Gerard Coyne

Unite leadership challenger Ian Allinson responds to Coyne’s call for a re-run

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Unite General Secretary contender Ian Allinson responds to reports that Gerard Coyne has mounted a legal challenge to the election result and is demanding a re-run.

Ian standing by his pile of 17143 votes at the countPredictably, the media have seized on the story that Unite election loser Gerard Coyne is mounting a legal challenge to the result, trying to get it re-run.

The BBC report was not alone in referring to Coyne as “the” defeated candidate. The fact that there were three candidates but that Coyne is the only one calling for a re-run, doesn’t get a mention. This isn’t the only misleading aspect of the report. It quotes without challenge Coyne complaining “Unite employees repeatedly breached guidelines that meant they should have been neutral in the contest to be general secretary”. A few minutes’ research would have established that there was no such guideline.

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Ian Allinson’s statement on the Unite General Secretary election result

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The result won’t be officially declared by the Executive Council until Friday 28th April, but the votes are counted and are as follows: Len McCluskey 59067 (45.4%) Gerard Coyne 53544 (41.2%) Ian Allinson 17143 (13.2%) Spoiled papers 317 (0.2%) Total vote 130071 (turnout of 12.2%, from 1062049 ballot papers despatched) Update: full General Secretary and … Read more

Won’t supporting Ian Allinson “split the vote”?

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Supporters of both McCluskey and Coyne are trying to prop up their candidate’s support by warning that a vote for Ian Allinson could “let in” the candidate they least want. This article argues that fear of Coyne – clearly the worst candidate on offer – does not justify a vote for McCluskey.

Unable to put forward positive reasons why McCluskey is a better candidate than Ian Allinson in this eleciton, his supporters are resorting to Project Fear – vote for McCluskey or you’ll get Coyne. This has some traction because Coyne is an almost pantomime villain candidate – promoted by union-buster Rupert Murdoch’s Sun and Labour right-wingers who spend more time attacking Corbyn than the Tories. But it isn’t an argument that should decide your vote.

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Unite leadership contender Ian Allinson attacks rival Coyne as “Blairite hypocrite”

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Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, said:Ian Allinson

“Coyne opened this election claiming that Unite’s leadership spent too much time on politics. Yet he has plenty to say on behalf of his New Labour backers like Tom Watson who are undermining Jeremy Corbyn. He’s paid for social media ads implying that he wants to overturn Unite’s democratic policy of support for Palestinian freedom in favour of backing the repressive Israeli regime. Coyne wants worse politics, not less politics. He is a Blairite hypocrite.”

Allinson has criticised McCluskey for his failure to publicly back Corbyn since the Copeland by-election defeat and for undermining him on key policy issues such as Trident and workers’ rights to free movement and equal treatment.

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Establishment candidates for Unite leadership “abusing power”

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Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, highlights abuses of power by both establishment candidates which are undermining democracy.

Democracy means the rule of the people. As a union’s power comes from the participation of members, democracy is not an optional extra. Yet both Coyne and McCluskey are acting as if our union is the plaything of a tiny numbers of senior officers, sacrificing democracy in their pursuit of power. Democracy requires that any member be able to contest a General Secretary election. Yet both establishment candidates are abusing their position and power to deny members a fair choice.

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Unite leadership challenger Ian Allinson welcomes McCluskey u-turn on council cuts

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Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, has welcomed a u-turn by Len McCluskey over opposition to council cuts and called on Gerard Coyne, the right-wing candidate, to follow suit.Ian speaking on microphone on picket

Len McCluskey, the outgoing General Secretary of Unite who is hoping to be re-elected next month, is reported to have told a public rally in Leicester:

“The idea at the moment is that there are huge reserves that Councils have. Particularly in many of the Conservative shires but within Labour Councils as well there are significant amounts of reserves. There is an argument that says that Labour Councils should use those reserves in order to stave off cuts, or certainly the most damaging of cuts, until such time as relief arrives, or until such time as the cavalry arrives over the hill. And we support that.”

Allinson said:

“I welcome this u-turn from Len McCluskey. The Unite leadership’s opposition to this policy last year made campaigning against the huge local authority cuts imposed by the Tory government more difficult.”

“A serious attempt to stop the cuts would require industrial, political and community campaigning. It would mean putting industrial action against the implementation of cuts on the agenda – not just leaving it to a few councils where members have managed to push for this under their own steam. It would mean demanding that Labour councillors work with unions and their communities to campaign against the budget cuts being imposed by the Tory government rather than, in most cases, meekly implementing them. Members in local authorities and involved in local anti-cuts campaigns should work to put this into practice immediately and demand that Unite’s leadership backs them.”

