By Socialist Alternative supporters in Unite the Union
Polls are now open as Unite members decide who will lead the union as its General Secretary for the next five years. This election comes at a decisive moment for the union. Just a few months ago, the left wing within the union scored a stunning victory in the Executive Council elections. This means the union now has a left majority on that body, as well as a General Secretary who was elected on a left-wing platform.
Incumbent Sharon Graham was first elected five years ago on a wave of rank-and-file enthusiasm. Her pledges at that time were to empower members by setting up sectoral ‘combines’ (activist bodies of reps and shop stewards from the same industry, employer or sector), giving members control over disputes, carrying out a ‘democracy review’ within the union, and taking the struggle ‘back to the workplace’. This was opposed to continuing the previous leadership’s subordination of union policy to the inner machinations of the Labour party leadership.
And where this approach has been carried out, it has borne some impressive results. Graham’s campaign points to around £700 million having been won from employers and put in members’ pockets under her leadership. The union has also been involved in watershed disputes such as the Birmingham bin strike, which has been ongoing for over a year now. Despite her serious political weaknesses, it is certainly the case that it is now easier for Unite members to take action than it was before she was elected.
She is being challenged by Simon Dubbins, the head of Unite’s international department, who is being backed by the right wing within the union. This includes many figures who were part of Unite’s leadership under former General Secretary Len McClusky.
Who is Simon Dubbins?
Dubbins is standing on a platform of “re-uniting the union” after ‘years of division’. It’s undoubtedly true that divisions exist within the union. But Dobbins conspicuously omits the fact that much of this division has come about as a result of his supporters on the NEC, who have been attempting to block the findings of the investigation into alleged corruption under the previous Unite leadership (his allies) from coming to light.
At the time of writing, no explanation has been given as to why £110 million of members’ money was spent by the previous Unite leadership on a hotel complex in Birmingham that was valued at £35 million. The report that Dubbins’ supporters on the NEC attempted to block found that under the previous General Secretary, a “pervasive environment of fraud” existed within the union. In light of this, Dubbins’ pledge to end “years of secrecy” regarding Unite’s finances is disingenuous at best.
Another key part of Dubbins’ platform is “full support for members in dispute”. But it has been reported that at nominations meetings he has pledged that strikes would only be allowed to go ahead when negotiations have been exhausted, and that under his leadership strike pay would only be paid out for up to three months. Rather than membership oversight of disputes and finances, this would in effect put up arbitrary barriers to members taking action, being a major step backwards in members’ ability to control their own disputes.
More alarmingly, his manifesto pledges to create an “executive council strike committee so members have oversight of disputes”. This would effectively hand any future executive the power to block strike action democratically decided on by members. Where such bodies exist in other unions, it is a tool of bureaucrats who prefer sweetheart deals and backroom talks to action.
The decision to go on strike should be a decision for the members, and the members only.
Socialist Alternative believes that a Sharon Graham victory will give Unite members the best opportunity to organise to fight. If she does win this election, and with the exec on her side, we have the opportunity to make pledges such as industrial combines a reality, which would give branches and reps a real say in how disputes are run.
Labour and working-class political organisation
We are not without important criticisms of Graham, however. It is on political questions where she is at her weakest. During her first term, she has flip-flopped on the question of the Labour Party – from rightfully lambasting it, to now signalling it can once again become a home for the working class. This is something which Socialist Alternative disagrees with.
Nonetheless, there have been some important principled stands taken in reference to the union’s relation to Labour, to whom she pledged to give ‘no blank cheques’ in her last election. These include a significant reduction in the amount of money paid to Labour, the union’s refusal to endorse the 2024 election manifesto because of the watering down of the Employment Rights Bill and the suspension of Angela Rayner from the union due to her treacherous role in the Birmingham bin dispute.
Graham has also pledged to hold a consultative referendum ahead of next year’s rules conference on Labour affiliation in her second term. That is something which should be an example to replicate in all unions still affiliated to the party of this government. These are all to be welcomed.
However, her recent actions indicate she may come down on the side of the Labour Party as this process unfolds. This is underlined by Unite’s recent endorsement of Andy Burnham to be the new Labour leader and Prime Minister. And indeed, statements like affiliation has become “increasingly hard to justify” are similar to statements of previous General Secretaries who had no real intention of actually breaking the link.
While it is not the job of the General Secretary to simply announce that the union is going to break from Labour, it is the responsibility of leaders of our movement to take a clearer stance. We would hope that if the referendum does go ahead, she campaigns clearly and unequivocally for a vote to disaffiliate.
