Politics at Work
Local trade union reps receive time off with pay to represent their members - or at least they do in organised workplaces where a union is recognised by the employer.
But what they are not allowed to do, just like any other employee, is to pursue private or personal interests during working time - when they are being paid to do their job.
So it will be interesting to see what comes of this outstanding issue from the Grangemouth dispute - the behaviour and treatment of the local Unite convener, Stephen Deans.
On the face of things, the emails revealed by the Sunday Times are extremely damaging - and the rescue plan now agreed between Ineos (the owners of the site) and Unite means that the plant will immediately end the practice of having full-time union conveners.
No wonder.
I doubt than any ordinary members of Unite at Grangemouth or anywhere else for that matter will shed a tear, if union reps are properly held to account - for pursuing party political issues during their working time.
‘A blueprint of how to hijack a constituency’
A cache of emails involving the union organiser at the centre of the Grangemouth dispute throws fresh light on one of Miliband’s biggest scandals
By David Leppard and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
LAST Thursday morning Stevie Deans, the Unite union convenor at the giant petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Falkirk, received an unwelcome phone call summoning him to a disciplinary meeting in the office of a senior manager.
The plant, Scotland’s most important industrial complex, was in chaos. Just a day earlier the workforce had been told that Ineos, its owner, had decided to close the facility with the loss of 800 jobs.
Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of Ineos, had concluded that the loss-making plant had no future as long as a dispute with the union, of which Deans was the local boss, remained unresolved.
But the disciplinary meeting had nothing to do with the stricken plant’s troubled industrial relations over pay, pensions and union representations.
In the manager’s office, Deans — a powerful union figure who is also chairman of Unite in Scotland — was confronted with the results of a three-month investigation into his conduct carried out by an outside legal firm and commissioned by Ineos’s corporate counsel.
Seven ring binders of paperwork, comprising about 1,000 emails and attachments sent and received by Deans between October 2012 and August 2103, were spread out on a desk in front of him.
A company manager explained that each of the emails was company property. Deans, it appeared, had rather unwisely used the firm’s email address for his private political correspondence.
The union boss was informed that in the firm’s opinion the material proved that he was guilty of “the inappropriate use of company resources and systems”. He was to be sacked. Deans, a skilled union operator, asked for five days to compile his response.
Len McCluskey heads Unite, the biggest union donor to LabourFor Ineos, the emails showed Deans had broken company rules but the documents have far wider ramifications, raising fresh questions about Labour’s fractious and conflicted relationship with the country’s biggest union.
One company insider said: “The emails show he [Deans] spent most of last summer organising his union’s infiltration of the Labour party, using our facilities. It looks like a blueprint of how a union can hijack a Labour party constituency.”
The emails relate to Deans’s other role as chairman of the Falkirk Labour party where he had already proved a controversial figure. The party needed to choose a new parliamentary candidate after Eric Joyce declared he was to stand down following his arrest for a brawl in a House of Commons bar.
Crucially the emails show how Unite orchestrated the takeover of the party so its favoured candidate — Karie Murphy, an aide to the combative MP Tom Watson — could be installed.
When a Labour party inquiry found evidence of possible misconduct, Deans played a role in some of the key witnesses withdrawing their evidence. The retraction helped sink the Labour party case against Deans and Murphy.
Labour said last month that Deans and Murphy had been cleared of any wrongdoing after “key evidence” was withdrawn. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, will now face questions about what evidence was withdrawn and whether party officials knew of Unite’s crucial role in the retractions. They will also be under pressure to launch a fresh inquiry.
It was last autumn when Murphy — with the might of Unite’s political machine behind her — launched her campaign to secure the party nomination for the Falkirk seat. At the heart of the strategy was a drive to sign up sympathetic Unite members.
The plan was boosted by the fact that Unite could legitimately pay the party fees for their own members who signed up for the first year. The strategy for the union to take over the party was further helped by Deans’s election to the post of chairman that October.
In the emails Murphy repeatedly depicts Deans as someone who could help influence the electoral process. She said she wanted him to be the “procedure secretary” for her ballot because it was “the best way to control the process”.
By the spring of this year Murphy and her supporters were in effect in control of Falkirk Labour party, with the majority of members either recruited by her team or pledging their allegiance. She said the election of Deans as the local party chairman was “a masterstroke considering the influence the chair has in a selection process”.
One company insider said: “The emails show he [Deans] spent most of last summer organising his union’s infiltration of the Labour party, using our facilities. It looks like a blueprint of how a union can hijack a Labour party constituency.”
The emails relate to Deans’s other role as chairman of the Falkirk Labour party where he had already proved a controversial figure. The party needed to choose a new parliamentary candidate after Eric Joyce declared he was to stand down following his arrest for a brawl in a House of Commons bar.
Crucially the emails show how Unite orchestrated the takeover of the party so its favoured candidate — Karie Murphy, an aide to the combative MP Tom Watson — could be installed.
When a Labour party inquiry found evidence of possible misconduct, Deans played a role in some of the key witnesses withdrawing their evidence. The retraction helped sink the Labour party case against Deans and Murphy.
