6<\/p>\n Unite leader Sharon Graham at last year\u2019s Labour Party Conference in LiverpoolCredit: Getty 6<\/p>\n Union pickets outside St Thomas\u2019 hospital in London in a strike over pay in 2023Credit: PA 6<\/p>\n Birmingham bin strikes saw rubbish piled up in the streetsCredit: getty<\/p>\n And our statistics reveal the number of ballots held soared by nearly 300 per cent since hard-left leader Sharon Graham<\/a> took over in 2021.<\/p>\n They include \u201cfarcical\u201d votes where only one worker was even eligible to strike.<\/p>\n Former Tory minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke said: \u201cThe people this inconveniences most are the ones who need to use essential public services and, more often than not, they are working people.\u201d<\/p>\n Paperwork filed by the union last week revealed it had sought to bring chaos to hundreds of workplaces across the UK by triggering industrial action such as strikes<\/a>, overtime bans or work-to-rule campaigns<\/a>.<\/p>\n The accounts reveal Unite asked staff to vote on action 1,066 times in 2023. It is the equivalent of more than four votes every working day in a 250-day business<\/a> year.<\/p>\n Raised eyebrows<\/p>\n Workers voted to strike<\/a>, or take action short of a strike, on 25 occasions, wrecking 557 days of work across a range of industries.<\/p>\n It included 352 days of walkouts, including a high-profile strike in Warrington, Cheshire<\/a>, which dragged on for three months.<\/p>\n During the action, Unite said a nationally agreed pay rise for refuse workers was not enough and continued to tell members to shirk work.<\/p>\n Walkouts took place in four stints between October and December 2023, leaving \u201chealth hazard\u201d bins overflowing in the streets.<\/a><\/p>\n A similar rubbish collection action in Selby, North Yorkshire<\/a>, was also backed by Ms Graham, who still won\u2019t reveal her own salary<\/a> nearly four years after taking the top job.<\/p>\n Minister urges Unite to ‘step up’ to reach agreement in Birmingham<\/p>\n While the figures for 2024 have yet to be released, in 2022, the first full year of her leadership, the union held 974 ballots and also voted for action 25 times.<\/p>\n It resulted in 522 days being lost to industrial action.<\/p>\n Over both years, the union held 108 votes where ten or fewer members were actually eligible to vote on whether action should be taken.<\/p>\n And bizarrely, the figure includes 38 industrial action ballots where only one member was entitled to cast a vote.<\/p>\n Of the votes where only one person could participate, six ended with moves for industrial action, while six voted against.<\/p>\n Unite has been taken over by ideologues and there appears to be undue influence from the Socialist Party<\/p>\n Labour insider<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 26 cases, the single person entitled to vote chose not to \u2014 meaning none was cast.<\/p>\n It compares with just 269 total votes held across the whole union in 2021, when Ms Graham <\/a>took over from former chief Len McCluskey<\/a>, and 113 votes in 2020.<\/p>\n It means there has been an 843 per cent surge in strike balloting in only four years. Ms Graham\u2019s repeated calls for strikes have also raised eyebrows from inside the Government, as the union still refuses to publish its financial returns.<\/p>\n One senior Labour insider said: \u201cUnite<\/a> has been taken over by ideologues and there appears to be undue influence from the Socialist Party. When are they actually going to say what the state of the union finances are?<\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n Unite\u2019s leaders have been accused of prolonging the Birmingham bin strikesCredit: Alamy 6<\/p>\n A 2023 walkout by bus drivers working for Go North East resulted in a five-week dispute over payCredit: ITV 6<\/p>\n DHL baggage handlers and ground staff at Gatwick Airport threatened to strike in 2023 until they were given a pay rise<\/p>\n \u201cThousands of members deserve to know. They are hiding the union\u2019s true financial state. What have they got to hide?\u201d<\/p>\n The scale of balloting among the union\u2019s 1.2million members has sparked fear that union chiefs<\/a> are attempting to \u201cstrong-arm\u201d employees into as much strike action as possible.<\/p>\n Tory MP Mr Shelbrooke added: \u201cThe idea that Unite would back a one-person strike is farcical. These types of votes are verging on vexatious.<\/p>\n “Strikes hit people who need the bus, who need their bins collected, who have to take time off work to look after their kids if their teachers<\/a> are off.<\/p>\n \u201cThey lose pay while union leaders call for industrial action four times every working day.<\/p>\n \u201cThese figures show there is clearly a focus within Unite on trying to strike more and more, because otherwise their members wouldn\u2019t be being asked so much more often than a few years ago. This reflects very badly on the union\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n The accounts for the last three years are only \u201cpartial\u201d, meaning there is no mention of Ms Graham\u2019s pay deal or how much the union is now donating to the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unite and some others seem to be in the grip of people for whom disruption, disputes and revolution are their priority<\/p>\n Source<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 2020, Unite gave \u00a32.8million to the Labour Party, including donations to hard-left leadership candidates Rebecca Long-Bailey<\/a> and Richard Burgon<\/a>, who were standing against Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unite\u2019s leaders have already been accused of prolonging the Birmingham bin strikes by going over the heads of its regional leaders to negotiate directly with the city\u2019s council and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner.<\/a><\/p>\n A source told the BBC: \u201cUnions traditionally have been about the art of the deal on behalf of their members.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, Unite and some others seem to be in the grip of people for whom disruption, disputes and revolution are their priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Unite and Ms Graham<\/a> have backed multiple lengthy strikes by workers in different industries.<\/p>\n Campaigns that won her endorsement included a 2023 walkout by bus drivers<\/a> working for Go North East, who had a five-week dispute over pay. They eventually accepted an 11.2 per cent pay rise by just seven votes.<\/p>\n The leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, said at the time that workers\u2019 lives \u201chave been devastated\u201d by the strike, which wreaked havoc on the busy network around Newcastle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ms Graham said: \u201cGo North East workers should be congratulated on their victory for better pay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Lives devastated\u2019<\/p>\n She also backed 600 DHL baggage handlers and ground staff at Gatwick Airport who threatened to strike in 2023 until they were given a 15 per cent pay rise.<\/p>\n Unite has only filed partial accounts for each year since 2021 because of multiple probes into the union\u2019s handling of its Birmingham<\/a> hotel and conference centre construction.<\/p>\n The union spent \u00a3112million on the project \u2014 called Aloft \u2014 which has since been valued at only \u00a329million.<\/p>\n It has become the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation<\/a>, with Unite itself identifying a \u201cmissing\u201d \u00a314million sum which was left unaccounted for in the project\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n In 2022, South Wales<\/a> Police<\/a> searched the union\u2019s London<\/a> head office as part of a separate bribery, money-laundering and fraud investigation.<\/p>\n![\"Sharon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2024-liverpool-england-labours-first-935830466_23f9eb.jpg\")
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