‘I’ll fight for workers with Labour or alone,’ Unite’s Sharon Graham says

Sharon Graham has said that workers are “hurting beyond any time I’ve known”, that they “need to have people in their corner fighting their cause” and that she will “either do that with Labour or I’ll do it alone”.

In an interview with Times Radio this morning, the general secretary of Unite warned that “we’ve abdicated the industrial strength of workers into a political environment” and the “political tail” has been “wagging the industrial dog”.

“We’re affiliated to Labour and we pay that affiliation fee. But since I’ve been in, nothing else has gone to Labour. We’ve used the money in Unite to be focused on highlighting issues for workers, making sure that we’re in a position to defend workers,” the general secretary told listeners.

Since Graham was elected to lead Labour’s largest affiliate, Unite has won 80% of disputes worth £150m for its members. The union now has a dedicated disputes team, which organised the 76,000 members who took industrial action.

Graham added: “What I hope that Labour do is realise at this point in time workers are hurting beyond any time that I’ve known, workers are really hurting, and they need to have people in their corner fighting their cause. Now, I’ll either do that with Labour, or I’ll do it alone. But we have to do that.”

Asked whether she would consider providing further funding to the Labour Party, the general secretary said she is an “actions-speak-louder-than-words woman” and warned that “political promises don’t mean anything to my members’ pockets”.

“This is the time to show that you are holding the hands of workers putting your arm around them. So when I see a bit more of that, then I’m sure discussions will start. But at the moment, every part of what I’m doing is focused on winning and the finances of Unite are also focused on that as well,” she said.

Asked whether she speaks to Keir Starmer, she told listeners: “Yeah, I’ve had conversations with him and obviously my conversations are very much around the workers agenda.

“I said to him when I was first elected, I’m not interested in internal labour machinations. I’m not interested in the old factional wars. We haven’t got time for it. What I’m interested in is what are we going to do for workers? My position hasn’t changed. I’d like to see a bit more of that.”

More than 1,900 members of Unite working at Felixstowe port in Suffolk began eight days of industrial action on Sunday, the first strike at the port since 1989, after the union said on Saturday that talks with Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company had not reached a “satisfactory conclusion”.

Graham argued that the company has a “huge ability” to pay for a pay rise in line with inflation given the profits made over the past year.

“When we’re looking at pay rises for workers, one of the things that we look at is the ability to pay of the employer – and this employer, ten days ago their accounts for 2021 showed £79m profits, they gave £42m to shareholders, and their profits are up 28% on last year,” she told Times Radio.

“They’ve made more profit in 2021, than they had ever made at any time in their existence. And so when you’ve got a company like that I think asking for an inflation pay rise, which literally means keeping your wages at level pegging, asking for an inflation pay rise of 10% should not be a big issue.

“And we understand that employers make profit, I get that, it’s absolutely part of the deal. But when you’re making this type of profit, surely you shouldn’t be asking your workers to take a pay cut.”