LAST month’s election of Sharon Graham as Unite’s general secretary has shaken up the movement a fair bit. 

Most of the left commentariat outside of Unite’s structures were a bit caught out, having thrown their support behind Steve Turner and/or Howard Beckett.  

If their mistake was to disregard Graham’s campaign and approach as “not political,” the wider lesson across the left in the movement is the trap of first past the post in elections leading to left candidates trying to do a deal to squeeze out the “worst last” in the vote.

But first, Graham’s campaign was focused on union-building. Any shop-floor trade unionist will tell you that putting workplace organising first to build workers’ power is a very political act. 

What now happens with Unite’s attitude to the Labour Party is under scrutiny.  

Since the end of the Corbyn-McDonnell leadership, many unions are considering how they engage with the current Labour Party, which seems to have little interest in union matters. 

All eyes are on Graham’s attitude to to Keir Starmer’s rightward trajectory for the Labour Party.

As a senior officer in another trade union, I, of course had no dog in the Unite race.  

I made no comment during the campaign, and took no side. As a left-wing trade union activist, however, I am invested in the importance of Unite, the biggest general union in Britain, continuing to be left-led.  

Graham’s major success is over the right-wing contender Gerard Coyne, who came third after Graham and Turner, once Beckett withdrew and encouraged his supporters to back Turner.

Graham, the only woman running in the Unite general secretary election, stood accused of splitting the left, was hounded with Thatcher comparisons and castigated for not stepping aside. 

Crucially, for me, Unite’s election has shown the real need for a fairer voting system. 

Calls for Graham to stand down to avoid “splitting” the left vote dominated much of the race — rather than discussion about the policies, skills and experience needed to build the union. 

All too often under first past the post it is women who are told to back down and step aside. 

Fears of “split votes” letting unpopular candidates slip in simply wouldn’t happen if members could rank candidates by preference. 

This is already the case in some unions and progressive parties.

It would mean that if the top candidate gets a majority of votes, they would win. 

If they don’t, there would be an instant run-off, with the lowest-performing candidate dropping out, and members’ other preferences taken into account. It’s by far the simplest and fairest system.  

Misogynistic attacks on integrity, abilities, motivation and the appearance of female candidates is sadly still prevalent, even on the left, as other women standing for trade union office will vouch. 

First past the post heightens the pressure on women challengers to withdraw in favour of unsually male incumbents or “favoured sons.”

As a challenger candidate myself in the PCS assistant general secretary election in May 2019, I had a small taste of what Graham and other women standing for senior office are up against. I too was asked to step aside.  

When I didn’t, I too was attacked in rather unsavoury terms that no man would have had to face. 

And, yes, I lost on that occasion, but I maintain that by standing in that contest, a number of important matters were aired that are now being addressed in my union. 
Sisters in male-dominated sectors face it even worse.  

Denise Christie, currently restanding as Scottish regional secretary of the Fire Brigade Union, is an experienced, competent and hardworking official, and yet she will have to prove herself time and again as worthy way beyond any male incumbent or challenger.

The low turnout in Unite’s leadership election was thrown back at Graham’s victory. 

However, low participation rates in union elections is a wider problem across the entire movement.  

Members may be put off by the squabbling. Union democracy needs to be meaningful to members if we are to expect them to participate en masse. This something that the entire movement needs to get better at.

Members deserve choice and a clear voice — not fears of an unpopular candidate slipping in on a third of the vote. 

I work with Howard Beckett on the Politics for the Many Steering Group, the trade union campaign for electoral reform, and with Steve Turner in the People’s Assembly against Austerity.  

I have met Sharon Graham only once a few years back in the Unite office in Glasgow.  

On that occasion, she quizzed me about the purpose and intent of my Step Aside Brother campaign.  

Sharon was pleased to learn that my focus is on increasing participation of women and young workers in union structures at all levels.  

It is bluntly agitational and clearly ruffles feathers as it continues to be paraphrased as a direct challenge to individual male leaders.

And while under-representation remains a feature in our movement, Step Aside Brother is a call that I will continue to advocate. 

Positively, the triad of Graham, Turner and Beckett at the top of Unite is a formidable one.  

All three are powerful and accomplished leaders. Let’s hope that when the dust settles they can get on with building their union together and the wider trade union and labour movement with other unions across our movement. We have so much work to do! 

Lynn Henderson is chair of Politics for the Many, the trade union campaign for electoral reform; she also chairs the Jimmy Reid Foundation project board, a left-wing think tank in Scotland. Her day job is head of organising, campaigns, equality and learning at the Public and Commercial Services Union.