The leader of Unite has described Angela Rayner’s behaviour during recent bin strikes as “totally and utterly abhorrent” as tensions ramp up between the government and Labour’s biggest union backers.
General secretary Sharon Graham hit out at the deputy prime minister after the union voted to suspend her in a row over how the Labour-run council in Birmingham treated striking bin workers.
She warned the union could end its long affiliation with the Labour party in future.
Unite, one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, claims fire and rehire tactics have been deployed against striking workers, who are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and job conditions.
In a fresh attack on Saturday, Ms Graham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Angela Rayner refuses to get involved, and she is directly aiding and abetting the fire and rehire of these bin workers, it is totally and utterly abhorrent.”
The general secretary said Ms Rayner had been “a member of our union for over 10 years”. Allies of Ms Rayner have said she resigned from Unite in April.
Ms Graham said the politician may well have done “Houdini act” in recent months by trying to leave the union, but added: “She was very clearly a member when she asked us to give her £10,000 for the election. And on our system, obviously we go by quarters, so up to the March quarter.”
She added: “Now, if she has over the last couple of weeks, because she’s seen the mood music, because this isn’t the first time that we’ve discussed that we’re not happy with what’s going on, then she may well have done that.”
Ms Graham hinted that the union may have to rethink its relationship with Labour, adding that Unite members have to see that the fee to affiliate with the party is “worth something”.
“At this present moment in time, it is hard to justify it, if I’m being honest,” she continued.
“Would that money be better spent on frontline services for my members? But the decision will be a serious decision. It’s not a rash decision.”
Such a decision would go to a rules conference of the union, she said, adding that she was “having pressure to have an emergency rules conference, which would mean we would disaffiliate”.
She added: “If it was me and I had a major backer like Unite, that has everyday people in it – remember, this was a vote of members at the parliament of our union – that were saying that we don’t believe that Labour defends workers in the way that we thought they would, we believe that they’re making the wrong decisions, I would be concerned about that.”
More follows on this breaking news story…
