Coyne confident of getting members’ support
GERARD Coyne, the West Midlands union leader standing in a bitter leadership contest for trade union Unite, has dismissed reports that members in the region are backing rival candidate Len McCluskey.
He said union officials had experienced “a degree of pressure” to back Mr McCluskey, but he was confident of winning the support of union members.
Mr McCluskey, the union’s current general secretary who is standing again, has been nominated by 38 Unite branches in the West Midlands, including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in Solihull and elsewhere, Cadbury in Bournville and Allied Bakeries in West Bromwich.
And his campaign has highlighted the level of support in the heart of the West Midlands - where Mr Coyne is Unite’s regional organiser.
But speaking to the Birmingham Post, Mr Coyne said: “I always knew that in terms of this process around nominations, there is a degree of pressure that can be applied to supporting the incumbent, and some of the machinery that’s there that is available to the general secretary and which is not as readily available to me as a challenger. “I always knew that would be the case. I am really pleased with the level of support I have had from my region but also right across the country. “The number of branches that have nominated in the West Midlands has been fantastic for me. “Jaguar Land Rover, in terms of the overall membership they have, I know that many of the reps there, many of the members, will supporting me.
“The branch nominations are not the things that wins elections, the votes are. And I’m more than comfortable with where the support is at the moment in relation to that.”
Mr McCluskey is a close ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the contest has become deeply personal in a way that mirrors the conflicts within the Labour Party.
Mr Coyne has previously claimed Mr McCluskey shares responsibility for Labour’s loss in the Copeland by-election, saying: “The Copeland meltdown is at Len McCluskey’s door.” personally be