Unite General Secretary election

Gerard Coyne, who lost his bid to lead general union Unite earlier this summer, has been sacked by the union. Coyne, Unite’s West Midlands regional secretary, is challenging the conduct of the election and has submitted a legal bid to the certification officer. He was suspended in April shortly before the election result was announced.


He claims that “the electoral process was subverted to the aim of securing a re-election of Mr [Len] McCluskey”. McCluskey won the three-horse race with 45.5% of the vote to Coyne’s 41.3%.