Leaked meeting transcripts expose how Unite the Union staff endured aggressive behaviour, bullying and intimidation under Sharon Graham’s husband, Jack Clarke.
The Canary has obtained more than 100 pages of transcripts dating to 2018, prior to the leadership election, between Clarke and staff members within the National Organising and Leverage Department’s Research Unit (OLRU).
Our source told us these documents formed part of an investigation into Clarke after two staff members filed grievances against him. These complaints accused him of bullying, misogyny and abusive behaviour against staff, who he frequently swore at and belittled.
To-date, general secretary Sharon Graham and her lawyers have denied the allegations. But previous reporting suggests Graham may have later asked for these crucial documents to be destroyed.
Taken together, these accounts point to a toxic workplace where staff faced conditions that were, at times, “intolerable”.
They also raise serious questions about Graham’s leadership.
Graham is vying to retain her position as leader of the second largest trade union in the UK.But how can she be trusted with protecting workers’ rights when she sought to protect her bully of a husband?
With the leadership election now closed and a victor soon to be announced, we believe it is crucial Unite members are aware of the atrocious working conditions imposed by Clarke right under his wife’s nose.
Unite ex-manager: ‘So you just got to fucking take it, otherwise offski’
OLRU meetings held on 21 and 22 March 2018, and 24 May 2018, before Graham became Unite general secretary, evidence a pattern of aggressive and inappropriate behaviour from Clarke.
Then, as head of the OLRU — a department that focused solely on supporting Graham’s campaigns — Clarke manipulated staff to do what he wanted with apparent impunity due to his wife’s position.
Meanwhile, workers felt they had to ignore serious health problems caused by the stressful and tense work environment.
Our sources also told us that Clarke banned OLRU workers from sitting with other staff in the canteen and made them feel “paranoid” about speaking to one another.
Workers felt isolated and afraid to speak out. Some felt they had little choice but to “take it” and sacrifice their legal right to a safe working environment with predictable hours.
Due to Clarke’s lengthy, angry monologues throughout the transcripts, quotes are selected where most relevant.
Clarke showed staff little respect, telling them to ‘take it or leave it’ and threatened their jobs on several occasions.
I don’t have to, you know, wash my fucking linens here every day to remind you of this, and I’m not going to do it, right? So, you just got to fucking take it, otherwise offski. Simple as that, right?
*
There’s no trust here. I don’t trust any of you. I doubt you trust me much. I don’t trust anyone, that’s the truth, all right. I don’t.
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You may think it’s unfair. I don’t care, it’s just whining.
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But I mean it when I say the change in attitude is not just going to come from me, yes? Because if it does, we’re going to start getting in real problems here, because it won’t just be a voluntary exit, it’ll be other exits as well.
On one occasion a staff member highlighted that the atmosphere made it challenging to voice concerns to Clarke. They suggested staff were working under “authoritarian rule”.
Clarke responded:
You get to speak, bloody frankly, possibly too much on a lot of things…
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You think you’re under authoritarian rule with me, you should be where I sit…
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You’re going to have to live under that authoritarian rule, you know. Toxic atmosphere, right…You’re going to have to live under that or go. Well choose to go, please.
Manipulative behaviour from then-OLRU leader
When staff revealed they felt Clarke’s personal stresses were being taken out on them, he agreed:
Alright. I think that’s happened a bit.
Then, he began to try to elicit sympathy from staff for his lack of emotional control at work.
I don’t think there’s any understanding of the pressure I’m under, to be honest… I feel pissed off at you lot, you can’t fucking understand. You know, blow up, I can fucking blow up.
Referring to his wife while blurring the line between professional and personal boundaries, he added:
And the fucking lip I have to fucking take.
Clarke dismissed staff’s concerns about his anger and instead, tried to explain away his bad behaviour. He cited lack of sleep and marital problems.
You say I’m a cunt all year? I don’t care…Whatevs. I’m sure I am a lot of the time.
***
Occasionally, I’m going to blow up. Fucking yes, I’m not going to be always doing it, right. There’s going to be times when I have three hours sleep, I’m going to blow. I can’t promise I’m not going to, guys, right? Can you put up with that? If you can put up with that…because I’ve got to put up with her.
The stressful environment and relentless extra hours began taking a toll on one team member’s health, causing chest pains. The staff member told Clarke, who called him a “big fucking lump” in response.
