Strife in Unite

Submitted by AWL on 22 July, 2020 - 7:57
Howard Beckett

The United Left, the dominant faction in the big Unite union, held a hustings and online ballot on 18 July to decide its nomination for the General Secretary election coming up, probably, in the next months as Len McCluskey retires.

The nomination was won by Steve Turner, one of the union’s Assistant General Secretaries (AGS), with 370 votes against 367 for Howard Beckett (pictured), another AGS. The Labour left blog Skwawkbox, which supported Beckett, is agitating for a re-run with the claim that some Beckett supporters couldn’t get access to the online voting. Workers’ Liberty activists in Unite say that although Beckett can talk left, his role in Unite’s failed legal actions against Sally Nailard and Anna Turley is discrediting.

Sharon Graham, head of the union’s Organising Department and not a member of the United Left, has said she will stand. We know of no candidate yet from the union’s traditional right wing.

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