Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Along with Unison, Unite is one of the two largest trade unions in the UK, with over 1.2 million members in construction, manufacturing, transport, logistics and other sectors. The general secretary of Unite is Sharon Graham, who was elected on 25 August 2021 with 46,696 votes (approx 3% of Unite's claimed membership) on a turnout of 124,127 (approx 9% of claimed membership), with her term beginning on 26 August 2021.
History
Merger and early years (2007–2010) Unite the Union was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus, a general private sector union, and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). The general secretaries of the previous unions, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley respectively, served as joint general secretaries of the new union. The executive councils of the predecessor unions became a joint executive council which served until elections could be held for an executive council of Unite. The new council took office on 1 May 2008. They put a new rulebook for the union to a postal ballot of members during July 2008, which was accepted.
In 2008, there was a rooftop hunger strike at Unite's Transport House building in Belfast. The participants were formerly shop stewards of the Transport and General Workers Union, now a section of Unite. The dispute was over legal fees and compensation for an unfair dismissal action against the workers' employer, arising from a 2002 strike at Belfast International Airport, and the related actions of a full-time union official employee.
In October 2009, British Airways announced that it would cut 1,700 cabin crew jobs. Unite, which represented 12,000 of the company's cabin crew, said that it had been in talks with British Airways about the company's plans to reduce costs, but that the announcement had not been shared with them in advance. British Airways suspended staff for sharing lists of pilots who had agreed to break a potential strike. Unite's assistant general secretary, Len McCluskey, said that some members had been suspended for being friends on Facebook with other attendants being investigated. In a strike ballot, more than 80% of cabin crew members of Unite voted to strike. The High Court of Justice granted an injunction against the strike on the basis that Unite had not informed its members about the number of spoilt ballots in a previous dispute. In total, there were twenty-two days of strike during the dispute.
In November 2009, Kraft Foods Inc. bid to purchase the confectionary company Cadbury. Unite represented its staff, and sought assurance about the status of jobs in the event of the purchase. Kraft went on to purchase Cadbury. In a Parliamentary committee, Unite representatives including deputy general secretary Jack Dromey and national food and drink officer Jennie Formby gave evidence to an inquiry about the takeover, saying that Kraft had delayed meeting union representatives. Formby later criticised the company for its compensation of £40 million to its outgoing chief executive Todd Stitzer. The Labour Party later announced an election proposal to raise the shareholder majority required to approve a takeover to two-thirds, which Unite had lobbied for.
During the 2010 United Kingdom general election, Unite were the largest donor to the Labour Party, giving them £1 million.
McCluskey era (2010–2021) The first election for a single general secretary of the union was held in 2010, with McCluskey, an assistant general secretary considered on the left-wing of the union, being elected. Former joint general secretary Derek Simpson received a payment of over £500,000. Due to the controversy this caused within the union, members voted in favour of new measures designed to limit future payments on departure in a policy conference in 2012.
The union began offering lower price membership to students, the unemployed and single parents in 2011. In the same year, the dispute with British Airways was resolved. In the wake of cuts to public spending made by the Cameron–Clegg coalition, McCluskey threatened strike action to disrupt the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Also in protest against cuts, Unite supported a successful motion at the Trades Union Congress in 2012 to consider holding a general strike.