And nobody’s asked you to. Nobody asked to ramp up your shit…I’ll tell you that.
You fucking big lump over there.
Clarke then used the situation to pressure other staff in the same meeting to share their personal health details with the entire team.
He said:
I don’t fucking give a shite what’s going on…I’m not asking you to do it in front of everybody. I mean, it’s great if you can, because then everybody can have a fucking share in understanding it.
Threats to their jobs
Adding to the hostile working environment, Clarke made numerous thinly veiled threats to sack people within the OLRU if they were displeased with him. Therefore, staff felt unable to raise issues for fear of reprisals.
The transcripts show what Clarke had said on different occasions:
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I said to people they have the opportunity to get off the bus…of course you can go and fuck off, right?
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You do it to me, I’ll do it to you.
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We have to do work outside what we’re paid for. Yes, It’s a privilege to be here, isn’t it?
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There’s going to be a lot of shit, there’s going to be a lot of tension, there’s going to be a lot of this, I’ll expect you to do things you’re not comfortable with.
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You move the team leaders about, and you kick a couple in the balls, and they disappear.
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I don’t feel supported at all. I don’t feel loved, I don’t feel supported, at all, in any fucking shape or form…I don’t think people act professionally all the time.
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That’s the difference between having an interest and being political. Because, as I say, it’s not a normal job.
Frankly, feeling “loved” at work is hardly a reasonable expectation. Instead, it stresses how unprofessionally Clarke acted at Unite.
However, the union has disputed the evidence, claiming the “covert recordings” were of “staff members speaking outside working time” in “what they thought was a safe space”.
The transcripts also highlight how he offloaded his relationship problems with Graham on to colleagues, even describing her as “authoritarian”.
Their proximity to one another, personally and professionally, was a clear conflict of interest.
Manager tells team he expects them to ‘grow a pair’
Clarke routinely gaslit team members, using coercive tactics to pressure them to ignore their rights to appropriate working conditions.
To gaslight someone means to use emotional abuse to manipulate people into doubting their own reality.
The Canary has highlighted a selection of quotes from the 2018 transcripts:
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I wouldn’t have hard feelings with anybody if you said to me, Jack, I’m just not up for it, mate, I’ve got to get home. I wouldn’t have hard feelings for anybody here.
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As soon as you get under fucking pressure, right, you’ve got no fucking…the first thing to go off the boil is everybody else’s concerns. Fuck off.
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I’m not expecting us to treat it like a normal job, because it isn’t, and I’m fed up with saying it.
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I’ve got to tell you, you know, things are going to get ugly again probably…But I can’t promise I’m never going to fucking fly off the handle, right? I can’t. And what I will expect you to do, unless I’m an absolute cunt, which has been known, but unless I’m an absolute cunt, is for it to be fucking tolerated, then, because I’m under a lot of pressure, [Graham’s] under a lot of pressure. Sorry, you have to expect me to react to pressure, alright?
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You have these fucking triggers and what I expect of you is people to fucking grow a pair, basically, and just say, well, that’s fucking life, innit, and this is where we are.
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A lot’s going to be expected…Not hopefully sticking somebody in a fucking grave or giving somebody a fucking breakdown or whatever, but, you know, still a lot really.
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Right, nobody here’s had one day like she’s fucking had there. You know, and thank fuck for that. And don’t pretend you are…please never do that to me, you know. Because it just isn’t that bad. Whatever you’re having just isn’t that bad.
Unite the Union’s reaction
Unite has argued that “there is no evidence in any of these transcripts which substantiates any allegations”.
A statement sent by Unite legal director, Stephen Pinder, denies all of this – and threatens the Canary. It says, in full:
You are proposing to publish highly selective clips from covert recordings of staff members speaking outside working time almost a decade ago, long before the current General Secretary was elected.
These clips have clearly been carefully selected to distort the meaning of those conversations. We can evidence that in reality those individuals were expressing disgust at what they viewed to be a culture of wrongdoing and corruption at the heart of their union under the leadership of Len McCluskey, Howard Beckett, and Steve Turner – as well as attacks being made against Sharon Graham at the time because she had recently decided to run against Steve Turner at the next General Secretary election.
