Labour man quits union in disgust after Daily Mail revelations about bullying leverage tactics Unite's leader Len McCluskey was putting the entire union movement at risk, Jonathan Roberts said A former Labour Parliamentary candidate has resigned from Unite in disgust after the Daily Mail's revelations about the union's bullying "leverage" tactics. Jonathan Roberts said Unite's militant leader Len McCluskey was putting the entire union movement at risk. He said that "picketing the family homes of company bosses and intimidating their children" was not a "decent" way of representing workers, and claimed the Unite leadership no longer represents the interests of members. He is so disgusted with the "depressing, devious and combative way" that Unite runs its operations that he has now torn up his membership card. Writing on the Labour Uncut website, Mr Roberts said: "I'm sure in person he is an affable man, but in my view there is no greater threat to the hope of strong, responsible, decent and successful trade unionism than Len McCluskey and his most loyal supporters. My resignation is not a mark of being anti-trade union. It is the exact opposite. When trade unionism works well, it benefits everybody. But the persistent antagonistic tactics of the Unite hierarchy have resulted in a loss of goodwill not just from industry, but from the general public - and I fear that the harm done cannot now be reversed. He criticised Unite over the Grangemouth "disaster" saying: "If you think picketing the family homes of company bosses and intimidating their children, or putting hundreds of jobs at risk because one trade union official was under investigation for skiving off work, or ordering the PR team to "dig up the dirt" on Labour MPs who disagree with union policy, is a decent way of representing the workers, then we'll have to agree to disagree. Ineos had threatened to close the plant at Grangemouth after a new pension package designed to save the business was rejected by Unite "Likewise, if you believe that Grangemouth was the result of a "rogue official" and not an example of everything that is wrong with how Unite does business, I suspect we will not agree on that either. I am not one of those people who says that the dramatic fall in union membership is down solely to Thatcherite laws, I believe instead that the behaviour of certain union leaders puts off millions of ordinary, decent people from joining. For shame. Mr Roberts, 31, works for the UK Chamber of Shipping, and stood for Labour in Thirsk and Malton at the 2010 election. He revealed that since he resigned on Thursday night he had been attacked on Twitter for criticising Unite, of which he had been a member since 2006. I don't like the idea that my friends and family might see the way Unite behaves and think I find it acceptable. I don't," he said. If the majority of Unite members cannot find a voice from within, then maybe they should join me in searching for a better trade union to join. Last night Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: "The testimony of Jonathan Roberts is deeply worrying. He deserves credit for blowing the whistle on Labour's paymasters. "In his own words, the Unite union has been "picketing the family homes of company bosses and intimidating their children" and "putting hundreds of jobs at risk because one trade union official was under investigation for skiving off work." No more excuses. Labour must reopen the Falkirk inquiry immediately. Ed Miliband failed to stand up to his union bankrollers in Falkirk, and he backed down in the face of pressure from Unite general secretary Len McCluskey. "If Ed Miliband is too weak to stand up to his union bosses, and to tackle what he himself has called "bad practices," how can he stand up for hard-working people?"