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29 November, 2010
Len McCluskey won election last week as the future General Secretary of Unite the Union. On the day his election was made official, 24 November, he told a packed news conference that mass resistance was needed to stem the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s planned public spending cuts, as well as repressive anti-trade union laws that have set into the UK.
“I am not interested in subtlety,” he told reporters. “I understand what is happening to ordinary working people – their jobs are being lost, their families and the future of their children are being threatened, their houses are being repossessed, and they are looking around for someone to give them help.
“The very fabric of our society is being dismantled before our very eyes and we have a duty to lead a resistance against this attack. It is slaughter by stealth.” McCluskey expressed urgency that progressive forces in the UK build “an alliance of resistance.” He said the planned Trades Union Congress (TUC) manifestation for March 2011 must be “so big it rocks the establishment and makes them step back.”
Future Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey
The 61-year-old McCluskey, currently an Assistant General Secretary of Unite, won election in October and November mail balloting of union members in the UK and Ireland over three other candidates. He will succeed Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley when Woodley steps down in December 2011. The 1.6-million-member union’s other Joint General Secretary – Derek Simpson – will retire next month.
McCluskey captured 101,000 votes to easily defeat Jerry Hicks (52,000 votes), Les Bayliss (46,000), and Gail Cartmail (39,000). A former Liverepool dock worker, McCluskey rose up through the ranks of the Transport & General Workers’ Union (T&G), first as a senior shop steward on the Liverpool wharf in 1968 and later, in 1979, as a national T&G officer.
In 1990, he became National Secretary for T&G’s general workers’ group, leading negotiations in several sectors, including building materials, paper and packaging, building services, and the process industries. In 2004, he was promoted to National Organiser for all the service industries, including public services, construction, and the voluntary sector.
Upon the merger in 2007 of T&G and Amicus, forming the UK and Ireland’s largest trade union, Unite, McCluskey was appointed Assistant General Secretary, playing a leading role in developing the union's organising strategy, and currently he is AGS for industrial strategy.