’t see a return to the good old days when strike action was indicated by a show of hands in the workplace

 

[Sasaferrato]

Thought you were in the Labour Party??

That is a good piece however especially this "The Unite structures that aren’t fit for purpose are still in place. She will undoubtedly face resistance from sections of the officer-corps who don’t want to see a greater focus on organising. None of the Regional Secretaries backed her, and some will doubtless want to hold on to their power rather than moving to a structure that better matches the employers members face. The Labour Party establishment, not just the right, will pile on the pressure against challenges to Labour local authorities and mayors. We will need to extend the activist networks beyond those directly involved in her campaign to ensure that her programme is implemented. To achieve the changes members voted for, we will need pressure from below that not only supports her plans but goes beyond what she can do from the general secretary’s office. We need every Unite workplace strike-ready and to inspire workers to organise everywhere"

Also agree that serious thought needs to be given to joining whatever new left grouping forms around her: unless its top down and run by paid officials that is. What we really need is a genuinely independent rank and file network.

As barely 1 in 10 bothered to vote, do you see the membership agitating for any substantial change within the union?

To overcome the entrenched coterie as described above, will need the members support, will that support be there?

 

[Sprocket.]

Sometimes I seem to be taken too seriously on here. I’ve only been here eight years though.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

As barely 1 in 10 bothered to vote, do you see the membership agitating for any substantial change within the union?

To overcome the entrenched coterie as described above, will need the members support, will that support be there?

The victory for Graham is impossible to overestimate in terms of the shift in represents in the direction of the union. She beat the campaigns of the old right wing of the union - backed by the Labour Party and media. She beat the official left which has controlled the union for years and has imposed a top down version of labourist left politics and control. She beat McCuskey's first and second choices for his successor. That alone gives some indication of the movement afoot here.

Both the right and the old left have never seriously attempted to engage with, listen to or empower the membership and lay activist base. For the right a docile membership is a necessity for control and deal making with employers and politicians. The old left saw the membership and activists as a stage army that could be summoned up by the 'leadership'. The uselessness of that strategy has played out over and again. The relevance of the old left to members and the distance between them has grown exponentially particularly as McCuskey increasingly drifted into his role as commentator on the Labour Party.

So Graham starts with all that baggage, and no doubt the opposition of powerful vested interests within our union. The need to build on what's been achieved in her campaign isn't just a theoretical or political question: it's one that must be answered successfully if she is to survive and effect any change. Key to it will be listening to and empowering stewards across the union in my view and giving them the resources and the authority to engage seriously with members and potential new recruits. Reaching beyond the full time and lay bureaucracy will be required.

 

[The39thStep]

This is spot on

 

[hitmouse]

One more bit of schadenfreude at Turner supporters: I thought that pretty much all the trot groups, as distinct from the CP and Labour commentariat lot, had ended up backing Graham, at least after Beckett dropped out, but I'd forgotten about Counterfire. So, another one to chalk up to the brilliant tactical insight of Rees and German:

The left and the Unite election

The upcoming election in Unite the Union is a test for the left at a critical time The forthcoming elections for General Secretary of Unite the Union are an important test for the left.

www.counterfire.org

Tories fail, Starmer flails – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on the Chesham and Amersham result and the forthcoming Unite leadership election The Chesham and Amersham by-election result is amazing at a number of levels.

www.counterfire.org

Unite has been associated with Corbynism and the left and Coyne would trample over that. His victory would have a great impact within the union, inside the Labour party where the right would rejoice at such an outcome, and where the attacks on everything Corbyn stood for would be redoubled. It would be demoralising for the left everywhere.
Graham does not seem to have cognisance of this...

I would have been content to support any of the three candidates if one unity candidate had been agreed, whoever that was. The fact that Graham supporters seem unable to take this step is regrettable.
There will be a major People’s Assembly demonstration next weekend. The largest working-class demos in recent weeks have been over Palestine, not industrial issues. The movement will be rebuilt by a combination of industrial and political struggle. This election is part of that political struggle – and we should do everything that we can to make sure we win. I don’t see how Graham’s candidacy helps that.

 

[two sheds]

The left is unable to support a unity candidate i.e. a centre candidate who'll expell/ignore actual left wingers as with the Labour party.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Thanks for posting that hitmouse

I’ve just returned from a few pints and a curry with fellow stewards who’ve put a shift in for Graham. Reading the cognitive dissonance/shit and dribble from German has rounded the day off nicely

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Some interesting points in this about where Graham’s vote came from and the strength and weakness of the respective campaigns.

Sharon Graham's Unite election victory should not come as a surprise

The true battle in the trade union’s general secretary election was not between left and right but between the leadership and rank-and-file members.

www.newstatesman.com

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Also:



“Our power comes from the workplace. Of course, I will sit down with Kier Starmer, but the Parliamentary Labour Party will not win pay rises for my members.”

 

[hitmouse]

The Novara article seems reasonable:

Forget Party Politics. For Unite’s New Boss, Organising Is the Top Priority | Novara Media

Sharon Graham's shock victory in the Unite leadership election signals the union is moving away from party politics to embrace workplace organising - a move that could truly transform labour relations in Britain.

novaramedia.com

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Good to see. Bringing stewards involved in dispute is a great idea.

 

[hitmouse]

Oh, this in Tribune looks decent as well:

What Sharon Graham’s Victory Means for Workers

A member of Sharon Graham's campaign team writes about the reasons for her victory in the Unite general secretary election – and why her vision of change from the bottom-up appealed to workers.

tribunemag.co.uk

Although I think the only thing they put out prior to the election was a bit different:

Steve Turner’s Plan for a Worker-Led Fight Against Climate Change

Steve Turner's 'Workers' Greenprint' is a bold plan to put workers at the forefront of the fight against climate change – and it shows why he's the candidate we need as the next general secretary of Unite.

tribunemag.co.uk