Back in 2021, Guido did some digging into the eyebrow-raising nature of Len McCluskey’s hotel and conference centre project for Unite union in Birmingham—a supposed £7 million investment that spiralled to a staggering £98 million. The completed building is now valued at a mere £29 million. To top it off, a £95 million construction contract was awarded to one of McCluskey’s close pals…

It was reported last night the Serious Fraud Office is investigating the (now) £112 million project, meaning £83 million of members’ money has seemingly vanished. As if that wasn’t enough, a KC-led inquiry, commissioned by current general secretary Sharon Graham, has unearthed a mysterious £14 million black hole in the union’s accounts…

Meanwhile, McCluskey, who once touted this project as a “fantastic investment,” has gone suspiciously silent. A reminder: Unite coughed up over £500,000 for Labour MPs during the last election. Bad timing for a government who claims to be on the side of the unions…

It must have been a shock for left-wing luvvie Dale Vince to see union workers protesting outside his own firm’s HQ. Yesterday afternoon Unite workers and supporters staged a demonstration outside the Stroud offices of Vince’s energy company Ecotricity, calling for the reopening of negotiations for union recognition. It’s also part of the union’s wider campaign to renationalise the entire energy sector…

In a round robin email Unite urged people to attend the protest with a pointed attack on Vince:

“Dale Vince, the owner of Ecotricity, has an estimated wealth of £107,000,000 yet refuses to negotiate a deal for Ecotricity workers allowing for them to have a say in their pay and conditions.”

Meanwhile Vince appears on television and radio to agitate for higher taxes and wealth redistribution across the UK. Unite says he keep to his own patch first…

Starmer’s Labour may be a broad church, though Guido suspects one of its candidates will send shivers down some of his comrades’ spines. Labour’s candidate for Welwyn Hatfield, the seat currently held by Grant Shapps, works as director of communications for the Clarion Housing Group, the UK’s largest social landlord and bête noire to Labour and the unions alike. Andrew Lewin’s firm, which is condemned as one of the worst social landlords in Britain, has got 260 official fines or penalties since 2010. It was condemned by Labour members of the London assembly for leaving 1,500 estate residents in squalor and dishing out bonuses to the Chief Executive. Unite called it the “Sports Direct of housing associations” after it tried to cut sick pay. That might make for some awkward meetings if Lewin is elected…

The Housing Ombudsman says that 53.6% of complaints against it resulted in findings of maladministration – that puts it squarely in the worst 5% of all social landlords in the country. Clarion was one of only four of 1,738 social landlords subject to “special investigation” by the Housing Ombudsman in 2022/3 – it’s also been in Unite’s crosshairs for years after trying to derecognise unions company-wide. Which side will Lewin take when Clarion fights with the unions over fire and rehire, or when it is condemned by former unison leader Lord Prentis in Parliament? Is Labour so broad a church that a director of one of the worst social landlords in the country is accepted without a squeak?

The Unite union have rejected the government’s latest NHS worker pay offer of a 5% pay rise, following the Royal College of Nursing doing the same last week. Although the High Court ruled yesterday that the one of RCN’s planned upcoming strike was unlawful…

Unite mainly represents ambulance drivers and junior health staff workers. Unite’s Onay Kasab told Sky News this morning:

“This is sending a clear message to the government. The pay offer is inadequate. It doesn’t deal with the pay crisis and it doesn’t deal with the general crisis that is taking place in the NHS.”

The GMB union is also set to release the results of its membership ballot this afternoon. They’re expected to back the government’s offer. Stay tuned…

The parliamentary branch of Unite has agreed to begin the process of balloting to strike. As Guido previously reported, the branch represents primarily Labour MP staff, and is essentially an admission that their left-wing strike-supporting bosses are themselves underpaying staff when they decide to allocate their expenses budget.

One of the largest branch meetings in our history today met and agreed to begin the process of balloting to strike.@ipsaUK have the power to prevent this from happening but have failed to meaningfully negotiate pic.twitter.com/tTAoTQmVBF

— Parliamentary Staff Branch (@unitepsbranch) February 2, 2023

The union is demanding RPI + 2%, meaning an 11% pay rise…

As Labour bask in the chaos of public sector workers’ strikes, they should be careful what they wish for. It appears strike fever has reached their own backyard as their own parliamentary staff are threatening a strike over an unacceptably small pay offer.

This afternoon the Unite Parliamentary Staff branch announced that the 4.9% pay increase approved for them is “grossly inadequate” and “well below the 6.9% average wage increases in the private sector”. Ignoring the fact private sector workers don’t have half the job security, expenses or subsidised food and drink…

With no consultation from @CommonsSpeaker or @ipsaUK on our pay increase, our branch will now be exploring options for industrial action. pic.twitter.com/jGnMbu0hbY

— Parliamentary Staff Branch (@unitepsbranch) January 25, 2023

Unfortunately for Labour, Guido understands the Unite parliamentary branch is almost exclusively the refuge of their own staffers and is unlikely to hurt Tory MPs. While staffers would receive the 4.9% automatically, there’s nothing to stop MPs supplementing that with additional pay rises if they have a few quid lying around in their budget…

Two of Labour MP Grahame Morris‘s staffers have endorsed the threat of strike action, clearly dissatisfied that their own lefty boss won’t increase their pay.

Liverpool councillor and senior caseworker to Mick Whitley MP, Elizabeth Hayden, has slammed the low pay being handed out, saying she can’t wait to vote for industrial action if and when the ballot hits. For the record that’s the same Elizabeth Hayden who once questioned whether the Manchester Arena attack was a Tory false flag attack*…

Among other staffers appearing to endorse the strike action are two working for SNP MPs, a Taiwo Owatemi staffer and a Christian Wakeford staffer. He’ll soon be regretting crossing to Labour as his casework begins to pile up…

*Questions about why an MP has her on the books is an entirely different matter…