For nearly two years, Sky News has been investigating allegations of bullying and harassment inside one of the UK’s biggest trade unions.
We’ve been listening to women with accounts of alleged bullying, misogyny, cronyism, and sexism which they claim is rife within the GMB Union.
So I went to find the head of the group to ask him why some women at his union still feel like they are treated unfairly.
How we tracked him down
Through a dimly lit car park in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon I’m chasing the head of the GMB union through the car bays in an attempt to ask him some very serious questions.
He seems annoyed by this scrutiny. He had left the TUC conference early through a side door in an apparent attempt to avoid me and had started running away from me as I approached him.
But there are serious questions hanging over him over how he runs his unions and how that union treats the women who work for him – so I continue to follow him.
GMB has always denied there is a culture of bullying, misogyny and sexism, in fact much more staunchly than any other organisation I’ve covered before accused of the same thing, and today was no different.
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Mr Smith told me there was “no problem at all” within the union, unwilling to admit there was any real work to do and essentially saying – there’s nothing to see here.
The problem is lots of women have expressed concerns and say they feel harassed at the union enough that the equalities watchdog is currently examining whether GMB is complying with the human rights act, and previously GMB members have threatened to strike against their own union over allegations of sexism – a highly unusual move used only when members want to raise a serious issue.
I ask Mr Smith whether he takes this seriously,
He says: “We’re a good organisation, we’re a cleaned up organisation, and we think the culture is pretty positive.”
I ask whether he believes the women who are bravely speaking out about their experience., whether he thinks there’s any harassment or bullying in his organisation at all or finally, if he wanted to apologise or wanted to say anything to the women who expressed concerns.
He declined to speak to me any further and I thanked him for his time.
An ‘institutionally sexist’ union
The GMB union has had internal run-ins before and has recently had a terrible track record with misogyny and sexism within its ranks.
An internal report in 2020 branded the union “institutionally sexist” – a stain on their reputation that was so bad, it forced a change in leadership which saw Mr Smith elected as president.
He made a declaration when he was appointed to the £148,000-a-year top job that “if our union doesn’t stand for decency and equality then we stand for nothing.”
It was a defining moment for GMB as their new general secretary, Mr Smith, was now pledging to end sexism and bullying. He promised to implement the recommendations of that damning report, the Monaghan report, and said he would work relentlessly to make it happen – “no ifs no buts”.
But since then, GMB women who we have spoken to say, it’s only got worse.
The whistle-blowers who spoke to us said they were speaking out because they held senior positions within the organisation and said if this was how they were treated, they worried what their junior employees would have to endure.
They say all their complaints have happened since that 2020 report and that they are submitting complaints from regions across the country.
Then, in February 2024, 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 region overwhelmingly supported a consultative ballot on strike action – which is usually used as a shot across the bow when members want to raise a serious issue.
Union ‘categorically denies’ bullying and sexism
Things escalated this year when the equalities watchdog took an active interest in the inner workings of GMB. Flooded with complaints from women, they were guided to inquire into the senior leadership of GMB who claim there has been a pattern of victimisation and harassment against women who speak out.
They formally wrote to the GMB union asking for information on how it’s complying with the Equality Act following allegations of sexual harassment, victimisation, and sex discrimination.
GMB has now written back to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) who will examine their response.
I spoke to Anne, one of the women who submitted the collective formal complaint to the equalities watchdog, who said she was bullied out of GMB by two senior men in the union. She lodged an internal complaint – that was then upheld.
GMB has said it categorically denies claims of a culture of bullying or sexism within the union. In fact, they have never substantially responded to claims of a renewed culture of sexism and this was why after repeated requests for an interview I thought it became important to ask Mr Smith himself what he made about these repeated allegations.
Had the union slipped back into its old ways?
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Major Labour donor – with ministerial members
This also matters because the general secretary of GMB is politically significant because the union is a major Labour donor with numerous cabinet ministers, including the prime minister holding membership.
Politically it is seen as closer to this Labour leadership than other big unions since Sharon Graham’s Unite party has remained very critical of Sir Keir Starmer’s government over welfare cuts and the winter fuel U-turn.
Sir Keir even gave the keynote speech at the GMB conference a year before the last general election.
GMB still categorically denies claims of a culture of bullying or sexism within the union and say they responded to a 2020 Report – that found institutional sexism within the union – by swiftly establishing new structures and policies to effectively deal with any allegation of bullying, sexism or harassment.
