Unite election: Len McCluskey reveals his strength

Len McCluskey, candidate for General Secretary of Britain’s biggest union,  this weekend revealed just how widespread his support is.  In a full-page  advert in the Morning Star, he listed his supporters amongst leading lay members and officials of the union revealing not only that he is the front runner in the election by a wide margin, but that he is the only candidate in a position to unite the union on a progressive course.

Amongst his lay member supporters listed are 49 members of the 80-strong executive council, 9 out of 10 chairs of regional  committees and 19 out of 27 chairs of industrial national sector committees. Amongst officials, he lists 7 out of 10 regional secretaries and 23 national or senior officers.

The union was formed through the merger of the TGWU and Amicus (which itself had resulted from the merger of several unions in a few years including the AEU, EETPU and MSF) , and only last month held its first policy conference. The ability of its first sole General Secretary to unite these different strands with their own traditions into a single effective organisation is critical in the face of the worst recession in almost a century and a coalition government that in economic terms is as neo-liberal (i.e. deeply conservative).

Len’s unique ability to unite the union is illustrated by his support on the lay executive: on the half of the executive representing the former TGWU, not a single member supports one of Len’s challengers, and yet Len has the public support of about a quarter of the former Amicus members in spite of the fact that all three opponents were in Amicus. Not surprising then that he announces himself in the adverts as:

the candidate of unity, building a progressive consensus across all sections of Unite.

Unlike other candidates, Len has produced a detailed manifesto for each sector in which the union organises and the wider labour movment which can be found here.