Unite general secretary election


A judge appointed by the certification officer (CO) will this month hear a claim that last year’s Unite general union leadership election should not have been held.


The election, organised several months before strictly necessary, was called by Len McCluskey, who had led the union for the previous six years. 


He resigned the post in order to stand for re-election, and, ultimately, narrowly beat second-placed Gerard Coyne. 


Coyne, who was then the union’s West Midlands regional secretary, was later sacked from his post.


It is Coyne who has initiated the complaints to the CO about the election. He claims that it was wrong for McCluskey to have called the contest before his term of office expired, and alleges that McCluskey carried out the duties of a general secretary when he was a candidate, giving him an unfair advantage.


The judge will hold a one-day hearing on 27 March after which, if he finds in Coyne’s favour, the contest will be re-run. 


If not, he will consider other complaints in June.