Labour said last month that Deans and Murphy had been cleared of any wrongdoing after “key evidence” was withdrawn. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, will now face questions about what evidence was withdrawn and whether party officials knew of Unite’s crucial role in the retractions. They will also be under pressure to launch a fresh inquiry.
It was last autumn when Murphy — with the might of Unite’s political machine behind her — launched her campaign to secure the party nomination for the Falkirk seat. At the heart of the strategy was a drive to sign up sympathetic Unite members.
The plan was boosted by the fact that Unite could legitimately pay the party fees for their own members who signed up for the first year. The strategy for the union to take over the party was further helped by Deans’s election to the post of chairman that October.
In the emails Murphy repeatedly depicts Deans as someone who could help influence the electoral process. She said she wanted him to be the “procedure secretary” for her ballot because it was “the best way to control the process”.
By the spring of this year Murphy and her supporters were in effect in control of Falkirk Labour party, with the majority of members either recruited by her team or pledging their allegiance. She said the election of Deans as the local party chairman was “a masterstroke considering the influence the chair has in a selection process”.
The Grangemouth plant is Scotland’s most important industrial complexUnite insists it was operating within the rules but Murphy was aware her methods of securing the seat might be open to criticism. She recommended the London union office be involved in a local party ballot on an all- women shortlist so “[it] gives the impression it is a distant office and not some hotbed of union ballot riggers”.
Understandably there was disquiet among other Labour party members over the tactics. This came to a head in February when Linda Gow, a rival to Murphy for the Labour candidacy, met a housewife, Lorraine Kane, who told her that she had rather unexpectedly become a member of the Labour party. Her husband, Michael, had been signed up in a pub in October 2012 by Deans.
It is not known exactly how the Kane family were signed up, but one reported claim is that Deans paid their joining fees. Another claim is that some family members did not even realise they had joined the party until their membership details arrived in the post. Deans strongly denies wrongdoing.
Gow, whose Labour faction was bitterly opposed to that of Deans and Murphy, is said to have heard similar allegations from Jim Millar, a school caretaker.
She urged the two families to make formal complaints to the Labour party. When Gow posted their notes together with a covering letter, Labour bosses in London began an investigation.
Unite was ready for the fight, with the key advantage that its members now dominated the local party and already knew the individuals under investigation. Murphy wrote to union officials: “There is little doubt we are in a full-scale battle.”
In June Labour placed the Falkirk party in “special measures” after an internal report found “sufficient evidence” for concern about the recruitment of new members. In early July it called in the police. Deans and Murphy were suspended from party membership.
In a speech Miliband said the “bad practices” in Falkirk were “part of the death throes of the old politics” and “a politics that is rightly hated”.
In fact the old politics were thriving because Unite had been manoeuvring behind the scenes to undermine the Labour inquiry.
Howard Beckett, Unite’s director of legal and membership services in London, helped direct operations while Deans, Murphy and others gathered intelligence in the constituency.
Beckett said one option was for Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, to be used as an intermediary to warn Miliband off the consequences of a protracted public battle.
He wrote in an email: “We will prepare for an approach to Gordon Brown wherein we ask Gordon to consider the potential damage this could do and request GB [Gordon Brown] do contact Ed M[iliband] in private.” The email said the approach was open for debate and it is not known whether it happened.
It was also proposed that damaging information was collated by the union’s communications department on Labour party figures. Beckett wrote in the same email: “Comms will prepare the nasty stuff we know of individuals in the labour party but this will not be used.”
By late July Beckett also sought to dismantle some of the evidence that had been gathered by the Labour inquiry, which was neither methodical nor properly resourced.
Understandably there was disquiet among other Labour party members over the tactics. This came to a head in February when Linda Gow, a rival to Murphy for the Labour candidacy, met a housewife, Lorraine Kane, who told her that she had rather unexpectedly become a member of the Labour party. Her husband, Michael, had been signed up in a pub in October 2012 by Deans.
It is not known exactly how the Kane family were signed up, but one reported claim is that Deans paid their joining fees. Another claim is that some family members did not even realise they had joined the party until their membership details arrived in the post. Deans strongly denies wrongdoing.
Gow, whose Labour faction was bitterly opposed to that of Deans and Murphy, is said to have heard similar allegations from Jim Millar, a school caretaker.
She urged the two families to make formal complaints to the Labour party. When Gow posted their notes together with a covering letter, Labour bosses in London began an investigation.
Unite was ready for the fight, with the key advantage that its members now dominated the local party and already knew the individuals under investigation. Murphy wrote to union officials: “There is little doubt we are in a full-scale battle.”
In June Labour placed the Falkirk party in “special measures” after an internal report found “sufficient evidence” for concern about the recruitment of new members. In early July it called in the police. Deans and Murphy were suspended from party membership.
In a speech Miliband said the “bad practices” in Falkirk were “part of the death throes of the old politics” and “a politics that is rightly hated”.
In fact the old politics were thriving because Unite had been manoeuvring behind the scenes to undermine the Labour inquiry.
Howard Beckett, Unite’s director of legal and membership services in London, helped direct operations while Deans, Murphy and others gathered intelligence in the constituency.
