Make your voice heard

Unite’s current general secretary Len McCluskey is standing down – and the race to be his successor has already started. Who will be the next leader of Unite? Unite is urging members to make sure their voices are heard – by taking part in the forthcoming election for the next Unite general secretary.

If you are a Unite member, including a retired member plus or a Unite Community member and you joined before April 14, 2021, then you are eligible to vote in this election.

And today (Thursday June 10) UNITElive can now confirm that four candidates seeking nomination in the election for the union’s general secretary election have all secured sufficient nominations to be eligible for inclusion in the ballot.

The election follows the decision of Len McCluskey to stand aside from the role of general secretary to which he was first elected in 2010.

Branch and workplace nominating meetings were held between May 6 and June 7. Under Unite’s rules candidates had to receive nominations from at least five per cent of the branches and workplaces eligible to nominate to be included in the ballot. This amounted to 172 valid nominations.

The numbers of valid nominations received by each candidate are

Howard Beckett     328

Gerard Coyne        196

Sharon Graham     349

Steve Turner          525

However the final total may vary slightly from these figures as outstanding issues regarding the validity of some nominations are resolved.

Howard Beckett and Steve Turner are both Unite assistant general secretaries; Sharon Graham is executive officer for organising and leverage; Gerard Coyne is a former regional secretary for the West Midlands.

Ballot papers will be dispatched to Unite members from July 5, and the result will be declared on August 26.

So get ready to make your voice heard and cast your vote for your candidate of choice. Make sure your personal details are up to date on our membership system by logging in to your My Unite account on our website here.

BALLOT DATES

Here are the dates for your diary

Ballot papers dispatched – from July 5

Ballot papers returned to independent scrutineer* – by noon, August 23

Declaration of results – August 26

And the new general secretary will take up the post at the conclusion of the election process.

FIND OUT MORE

See the Unite website’s handy guide

 

Stay tuned to UNITElive for the latest updates

By UNITElive team

 

*In accordance with the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, Civica Election Services has been appointed to act as Independent Scrutineer for this ballot. They can be contacted at: The Independent Scrutineer, Civica Election Services, Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW.