In the early summer of 2023, a baggage handler at Heathrow airport received a welcome job offer: a well-paid role with Unite, one of Britain’s most powerful unions. The job had one particular perk: he could also keep his existing full-time job as ground staff for a major airline.
It is claimed he has never stepped foot into Unite head office in central London, is unknown to his supposed colleagues and may not have carried out any work. He has been described as a “ghost worker”.
The baggage handler withdrew from running for election on Unite’s executive council, its governing body, around the same time he was offered the role. A whistleblower claims a phoney job may have been offered to him as an incentive to withdraw, thereby ensuring council members backing the existing union leadership were not at risk of being displaced.
Unite confirmed this weekend it had launched an investigation into the allegations, but said claims of election rigging were “categorically false”. The baggage handler, who is no longer on the union payroll, also denies any wrongdoing.
Eddie Cassidy, a member of Unite’s executive council, said: “If what has been alleged in this whistleblower letter is true, then there are elements that I feel have to be investigated by the police.” It is an offence to give or receive bribes, with penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and unlimited fines or...
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