Sharon Graham’s husband Jack Clarke created a misogynistic and toxic environment in the Unite the Union department he was given after she first became general secretary. In a series of abuses, Clarke joked about stabbing staff and colleagues were forced to go on sick leave, the Canary can reveal.
Two workplace grievances were filed against the then-head of the National Organising and Leverage Department’s Research Unit (OLRU) in 2018, which prompted an official investigation.
In those grievances, shared exclusively with the Canary, staff complained of elevated blood pressure as a result of Clarke’s behaviour, for example, and “difficult” circumstances which left them feeling “isolated”.
These revelations follow an earlierinvestigation in which we laid bare Clarke’s pattern of foul behaviour after gaining access to 126 pages of meeting transcripts.
Jack Clarke made work ‘intolerable’
One complainant wrote Sharon Graham a letter when she was an executive officer, so before she became an elected leader at Unite.
In this letter, seen by the Canary, he told Graham:
I am finding this very difficult to write and also frustrating that I am in a position to, because the work of the Organising Department is so important and I am a big fan of the project’s aims.
The fact of the matter is, however, that work under Jack has become intolerable. I have gone from being an enthusiastic team player and inspired by the work to demoralised and unable to continue.
He added:
Unfortunately, Jack’s behaviour and management has served only to reverse my confidence, become stressed to the point where my blood pressure has risen to unhealthy levels and where my doctor has signed me off ill due to stress at work.
The manner in which Jack’s anger manifests includes shouting, punching the desk, name-calling, using inappropriate language, personalising insults, and scapegoating, all of which are entirely unprofessional and counter-productive.
When he comes into the room, my anxiety increases as the potential for this behaviour is omnipresent.
Highlighting a clear lack of accountability and self-awareness, he stated to Graham:
Although we all make mistakes, the bulk of decisions are made by Jack and when Jack is stressed, then poor spontaneous decisions are made. When it goes wrong, we are all shouted at, when the decisions are more often than not made by Jack.
Husband-wife dynamic added to unease felt
Graham being married to Clarke — their relationship was brought up numerous times across these three transcripts alone — compounded the anxiety for those working under him.
The complainant added:
…although I wanted to speak to you earlier about the situation, I was deeply worried that as you are married to Jack, this could ultimately have escalated and attracted his reprisals.
Complainant 1 also provided Graham with a 24-page document comprehensively evidencing the bullying and aggression deployed by Clarke within the office. He felt they had no choice but to stay silent on the matters.
If he was challenged on his view, this could have the effect of making him agitated, angry and leave me thinking it was better to be quiet and in his words, to “take it”.
Graham was elected as Unite’s general secretary in 2021.
Despite the evidence presented to the investigation into Clarke’s controversial behaviour, Graham intervened to prevent her husband being sacked. Instead, she rewarded him with a promotion to run a newly-created unit following her victory.
An aggressive ‘macho’ culture
The second complainant cites an “aggressive”, “macho culture”. As the only woman on the team, this made work feel increasingly “difficult and isolating”.
Referring to daily conversations between Clarke and other male employees, she explained that they “often included loud, negative ‘banter’ about what a ‘penis’ or a ‘cunt’ other people were or which people they wanted to beat up or attack”.
Jack often used expressions such as “I’d love to stab him with a compass” or “I might as well bend over and let ’em f*ck me up the arse” whilst doing actions to mimic what he was saying.
She then described how Clarke instructed OLRU workers not to speak to wider Unite staff. Our source told the Canary that Clarke explicitly banned them from eating in the canteen or mixing with other staff because they “couldn’t be trusted”. This created a culture of isolation and paranoia.
Clarke even told workers that people within their own department, including admin staff, couldn’t be trusted. The complainant said:
Jack regularly joked that we were “in the bunker” and would shut the door to ensure that no-one outside could hear what he was saying. This was especially true if he was going to have one of his long, angry monologues.
The transcripts the Canary has seen detail these angry, potty-mouthed monologues profusely with others unable to get a word in edgeways.
She added:
…Jack’s behaviour made me feel excessively paranoid.
‘I felt pressured and harassed when I was already ill’
Clarke also appears to show a worrying lack of concern for staff members’ health.
