Sharon Mairead Graham was born on 3 December 1968 and is a British trade unionist who has been the general secretary of Unite since 26 August 2021.
16 Facts About Sharon Graham
1.
2.
Sharon Graham is the first woman to hold the position.
3.
Sharon Graham previously served as the union's executive officer and as head of its organising and leverage department.
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Sharon Graham is one of four children to a father from Newcastle upon Tyne and a mother from Abbeyfeale, County Limerick.
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Sharon Graham went to the Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith.
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Sharon Graham left school and began work as a silver service waitress at 16, and led her first walkout at 17 in defence of the rights of casual workers.
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Sharon Graham began working as a national youth and development officer for the Transport and General Workers' Union, which later became Unite the Union in a merger.
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Sharon Graham was considered a potential candidate in the union's 2017 general secretary election, which had been prompted by Len McCluskey's early resignation to seek a new mandate.
9.
Sharon Graham ran the union's organising and leverage department, running twelve successful leverage campaigns, which involves taking action beyond the immediate management to company directors, shareholders, investors and suppliers.
10.
Sharon Graham led the union's response to British Airways attempt to fire and rehire staff on worse contracts in 2020.
11.
Sharon Graham said that the airline should be stripped of its privileges at Heathrow Airport due to the way it had treated its staff, and that if the behaviour went unchecked then more companies would act in a similar way.
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Sharon Graham, although considered to be on the left-wing of the union, ran in the election without seeking the faction's endorsement.
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Sharon Graham said she was "not a member of any Unite or Labour faction - other than my own supporters group".
14.
Sharon Graham's campaign was focused on redirecting attention towards workers' rights and workplaces instead of engaging with the internal politics of the Labour Party, of which Unite is an affiliated trade union.
15.
McCluskey endorsed Turner, and members pressured Sharon Graham to withdraw and support Turner to prevent Gerard Coyne, a centrist candidate, from becoming general secretary.
16.
Sharon Graham declined to do so, and received online abuse for her decision to remain a candidate.