About Howard Beckett

Howard is Assistant General Secretary and oversees the important legal and political work of the union as well as member services.

He has served as a regional secretary and led on the most difficult industrial disputes over the years including restoring recognition at Ineos in Grangemouth, leading on the Birmingham Refuse workers dispute, delivering an incredible result at British Airways and many more.

Howard was born in Northern Ireland in 1969. He was brought up through the Troubles and this formed his politics.

His father is from London and his mother from Waterford in the South of Ireland. Both of Howard’s parents were shop stewards. His mother, as a woman from the South of Ireland, worked as a District nurse in some of the areas of Northern Ireland most affected by sectarian violence. As with everyone growing up in Northern Ireland at this time sectarianism was a daily part of life and in many ways this formed Howard’s drive to fight for justice and a fairer society.

Howard was fortunate enough to gain A levels and to be the first generation of his family to get to University where he studied law. Howard worked his way through University and subsequently through his professional exams. Shortly after qualifying, Howard decided to set up a partnership based in Wallasey offering advice to working class communities, opening surgeries in the Leasowe Estate and at The Casa in Liverpool (home of the sacked Liverpool dockers) and taking responsibility for providing pro bono welfare benefits advice to the community of Wallasey when the Welfare Benefits Centre was closed due to a lack of funding.

Howard ran this practice for 14 years before becoming Unite Legal Director in 2011. He became an Assistant General Secretary (AGS) in 2015. Howard was the Regional Secretary for the West Midlands, working first hand with branches and members to ensure our union delivers. Howard has led for the union in major disputes, including Visteon, Blacklisting, Birmingham bins, British Airways, Ineos recognition, Stobarts Doncaster and many more. He currently leads for the union in our legal support for families of Grenfell and for the unions representations to the SpyCops inquiry. Howard is currently leading on the incredibly important campaigns to end Fire and Rehire. Howard is temporarily overseeing the finance department of the union after the sad passing of our Finance Director. Howard is the AGS for Politics and sits on the Labour Party NEC for Unite. Howard is also Assistant General Secretary for young members, for our Chemicals, Pharmaceutical and Textile Sector and for our Services Sector (including Hospitality). Howard is the union’s lead for Show Racism the Red Card and has been for more than 11 years.

Howard is a socialist and a very vocal critic of the Labour Party moving to become a party of the establishment, more interested in internal battles than offering socialist opposition to the Government.

Howard is running on a platform that says our union must modernise, that departments must not work in silos, that modern resources must be given to our officers and reps, that the power of the union is routed in the success of our message and service in nations and regions, and that our union is a force for society change and we must reject any narrative that seeks to step back from the vital role being played out in our workplaces, communities and in the political corridors of power.