Phantom Members
I wrote about these 'phantom' Unite members in a previous post to the blog site, but the Sunday Times now appears to have suck its teeth into the story - which is good because the whole business will not be so easily swept away.
Just like the Falkirk vote-rigging scandal the underlying issues will come back to haunt the Labour Party - until its leaders explain clearly why the local constituency party was put into 'special measures' which means that Labour in Falkirk is effectively under the control of Labour HQ in London.
The in-joke in Westminster these days is that at long last the body politic has found a controversial subject where Ed Miliband is not demanding an independent, judge-led inquiry - to get to the bottom of things
Union boss Len McCluskey ‘elected by phantoms’
New vote row hits union chief
Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Jason Allardyce
An official complaint is expected to be submitted to Unite in the next few weeks (Chris Ratcliffe)
THE boss of Britain’s biggest union, involved in a voterigging inquiry in Falkirk, faces investigation over alleged irregularities in his own election.
The allegations over the election of Len McCluskey as general secretary of the Unite union centre on claims that almost 160,000 of those balloted were not members.
His rival for the job, Jerry Hicks, has complained that the election was unlawful because people who had left the union were included in the ballot. Hicks said dead former members were among those who were sent voting papers.
The Certification Office — the union regulator, which has the power to order McCluskey’s election to be rerun — confirmed this weekend that it has launched an investigation. An official complaint is expected to be submitted to Unite in the next few weeks.
Hicks said this weekend: “Was Falkirk an aberration or a modus operandi? There are serious questions that need to be answered about these tens of thousands of non-members of the union who were sent ballot papers.”
Jody Atkinson, a barrister representing Hicks, said the union either filed an inaccurate return for its membership figures or conducted an unlawful ballot. Atkinson has previously fought a case in which the certification officer ruled that the general secretary election of the building union Ucatt should be rerun.
McCluskey, the head of the country’s biggest union, was re-elected in April, winning 144,570 votes compared with almost 80,000 for Hicks. One of McCluskey’s election coordinators was Stevie Deans, who was also chairman of the Falkirk Labour party and convenor at the Grangemouth petrochemical plant.
Supporters of Hicks discovered after the election more members were balloted than declared in the union’s official annual return. The return for December 31, 2012, records 1,346,414 members for whom it had up-to-date addresses. The number actually balloted was 1,485,079, almost 140,000 more.
Hicks was told by Electoral Reform Services that the union regarded as eligible to vote 158,824 members who were “considered no longer to be members of the union”. These were added to the ballot, although some members were later removed because of incomplete addresses.
Unite says it correctly included members whose subscriptions had lapsed but who were entitled to vote. The union says it wrote to them to offer the chance to renew their membership. Hicks says it is not credible that nearly 160,000 were in recent arrears of membership. He said when he attended the count there were several letters from people complaining ballot papers had been sent to members who had died.
One person who claimed to have voted in McCluskey’s election posted a message online stating: “I voted in the Unite election. I’m not a member but they decided to send for some reason a ballot paper to my late father who although a union man to the core has been dead for over five years.”
Hicks’s challenge is supported by a union source who said balloting old members might have helped McCluskey, who stood as the incumbent general secretary, because they were more likely to have voted for the more recognised name. “It could have diluted Hicks’s vote,” the source said.
It is understood Hicks’s complaint alleges a breach of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It states: “[The election] did not comply with the 1992 act. In the election for general secretary the union balloted 158,824 individuals who were not members of the union.”
The investigation over McCluskey’s election comes as Ed Miliband faces growing pressure over the union’s activities in Falkirk. The Sunday Times today publishes emails that raise new questions over the affair. They suggest Unite activists did break party rules on recruitment. The emails also undermine McCluskey’s claims his officials were not involved in key witnesses withdrawing evidence from Labour’s inquiry into Falkirk. A constituent has also told The Sunday Times her husband was signed up to the Falkirk Labour party but “doesn’t know who paid or how it happened”.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating if Unite breached data protection rules by using Labour party membership lists in Falkirk. Sir Stephen House, Scotland’s most senior police officer, has taken charge of reviewing a request to open a police inquiry into the Falkirk affair.
Unite have denied any wrongdoing in Falkirk and would not comment on the latest allegations.
THE boss of Britain’s biggest union, involved in a voterigging inquiry in Falkirk, faces investigation over alleged irregularities in his own election.
The allegations over the election of Len McCluskey as general secretary of the Unite union centre on claims that almost 160,000 of those balloted were not members.
His rival for the job, Jerry Hicks, has complained that the election was unlawful because people who had left the union were included in the ballot. Hicks said dead former members were among those who were sent voting papers.
The Certification Office — the union regulator, which has the power to order McCluskey’s election to be rerun — confirmed this weekend that it has launched an investigation. An official complaint is expected to be submitted to Unite in the next few weeks.
Hicks said this weekend: “Was Falkirk an aberration or a modus operandi? There are serious questions that need to be answered about these tens of thousands of non-members of the union who were sent ballot papers.”
Jody Atkinson, a barrister representing Hicks, said the union either filed an inaccurate return for its membership figures or conducted an unlawful ballot. Atkinson has previously fought a case in which the certification officer ruled that the general secretary election of the building union Ucatt should be rerun.
McCluskey, the head of the country’s biggest union, was re-elected in April, winning 144,570 votes compared with almost 80,000 for Hicks. One of McCluskey’s election coordinators was Stevie Deans, who was also chairman of the Falkirk Labour party and convenor at the Grangemouth petrochemical plant.
Supporters of Hicks discovered after the election more members were balloted than declared in the union’s official annual return. The return for December 31, 2012, records 1,346,414 members for whom it had up-to-date addresses. The number actually balloted was 1,485,079, almost 140,000 more.
Hicks was told by Electoral Reform Services that the union regarded as eligible to vote 158,824 members who were “considered no longer to be members of the union”. These were added to the ballot, although some members were later removed because of incomplete addresses.
Unite says it correctly included members whose subscriptions had lapsed but who were entitled to vote. The union says it wrote to them to offer the chance to renew their membership. Hicks says it is not credible that nearly 160,000 were in recent arrears of membership. He said when he attended the count there were several letters from people complaining ballot papers had been sent to members who had died.
One person who claimed to have voted in McCluskey’s election posted a message online stating: “I voted in the Unite election. I’m not a member but they decided to send for some reason a ballot paper to my late father who although a union man to the core has been dead for over five years.”
Hicks’s challenge is supported by a union source who said balloting old members might have helped McCluskey, who stood as the incumbent general secretary, because they were more likely to have voted for the more recognised name. “It could have diluted Hicks’s vote,” the source said.
It is understood Hicks’s complaint alleges a breach of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It states: “[The election] did not comply with the 1992 act. In the election for general secretary the union balloted 158,824 individuals who were not members of the union.”
The investigation over McCluskey’s election comes as Ed Miliband faces growing pressure over the union’s activities in Falkirk. The Sunday Times today publishes emails that raise new questions over the affair. They suggest Unite activists did break party rules on recruitment. The emails also undermine McCluskey’s claims his officials were not involved in key witnesses withdrawing evidence from Labour’s inquiry into Falkirk. A constituent has also told The Sunday Times her husband was signed up to the Falkirk Labour party but “doesn’t know who paid or how it happened”.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating if Unite breached data protection rules by using Labour party membership lists in Falkirk. Sir Stephen House, Scotland’s most senior police officer, has taken charge of reviewing a request to open a police inquiry into the Falkirk affair.
Unite have denied any wrongdoing in Falkirk and would not comment on the latest allegations.