Weaknesses on war and the climate
Perhaps the most alarming have been her positions on militarism and the climate crisis. Under the slogan of ‘defending jobs’, she has been full-throated in supporting the Labour government’s militarist agenda. This has included loud support for Starmer’s recently announced massive increase in defence spending and a campaign to make sure the government’s weapons of war are ‘made in Britain’. On the climate, she is a fierce opponent of net zero, and has pressured the government to reopen North Sea fossil fuel exploration.
Both of these policies are shooting workers, including those represented by Unite in the arms and oil and gas industries, in the foot. Ramped up spending on military hardware by the government is not for ‘defence’. It is part of the developing global imperialist arms race and will be used as such. We need only look at this government’s complicity in selling British-made weapons to the Israeli war machine’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. And just as in all wars, any future ones will see the children of the working class, not the arms industry executives, pay the price.
Graham also ignores the fact that increased defence spending, paid for by new austerity measures, will have an impact on the jobs in the wider public sector and the provision of public services that are vital to all Unite members. Moreover, it risks splitting the trade union movement in a time where unity is more necessary than ever.
Recent heatwaves boiling parts of the UK, which contributed to the deaths of an estimated 2,700 people, are predicted only to worsen. And already it is exacerbating inequality; the rich can afford to cool themselves while the rest of us suffer. She claims that her support of the oil industry is in order to protect jobs. But this is of no benefit to Unite members such as bus drivers, road sweepers, refuse collectors and many others who are dealing with the real-life consequences of profit-driven climate change, working in extreme heat.
These are not secondary issues, and the positions being advocated by Sharon Graham on them are self-defeating. In such a situation, it is not the job of trade union leaders to simply opt for one of the false choices offered by the ruling class. The trade union movement should develop a programme that offers a real solution to issues like climate change and militarism, while fully protecting the interests of workers. This means fighting to secure a just transition away from the industries that damage our planet, which guarantees jobs and pay and fully utilises the skills and knowledge of workers in those sectors.
Dubbins: big on words, small on action
Despite the weaknesses of Graham on these questions, there is absolutely nothing in any of Dubbins’ election material to suggest that his approach would be any better. In fact the actions of his supporters within the union would suggest it would be worse.
At the 2025 policy conference, motions were submitted by right-wingers within the union which would have drawn the union closer to Labour. These were hastily withdrawn in light of developments around the Birmingham bin strike which turned the mood of the conference decisively against the Labour Party.
Dubbins’ own pledges do not go beyond the usual platitudes we hear from union leaders at election times such as ‘holding Labour to account’ and ‘restoring Unite’s voice in the movement’. There are no concrete commitments made on Unite’s political future from Dubbins.
Unfortunately, Graham’s ‘back to the workplace’ approach sometimes translates to a narrow and sectional approach of focusing only on immediate questions around jobs, terms and conditions. This misses the need for a programme that can unify workers from across the union and the economy as a whole.
Own goals such as Graham’s initial silence on Gaza (rightfully corrected by the EC at last year’s policy conference) have allowed Dubbins to gather a certain amount of support within the union. Much has been made in the Dubbins camp over Graham’s lacklustre support for the Palestinian cause. Again however, his election material is very short on detail. What, for example, would he want the union to do differently to what is in the measures voted through at conference? Socialist Alternative has put forward the demand that unions – including Unite – help organise workers in key strategic sectors to block the export of arms and parts to the Israeli war machine.
Much has been made of a supposed ban on members marching under Unite banners at Gaza solidarity protests. Anyone who has been to those protests can say that is not the case. While it is legitimate to criticise Graham’s approach as being passive, it seems some in the union have resorted to making things up.
Similarly, Dubbins talks left on the need to transition to a “low carbon economy needed to secure jobs and livelihoods”. Yet we are not going to achieve that with continued political support for Labour, who have torn up pretty much every climate pledge they made before coming into office.
Vote Sharon Graham
Socialist Alternative is calling for a vote for Sharon Graham at his election, because her focus on workplace action will give Unite members the best opportunities to organise and fight for their jobs, terms and conditions.
In spite of Dubbin’s superficially appealing rhetoric, he offers a return to the failed approaches of the past. It is right (if limited) to make statements opposing the genocide in Gaza, calling for climate action and to defend public sector jobs and services. But returning to the past approach of subordinating these things to the will of the Labour Party will undermine all those struggles.
While Graham’s programme has some significant weaknesses which will need to be challenged from within the ranks of the union, it still provides a platform for members to openly debate the question of political organisation of the trade union movement. There is now also space within Unite for members to make the union’s policies on Gaza a reality.
The re-election of Sharon Graham as GS would be a step forward. But it should also be seen as another step on the way to a fighting, democratic union – not the finished product.
