A row has broken out at the GMB, one of the UK’s biggest unions, after members of its largest region supported a move towards industrial action over “serious allegations of bullying and harassment”.
Staff in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside (NEYH) region overwhelmingly supported a consultative ballot on strike action – used as a shot across the bow when members want to raise a serious issue.
GMB employees, who are members of the Unite union, were asked to support an industrial dispute with their employer “regarding the deteriorating culture of bullying in the NEYH region”, which it said was affecting “the mental and physical health and safety of our members”.
The union said if it received support it would “enter into the dispute process to seek redress”.
A Unite spokesperson said: “Last week serious allegations of bullying and harassment were raised by our members within the NEYH region of the GMB. We take all such matters extremely seriously.
“This has culminated in a consultative ballot indicating our members were prepared to take industrial action if these allegations were not quickly addressed. We will now be raising this matter with the GMB and expect all concerns to be thoroughly investigated.”
A GMB spokesperson said: “When we receive information on this matter, it will be thoroughly investigated.”
In the wake of the vote, the union sought to allay fears and curb gossip related to the consultative ballot. In a leaked email sent on Tuesday, staff were urged to treat speculation or rumours with “scepticism”, and given assurances that all internal processes were being undertaken “with complete fairness and total probity”.
In 2020 the GMB was described as “institutionally sexist” in a highly critical independent report from Karon Monaghan KC. Gary Smith was elected as general secretary in 2021 and promised to implement Monaghan’s recommendations in full, saying the union had to “shed these practices and cultures that have blighted us”.
The Guardian understands that staff in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humber region have called for an independent barrister-led “health check” on the union’s progress in implementing the Monaghan report, which they say should look at the GMB’s use of “external lawyers and HR operations”.
Leaders at the union have reacted furiously, with Smith accusing those behind the move of trying to undermine “all the good work” carried out at the union.
In a leaked email last week, Smith told senior staff the union been approached by the media about confidential internal processes and was under attack by people “hellbent on undermining all of the good work we have undertaken together in rescuing our union from the chaos of the recent past”.
The email states: “We must keep moving forward and remain true to Monaghan in never again allowing abuses of power.”
The Guardian also understands that the taskforce put in place in 2021 to implement Monaghan’s recommendations has been wound down. A spokesperson for the GMB said the taskforce had taken the work as far as possible, and implementing remaining recommendations from the report would now be overseen by the general secretary and president.
“Every leader in GMB now has an obligation to uphold and adhere to the spirit and principles of the Monaghan report,” the spokesperson said.
“We recognise that securing deep-seated changes in culture is an ongoing process and leaders throughout the union are committed to achieving this. Good leadership is transforming GMB and delivering the better union our members deserve.”
A GMB spokesperson said “a number of serious processes” were ongoing, which the union could not comment on. But they said Smith had “worked tirelessly … to drive through positive change and rebuild our union to leave behind the dark days of the past”.
In November an independent inquiry into the situation at a waste services depot in Brighton heard accusations of racism, homophobia, threats of violence and sexual comments by GMB reps or people described as being protected by the GMB reps within the council.
At the time the GMB said the alleged behaviours were “unacceptable”, but added that it was “very concerned that this report fails the basic test of fairness” and was critical of “sweeping allegations ... made on the basis of anonymous, unsupported statements”.
#MeTU organiser Claire Laycock, who broke a non-disclosure agreement in 2022 to accuse former TSSA transport union general secretary Manuel Cortes of harassment, which he denied, said unions had to work harder and move faster to become more inclusive and democratic.
“Monaghan and [Helena] Kennedy did a lot of work and spoke to a lot of people,” she said. “So one of our objectives now is to push each union to actually implement all of the recommendations made.”
