Got nothing against Gerard Coyne, but in 20-plus years associating with the labour movement I have never seen a candidate run such a desperate and rubbish General Secretary election campaign. Kicking off his Unite leadership bid, Gerard criticised Len McCluskey for spending more time talking about and fiddling with the Labour Party than looking after […]
Posts Tagged ‘Len McCluskey’
Let’s Unite the left for Len
Feb 10th, 2017 by Andy Newman.Even taking account the advantages of incumbency, the momentum, dynamism and confidence of Len McCluskey’s campaign to be re-elected General Secretary of Unite stands in sharp contrast to the lacklustre efforts of the right wing challenger, Gerard Coyne, and the amateur hour theatrics of the “grassroots” candidate, Ian Allinson. What stands out is not only that Len can point […]
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McCluskey comes out in favour or working with the SNP
Apr 27th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The Guardian reports today that Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, has come out in favour of Ed Miliband working with the SNP after the election. However, McCluskey was also careful to back the Labour Party – even under the leadership of Jim Murphy – saying “we’re a democratic party and of course we’re behind him and supporting […]
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McCluskey leads attack on Farage’s promise to axe racial discrimination laws
Mar 12th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Nigel Farage has said he would scrap laws designed to stop racial discrimination in the workplace that he claims are out of date because British society has moved on, making them redundant, and it is, he says, “ludicrous” that employers could not favour a British national for a role over a foreigner. In response, Len McCluskey, leader […]
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Jerry Hicks complaint against Unite thrown out
Oct 28th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Far left challenger to Len McCluskey in last year’s election for Unite general Secretary, Jerry Hicks, has lost his formal legal challenge to the Government’s Certification Officer. Having lost by144,570 votes to 79,819 in spite of backing from sections of the Right and every disgruntled member, his objection has finally been thrown out after a year […]
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Have the trade unions given up on Labour?
Sep 8th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.A slimmed down Trades Union Congress meeting this week on the banks of the Mersey has an air of unreality about it. It’s not quite that no-one cares what the TUC says – trade union leaders care enough about speaking with one voice that there is even less public debate and dissent here than there […]
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Len McCluskey warns now is not the time for heated arguments about Labour policy
Jun 30th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Opening Unite’s policy conference in Liverpool today, Len McCluskey’s planned speech ranged across issues from the severity of Tory attacks on working people and their families (as well as on Unite itself) to the importance of electing a Labour government and the menace posed by UKIP. But for Labour and union activists keen to use Labour’s policy process to […]
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PCS conference defeats its executive motion on merger with Unite
May 21st, 2014 by Jon Lansman.The annual conference of civil service union PCS, after a lengthy debate described both as ‘heated‘ and ‘balanced‘, voted this morning to reject the motion from its executive on a merger between PCS and Unite, by 109,326 to 73,212 on a card vote. The conference did pass an emergency motion which, based on reports on Left Futures […]
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Is a Unite takeover of PCS desirable? Not if it divides the Labour movement
May 8th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Discussions are, we hear, proceeding apace between Unite and civil service union, PCS, about what has until now been described within PCS as a merger but at the recent Unite executive (at which Len McCluskey got its backing for formal talks) was described as a “transfer of engagements“, aka “a takeover“. Many details remain to be discussed, but […]
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Left likely to consolidate its influence on Unite executive – but will it remain a United Left?
Mar 4th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Nominations closed last week for the elections to the executive of Unite, Britain’s biggest union, and, based on an analysis of the nominations received, it seems likely that the United Left which backed Len McCluskey for General Secretary and currently has a large majority on the executive is likely to consolidate its position. The executive […]