“Members will also want to know what Coyne, the right-wing candidate, has to say. Will he join us in opposing cuts? Or would the be a step too far for his Blairite backers – the people who saddled public services with massive PFI debts to the private sector and who are more concerned with pursuing their own careers and cosying up to business than representing working class people?”

McCluskey’s speech reverses a 2016 policy conference decision he fought for. Allinson argues that this illustrates the top-down culture in Unite, McCluskey’s lack of respect for democracy, and the dangers of operating by maneouvre rather than principle. This unnecessary General Secretary election, arranged for his benefit (for the second time), is another sign of how McCluskey manipulates our union’s democracy to suit himself.

Allinson went on:

“We can have no repeat of the experience of 2013 when McCluskey’s anti-cuts election rhetoric was never delivered. Members need to get active to ensure we develop a serious plan to fight the cuts. We can’t depend on McCluskey, we have to depend on ourselves and each other.”

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Ian Allinson calls on Len McCluskey to urgently clarify his position on Corbyn’s leadership

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Ian Allinson calls on Len McCluskey to urgently clarify his position on Corbyn’s leadership

Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, has called on Len McCluskey, (incumbent General Secretary) to give an unambiguous statement about his support for Jeremy Corbyn at the earliest possible opportunity.

Photo of Ian Allinson

Since the loss of Labour’s parliamentary seat in Copeland the attacks on Corbyn have continued.

Allinson said:

“Gerard Coyne, the candidate who claims he wants less Westminster power games, lost no time in hypocritically undermining Corbyn, in line with the views of his backers from the Labour right. They conveniently forget that it was New Labour that eroded Labour’s base, lost it Scotland, and turned safe seats like Copeland into marginals. Turning back the clock offers no answers”.

Len McCluskey has not issued a statement on continued backing for Corbyn despite increasing calls for clarity.

Allinson said:

“Len McCluskey needs to end the confusion about how reliable his support for Corbyn is, and whether that will continue if he is re-elected. He is avoiding giving a direct answer to questions on this, even with all the rumours of a ‘soft coup’.”

“My policies challenge some of the powerful vested interests that McCluskey wants support from. On green jobs, trident, nuclear power and freedom of movement my vision for Unite aligns with Corbyn’s values. There are big differences between me and the two establishment candidates. That may be why Len is hedging his bets and avoiding making a clear statement on his support for the Labour leader”.

Allinson argues that the pressure on Corbyn is about much more than leadership:

“Corbyn’s policies challenge the rich and powerful in the interests of the vast majority. Anyone doing this would face hostility from the establishment media and from Labour MPs so out of touch they voted for the Tory Welfare Bill. The answer isn’t to abandon attempts to stand up for working class people. The answer is to build resistance in our workplaces and communities now. And if some Labour MPs see attacking Corbyn as a higher priority than challenging the Trade Union Act then it’s time Unite acted on its conference policy of making MPs stand for democratic reselection”.

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Bad arguments against supporting Ian Allinson for Unite General Secretary

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Perhaps the strangest thing about the campaign so far is the failure of the other candidates or their supporters to engage with the ideas I’m putting forward for making Unite more effective.

Photo of Ian Allinson
Photo: Steve Eason

Do they agree that we need fortnightly email bulletins to all activists, not filtered through officers and committees? Would creating case studies of members’ successes to save us wasting so much effort trying to reinvent the wheel be a good idea? Do we need to restructure the union to provide better support for the 80% of workplaces in employers that span multiple regions, and where our organising is currently so much less effective? Do we need to build a civil rights movement to challenge an increasingly repressive state rather than fighting anti-union legislation in isolation? Do we need to integrate our equality work better with our industrial agenda?

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Oppose scapegoating of migrant workers – unity is strength

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Mug reads "controls on immigration: I'm voting Labour"

Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, argues that McCluskey’s fudge on free movement stops him effectively defending members from the damage caused by Coyne’s attack on workers’ rights to free movement and equal treatment.

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Will Unite break its own election rules?

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Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, is calling on Unite to stick to its own election rules, and on Len McCluskey and Gerard Coyne to agree to livestreamed hustings so that members can make up their minds on the strength of the arguments about the pressing issues we face.

This General Secretary election shouldn’t even be happening. For the second time Len McCluskey has forced an early election, resulting in timing that benefits only one candidate, himself. Only he knew the election was coming, so only he was unaffected by the compressed timescale for the campaign and nominations.

Almost all the information about the election process has been removed from the Unite web site, but I was sent a copy of the ballot guidelines by email in response to a request.

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