The same female colleague endured six months of abnormal menstrual bleeding, which she attributed to stress and grief.
Within her grievance bundle, she wrote:
Jack was initially helpful to me in this condition. He allowed me to come to work late and leave early…when I was already very low energy.
Yet when he learned that I was going to have to wait 6 months to see a consultant he started a process of cajoling me to go to A&E, where he thought I would get seen quicker.
On several occasions, these conversations where she felt pressured to visit A&E, took place in front of the wider team.
At one point he said, ‘Go and bleed on the fucking floor, that’ll show ‘em’.
Potentially giving weight to prior allegations of misogyny against Clarke, the same woman told Unite’s HR department she “felt pressured and harassed when I was already ill”.
I suspected Jack probably would not have talked to my other male colleagues in this way.
The staff member makes clear that she did everything she could to avoid making a formal complaint. But after attempts to reason with Clarke failed, she felt she had no choice but to escalate the matter, her grievance complaint states.
She said she hoped the informal complaint process would lead to “proper recognition of the seriousness” of her allegations and result in “a more positive and safe working environment”.
However, it didn’t. With those efforts failing to resolve the situation, she raised a formal grievance against Clarke.
Unite’s response
As has been the case often, including when Graham was first challenged over her requests for evidence against Clarke to be destroyed – destruction that was later admitted – senior figures at Unite went on the attack in an attempt to deflect attention from the real issue: the clearly aggressive and unprofessional way Clarke “managed” his team in the OLRU.
What makes this even more concerning is that these behaviours appear to have continued in his brand-new department after Graham won the leadership in 2021.
So, the question for Unite members is a simple one: how can they have confidence that their working conditions – and their right to fair pay – will be protected under Graham’s continued leadership after she secured another term this week?
Their statement is as follows:
These allegations were made more than eight years ago by people who we assume were working with the then leadership of the union, Len McCluskey and Howard Beckett. We note that despite making a number of covert recordings these individuals were not able to substantiate their accusations and that other people present did not corroborate them.
The member of staff they accused has been employed by Unite for over 25 years and never had a single complaint about his behaviour until his wife indicated that she decided to run against Steve Turner at the next General Secretary election.
There was no intervention by anybody to stop him from facing disciplinary action. The accusations were fully investigated by Unite’s human resources team, but the only sanction issued was for “extreme language and rudeness in relation to senior figures of the union”.
This was related to covert recordings of him being upset about attacks on his wife and his views on collusion with blacklisting, corruption around the Birmingham hotel development, and resources from union contractors and organisations to which Unite was affiliated (including the ITF) being used to back UL candidates in internal elections.
However, their response raises some important questions.
First, Sharon Graham did not stand for leadership until 2021. These meetings took place in 2018 — a year after Graham had backed McCluskey’s return as General Secretary. McCluskey had already been General Secretary since 2011 and remained in the role until his retirement.
Second, there is nothing in the transcript to suggest these staff members were working against Graham. Quite the opposite: they repeatedly demonstrated their loyalty to the goal of seeing her elected as General Secretary – three years before the election even took place.
If anything, that makes the situation more revealing. After all, it highlights just how deep-rooted and toxic factionalism had become within Unite and raises serious questions about where priorities lay: with serving members and their interests, or with internal political manoeuvring and securing future leadership positions.
Jack Clarke’s actions should have consequences
Previous reporting shows that Graham sought to destroy these critical documents — and likely believed she had succeeded once she became Unite’s general secretary.
The fact that Graham even sought to destroy such damning evidence to protect her husband suggests she understood that what they contained could damage her leadership bid and reputation.
However, her complicity in protecting Clarke undermines her position as the person responsible for safeguarding workers’ rights and Unite colleagues, should she continue in her present role.
Nevertheless, the original documents survived. Now that they are in the Canary’s possession, their revelations raise serious questions for both Sharon Graham and Jack Clarke.
Both should now answer for the corrosive pattern of behaviour described in the documents, as well as the harmful impact that workers say it has had on their health and wellbeing.
The Canary understands the whistle-blowers received substantial pay-offs after Sharon Graham’s intervention with the union’s then-general secretary.
Featured image via LinkedIn
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