diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 341a3e5c8..ed29f144d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ jobs:
         # these tests seem to fail on github's CI
         run: >
           sed -Ei
-          's/^(\s*)(async )?def test_(no_spawn_no_stdin_attached|save_named_query|parsing_notmuch_config_with_non_bool_synchronize_flag_fails)/\1@unittest.skip("broken in ci")\n&/'
+          -e '1iimport unittest'
+          -e 's/^(\s*)(async )?def test_(no_spawn_no_stdin_attached|save_named_query|parsing_notmuch_config_with_non_bool_synchronize_flag_fails)/\1@unittest.skip("broken in ci")\n&/'
           tests/commands/test_global.py
           tests/db/test_manager.py
           tests/settings/test_manager.py