New Ruling: Sharon Graham must allow inspection of union accounts
In a major win for our union’s members, Sharon Graham must now allow the full accounts of our union to be inspected by our Executive Council. This follows a successful case brought to the Certification Officer (CO) by an EC member following months of delays and obstructions.
The ruling of the Certification Officer is a damning indictment of the manner in which our union is being misgoverned by Sharon Graham.
A request was lodged with the union by Rafiq Moosa, as a member of the Executive Council, to inspect the union’s full accounts in December 2024.
The information that Mr Moosa requested concerned the union's quarterly accounts from 2022 to 2024 and details of Non-Disclosure Agreements and payments in cases of employee severance.
For months various attempts were made to stall and place unreasonable conditions on accessing these accounts for inspection.
In response the CO ruling imposed the maximum possible fine on Unite (the first such fine issued by the CO in over 10 years) and found that Mr Moosa had been deliberately obstructed from gaining access to information on our unions finances to which he was entitled as a member.
CO: Unite EC member was obstructed
The CO ruling upheld Mr Moosa's claim that he had been denied access to information that he was entitled to have and found that Unite's attempts to impose confidentiality, redact documents, and impose restrictions around access to the information, were without any justification.
Importantly, the CO found that the actions of Sharon Graham’s leadership team had actively obstructed Mr Moosa - and by implication the Unite EC - from being able to exercise their proper governance roles and responsibilities. The CO outcome stated:
"....it should have been reasonably foreseeable to the Union that members elected within the rules to perform governance and scrutiny functions on behalf of the membership, might seek to rely on their rights under section 30 to fulfil those responsibilities. There is a functional overlap between Mr Moosa’s governance obligations as a member of the Executive Council, and his statutory rights as a member of the Union.”
“I therefore find that Mr Moosa’s membership of the Executive Council is a relevant consideration in determining the impact of the breach.”
“Mr Moosa felt unable to fulfil the governance and scrutiny role he was elected to. I accept his evidence in this regard. This contributed to a potential weakening of confidence in the effective governance of the Union. Because of this, I find that impact was significant and represents an aggravating factor in determining the proportionality of a penalty order.”
CO ruling: A last resort
The ruling goes on to state:
"The aggravating factors recorded above are extremely serious, and I have not seen any evidence of mitigating factors or been given any adequate explanation for the Union’s failure to comply with its statutory obligations.
I have therefore concluded that imposing the maximum financial penalty available to the Certification Officer is appropriate and proportionate and should ensure that the Union understands the importance of ensuring greater compliance with members’ rights to access its accounting records in future."
Taking a case to the CO was a last resort, but at the 11th hour - the day before the hearing - Sharon Graham’s team accepted and conceded that the union’s leadership had been in breach of their responsibilities.
Members deserve to know where every penny of our money is spent.
This new ruling follows the interim auditor’s report into the Birmingham Hotel, which found the union had "failed to ensure" appropriate financial reporting.
Sharon Graham has increased members’ subs while dragging her heels when it comes to showing where our money is being spent.
Far from learning the lesson of the Birmingham auditors’ report, Sharon Graham is only worsening the problems of unaccountable leadership and lack of financial reporting.
It is now absolutely clear - as the majority of EC members have consistently been arguing - that Sharon Graham is systematically trying to obstruct scrutiny and oversight of the use of our union’s finances.
Given Sharon Graham's determined obstruction of financial scrutiny and oversight it is not surprising that she and her inner circle are attempting to misuse the Birmingham investigation to continue their campaign of threats and smears against perceived enemies.
This ruling demonstrates how the real lessons of Birmingham have not been learnt at the top of our union and that it is more vital than ever that our EC is supported to hold the General Secretary to account. We urge all Unite members to play close attention to this when the EC election takes place.
Ultimately, this sorry ordeal is further evidence of the need for a new General Secretary who is untainted by the past and who is willing to work with - not against - our members, to reunite our union and take us forward together.
