General Secretary

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

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 candidate Ian Allinson says “This is a three horse race”

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Candidates in the Unite General Secretary election campaign have today received official confirmation of branches and workplaces that nominated them.Photo of Ian Allinson

Ian Allinson, the only grassroots candidate in the election, received a total of 97 nominations including 21 workplace nominations.

Allinson said:

“This election is clearly a three horse race. The number of nominations I have is very impressive for a grassroots candidate”.

“The other two candidates are well placed in the union machine, Len McCluskey is the incumbent General Secretary and Gerard Coyne has been West Midlands Regional Secretary for fifteen years. Their campaigns have funding and resources to match.”

“We live in an era of political upsets – we should rule nothing out in this election. Gerard Coyne doesn’t seem to be quite the right wing threat that the press have been talking up.”

“My nominations have come from members who want to see a more serious fightback and workplace issues brought forward in the union. They come from members who want brave leadership on issues they care about, green jobs, defending of refugees and migrants, and improving equality and diversity within Unite itself”.

Yesterday Ian Allinson was on the picket line at his own workplace, Fujitsu in Manchester, as part of a national strike over job cuts, union recognition, pay and pensions.

On Saturday Allinson will join the #ourNHS demonstration in central London.

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Ian Allinson accepts nomination and issues new leaflet

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After a vibrant campaign meeting on Saturday I have now submitted my acceptance of nomination for Unite General Secretary. Now nominations are behind us, we’ve produced a new campaign leaflet, which you’ll find on the Resources page of this web site. It’s being printed up this week and bundles will be available on Saturday’s NHS … Read more

Video: Ian Allinson speaking at London launch of campaign for Unite General Secretary

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On Saturday Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, spoke at campaign meetings in London and Cambridge. Below you can watch his speech at the London meeting. If you’d like to support the campaign to elect Ian, please leave your details, and get in touch if you’d like to invite Ian to … Read more

Time to arrange your Unite General Secretary nomination meeting

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This week Unite should be sending out letters and forms to branch secretaries to enable them to organise branch nomination meetings for General Secretary and the Executive Council. Where a branch covers more than one workplace, the workplace can also make a nomination, but the rep needs to contact the Regional Secretary to request the necessary paperwork now.

Nomination meetings must take place between Monday 16 January and Friday 17 February 2017.

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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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Members need Unite structures which help seize the opportunities

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Ian Allinson, the grassroots socialist candidate for Unite General Secretary, explains how Unite’s structures reflect the past and managerial convenience, not members’ current needs and organising opportunities, and pledges to involve members, officers and staff in a major review if he is elected.

Unite’s current structures are not fit for purpose. A large proportion of power and resources lie within regions, but this structure doesn’t fit the reality of members’ employment and how we need the union to support us. The structure reflects the history of Unite’s constituent unions, the compromises made during mergers, and managerial convenience. The Rules Conference process is effective for tweaking the structure, but a review is required to bring forward coherent proposals for more fundamental changes.

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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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