Scot Walker, a senior and close ally of Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, has deleted an image of himself wearing a beard-and-dreads mask. Walker had posted the image to his Facebook feed, triggering a storm of outrage at the ‘blackface’ get-up:
Walker runs Unite’s so-called ‘Workers’ Economy‘, which union insiders have said Graham created to circumvent Unite’s Community section for unwaged members. Unite Community was set up by her predecessor Len McCluskey, whom Graham has long attacked with what McCluskey called “pages of smears and innuendo”.
Union members and staff said that Graham planned to shut down Community if she wins re-election this year, by merging it with the retired members section. She has since U-turned, at least publicly.
Despite Walker’s apparent protestation that the outfit was ok because it was knitted, his post is said to have quickly gone “absolutely viral” among outraged union members. So much so, that he soon deleted it while still trying to sound a defiant note, claiming few had read it and the outrage was factional. The original, now-deleted post, about Ghana’s football team, read:
Well it’s finally upon us – settling down to watch Ghana v England at the World Cup and listen to the incisive and entirely fair commentary from the England pundits. Those who know me well will! know I have always had a deep love for Ghana through my admiration of former Secretary General of the United Nations and Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan. As a principled and globally respected statesman, known for his integrity and commitment to human rights, he has always inspired me. Although a big fan of his humanitarian work and for modernising the UN, I confess I’m not so fond of his handling of major geopolitical conflicts, but fortunately for me England have been no great shakes at that either.
In its place, Walker posted:
As I took the post down it had 44 likes from people who got the joke and 17 comments, two of which were from the UL [United Left] general and the rest from people who either understood the post or were challenging the UL General for his transparent comments. I’ve screenshotted the comments for future reference if required.
I have retained the image and will happily defend it in any complaint predictably coming my way. I hope people will understand that – indeed everyone else on the post seemed to understand that apart from the predictable UL general. The original post: “Well it’s finally upon us – settling down to watch Ghana v England at the World Cup. Those who know me well will know I have always had a deep love for Ghana through my admiration of former Secretary General of the United Nations and Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan.”
Unite: Graham’s racist supporters
Sharon Graham has recently been slammed by union activists for holding a secret meeting with far-right ‘Reform UK.’ But the presence of racism and other foul views among her support base is not a new phenomenon.
In 2022, one of her leading supporters was found — by Unite — to have posted racist social media comments. Yet the union, by then run by Graham, refused to take action against him. In 2023, another supporter’s racist posts were exposed. Graham denied even knowing him, despite photos of them arm-in-arm and her central place in his EC election campaign.
And in March 2026, another of her ‘slate’ was caught posting homophobic comments and support for fascist rabble-rouser ‘Tommy Robinson’.
‘Anti-union union’
Graham is currently facing renewed strike action over the “toxic” and bullying environment workers say she and her husband, who has a senior position under her, have created. Staff working under Graham’s husband, Jack Clarke, previously went on strike over their complaints of bullying and misogyny — at least three and probably four of the five female members of staff in Clarke’s ‘BDSU’ unit quit. But the workers accused the union’s management, run by Graham, of abuse, lawfare and union-busting tactics.
Stunningly, the union’s lawyers admitted that Unite had destroyed evidence, gathered by mostly women workers in an earlier major complaint against Clarke. He was on a final warning from the union before being promoted, outside the usual union procedures, to run the newly-created BDSU after Graham took over.
Workers on strike in the second dispute said that staff working for Graham even staged a counter-demo against their picket. Others said that Graham and Clarke’s cronies had joined their branch en masse to try to vote down planned strike action and that Graham was using anti-union legislation against them.
“War, what is it good for?”
War-happy Graham lusts after more jobs in the war industry. She has banned union officials and banners from anti-genocide and anti-war protests. She wrote to staff and members telling them she would not tolerate any actions or protests against Israeli and other arms manufacturers where Unite members work. Presumably she thinks members want their work helping to murder Palestinian civilians. She stopped the union’s affiliation with Stop the War out of the same commitment to the arms industry and because of the organisation’s anti-genocide protests.
Graham’s chief of staff threatened a soon-to-retire official, allegedly on Graham’s orders, with the loss of a pension bonus if he did not soften his support for Palestinians. And she put Simon Dubbins – now her opponent in the general secretary election – under investigation after Dubbins refused to cancel a pro-Palestine fringe meeting in 2023.
Those chickens may now be coming home to roost, helped by this latest controversy. With nominations in the general secretary contest well underway, a number of Unite’s key sectors have nominated Dubbins against Graham.
Including, ironically, the arms manufacturing sites.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
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