Ms Graham was not present and did not take part in the conversations, but her husband and others did discuss the pressure created by those attacks on her and the resulting stress they experienced, in what they thought was a safe space.
In reality, the transcripts mostly document Unite staff members expressing their opinions regarding whether the McCluskey/ Beckett regime was implicated in collusion with blacklisting, corruption around the Birmingham hotel development, and whether resources from union contractors and organisations to which Unite was affiliated (including the ITF) was being used during internal elections. All these opinions were discussed frankly, after working hours in a supposedly private setting.
However, there is no evidence in any of these transcripts which substantiates any allegations made by you. It is notable that the member of staff referred to has been employed by Unite for over 25 years and never had a single complaint about his behaviour until his wife indicated that she would run as General Secretary. It is also notable that when these recordings were passed to Mr McCluskey the only charge that he could make stick was for “extreme language and rudeness in relation to senior figures of the union”.
That covert recordings were used in a failed attempt to attack a member of staff related to the current General Secretary should come as no surprise to anyone. Under Unite’s previous leadership regime, covert recordings were used historically for the purpose of internal political attacks.
It is also true that since the recordings were made the actions of the McCluskey/Beckett regime have come under more scrutiny and more questions have been raised about the ethics of that administration.
It is a matter of record following independent KC reports into the Birmingham hotel project, commissioned by the current General Secretary, that the union was overcharged to the tune of tens of millions of pounds by a business run by friends of Mr McCluskey, after the business with no previous experience in the major building projects was engaged without any tender process to build the hotel development in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Mr Beckett was in charge of Affiliated Services during the period which is now subject to a longstanding criminal investigation by the South Wales Police. Unite is currently preparing legal action to recover the union’s money.
There is also an outstanding inquiry into union collusion with Blacklisting which was commissioned by the current General Secretary and is due to be published shortly. We have no doubt that this will also shine a light on actions taken on that matter by the previous regime.
In that context the publication of these highly selective extracts from covert recordings in breach of individuals’ privacy rights is clearly just another factional attempt by The Canary and Skwawkbox to attack the current leadership of Unite.
The Canary and Skwawkbox have been ardent supporters of Mr McCluskey and Mr Beckett for many years. Under their leadership members’ money was used to pay for Skwawkbox’s [sic] legal costs and they gave other support which was cut off by the current General Secretary. Since that time a campaign of lies and hate has been conducted by Skwarkbox [sic] which the Union believes to have been done on behalf of Mr McCluskey and Mr Beckett, and which has now been taken up by your publication. We have documented the many defamatory and untrue claims you have made against Unite in that time and we will be taking legal action.
It seems clear that the loss of power in Unite by this faction, following successive decisive defeats at the Unite internal ballot box, has led to an increasingly desperate scorched earth strategy by a small group of their defenders to damage the union. This is clearly part of that. It will no longer be tolerated.
What happened next?
In August 2018, when the investigation into these grievance complaints ended, it was the opinion of Unite’s then-chief of staff, Andrew Murray, to sack Clarke for his poor conduct and management…
However, Graham’s intervention to Unite’s then-general secretary, Len McCluskey, meant her husband received a final written warning and was ordered to undertake “people management training” rather than being sacked, according to our source.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck shortly afterwards, and Graham became Unite’s leader, she subsequently hired Clarke to be on her team. The Canary has been unable to confirm whether Clarke completed the required training.
Seemingly convinced that a lack of evidence meant there could be no crime, Graham then appears to have asked for all documents relating to the investigation into Clarke to be destroyed. Her lawyers confirmed as much in 2024, as Skwawkbox reported at the time.
Husband and wife duo must be held accountable
Sharon Graham seems reluctant to take heed of how serious these issues are as she promises to uphold and advocate for workers’ rights.
However, these issues have only continued in the new department Jack Clarke had been handed by his wife, outside of the union’s typical appointment procedures.
There have been reports of similar complaints, disputes and even strike action due to allegations of ongoing abusive behaviour and anti-union tactics.
Now, the damning evidence detailing the extent of Clarke’s misdemeanours has been exposed, answers and accountability must follow.
If Graham wins another term as General Secretary, Unite members must ask themselves if they feel their working conditions will be protected, if the above pattern of behaviour appears to be perfectly acceptable to the union’s leadership.
Featured image via PA Images/the Canary
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