Beckett said one option was for Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, to be used as an intermediary to warn Miliband off the consequences of a protracted public battle.
He wrote in an email: “We will prepare for an approach to Gordon Brown wherein we ask Gordon to consider the potential damage this could do and request GB [Gordon Brown] do contact Ed M[iliband] in private.” The email said the approach was open for debate and it is not known whether it happened.
It was also proposed that damaging information was collated by the union’s communications department on Labour party figures. Beckett wrote in the same email: “Comms will prepare the nasty stuff we know of individuals in the labour party but this will not be used.”
By late July Beckett also sought to dismantle some of the evidence that had been gathered by the Labour inquiry, which was neither methodical nor properly resourced.
Stevie Deans, convenor of Unite at the Grangemouth plantThe first goal was to ensure that the Kanes — who had clearly incriminated Deans in their evidence — changed their testimony. Beckett said his first priority was for Unite to draw up “statements on behalf of the Kanes rebutting allegations in the report as to what they are alleged to have said”. He added that “Stevie [Deans] will arrange for these to be signed.”
A draft statement in the form of a letter was sent to Deans that day, so he could arrange for it to be signed and sent to party officials. It said the Kanes were now uncertain of information provided to Labour compliance investigators.
It was a crucial retraction that in effect stymied the entire vote-rigging inquiry.
“We are unsure of the replies which were entered in the questionnaires by Labour party personnel when they visited our house. We are worried that these replies do not reflect what the actual position is. We have no complaints against either Stevie Deans or Karie Murphy,” it read.
Deans, whose entire Labour party career hinged on the contents of the letter, wrote: “I’m happy with the draft letter and can get this to the Kane family and get it posted tonight.”
But why was Unite writing statements for the Kane family? And why was Deans — who was under investigation over the Kanes’ original testimony — allowed to “approve” the statements and then arrange for the Kanes to sign them? How could that evidence, which proved so crucial in the whole saga, be seen as untainted?
The Unite fightback also drew on intelligence reports activists had helped gather during the inquiry. “[Two] other families were doorstepped by [Labour’s compliance officer] last week,” wrote Murphy in one report. “One reportedly told her to f*** off.
Deans himself was furious at the tactics of party officials. He said in an email to Pat Rafferty, Unite’s Scottish secretary, that his family were being “browbeaten” into interviews with a Labour party investigator “instructed to dig up any dirt”. Rafferty urged Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, to complain of Deans’s treatment to senior Labour officials.
Murphy hoped Watson might help. She said in one email that he would attend any disciplinary meeting as her advocate. “They will find this quite intimidating,” she wrote.
Watson had resigned as deputy Labour party chairman in early July over the selection controversy, but within a few weeks events were moving in Unite’s favour. Scottish police announced in late July they were taking no further action.
On September 6 the Labour party announced Murphy and Deans had not been found guilty of any wrongdoing and their party memberships were reinstated.
Miliband did not apologise for his criticism of Unite’s role in Falkirk. Labour made clear in a statement that its U-turn was because “key evidence has been withdrawn”. Police said this weekend they were studying the Falkirk files, which reveal just how this was done.
A draft statement in the form of a letter was sent to Deans that day, so he could arrange for it to be signed and sent to party officials. It said the Kanes were now uncertain of information provided to Labour compliance investigators.
It was a crucial retraction that in effect stymied the entire vote-rigging inquiry.
“We are unsure of the replies which were entered in the questionnaires by Labour party personnel when they visited our house. We are worried that these replies do not reflect what the actual position is. We have no complaints against either Stevie Deans or Karie Murphy,” it read.
Deans, whose entire Labour party career hinged on the contents of the letter, wrote: “I’m happy with the draft letter and can get this to the Kane family and get it posted tonight.”
But why was Unite writing statements for the Kane family? And why was Deans — who was under investigation over the Kanes’ original testimony — allowed to “approve” the statements and then arrange for the Kanes to sign them? How could that evidence, which proved so crucial in the whole saga, be seen as untainted?
The Unite fightback also drew on intelligence reports activists had helped gather during the inquiry. “[Two] other families were doorstepped by [Labour’s compliance officer] last week,” wrote Murphy in one report. “One reportedly told her to f*** off.
Deans himself was furious at the tactics of party officials. He said in an email to Pat Rafferty, Unite’s Scottish secretary, that his family were being “browbeaten” into interviews with a Labour party investigator “instructed to dig up any dirt”. Rafferty urged Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, to complain of Deans’s treatment to senior Labour officials.
Murphy hoped Watson might help. She said in one email that he would attend any disciplinary meeting as her advocate. “They will find this quite intimidating,” she wrote.
Watson had resigned as deputy Labour party chairman in early July over the selection controversy, but within a few weeks events were moving in Unite’s favour. Scottish police announced in late July they were taking no further action.
On September 6 the Labour party announced Murphy and Deans had not been found guilty of any wrongdoing and their party memberships were reinstated.
Miliband did not apologise for his criticism of Unite’s role in Falkirk. Labour made clear in a statement that its U-turn was because “key evidence has been withdrawn”. Police said this weekend they were studying the Falkirk files, which reveal just how this was done.
