Response to Unite's March 2024 letter

Our response to the extraordinary attack by Unite's general secretary and chair on members supporting Palestine.

On 26th March 2024, Sharon Graham and Andy Green sent a letter  to all Unite officers, organisers and staff. It was an extraordinary attack on those expressing support for, and building solidarity with, Palestine, both inside and outside the union.

Unite4Palestine issued the below response.

On 26 March Sharon Graham, the General Secretary of Unite, and Andy Green, Chair of the Executive, issued an extraordinary statement  attacking Palestine solidarity supporters. In particular it attempted to justify the leadership’s refusal to give any support to the Palestinians or Unite members campaigning to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

When Israel launched its attack on Gaza Unite issued a statement  on 16 October which ‘unreservedly’ condemned and expressed its ‘revulsion’ over Israeli deaths on October 7 whilst merely ‘deploring’ the mass murder of women and children in Gaza.

It was only after concerted protests by Unite activists that after 4 weeks Unite issued a second statement  on 3 November calling for an ‘immediate unconditional ceasefire by all parties in Israel and Gaza.’ There was no mention of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza.

Since then there has been radio silence. There has been no publicity about the national demonstrations and no support for members wanting to take solidarity action. Despite repeated protests  and petitions by members Sharon Graham has failed to attend or speak at the national demonstrations. Graham even tried to persuade  Peter Kavanagh of London & Eastern Region not to speak.

Unite did absolutely nothing until a letter was sent on 25 March to the Palestinian trade union PGFTU, whose offices in Gaza had been bombed more than two weeks previously on 7 March.

The timing of this letter was no coincidence. It was sent one day before her statement. The letter offered nothing but empty words. Graham and Green are explicit in their opposition to an arms embargo on Israel or persuading workers to refuse to handle arms intended for genocide.

Graham’s letter referred to Unite’s ‘longstanding policy’ but fails to mention that Unite policy  includes ‘full support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’. This policy does not even appear on Unite’s website. For that you have to go to the United Left site  .

Graham boasts that ‘Unite was the first major union to publicly and unambiguously call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.’ This is not true. UNISON called  for an immediate ceasefire on 26 October and on 18 October condemned  Israel’s attack on the Al Ahli hospital killing nearly 500 people. Graham has remained silent about the attacks on Gaza’s hospitals, ambulances and health care system and now its execution  of children at Al Shifa Hospital.

The remainder of Sharon Graham’s letter represents a disgraceful defence of the arms industry and an attack on those who seek to ‘to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment of NATO and AUKUS.’ It is an industry whose purpose includes enabling genocide in Gaza and a possible nuclear war with China and Russia.

Sharon Graham has openly come out as a war monger who hides her aims behind the need to preserve jobs at any cost. We reject the argument that Unite must support war because our members’ jobs depend on it. A society where an increasing proportion of national wealth is geared to the manufacture of armaments is to the detriment of all our members.

When imperialism wages war it is workers who lose their lives. Yes there is a contradiction between representing members in the war industry and opposing imperialist wars. That is why we support the diversification of arms production into making useful goods that benefit humanity.

The idea that we must defend every job, even when it involves the murder of thousands of children is one we reject. Trade unions have historically fought for peace not war, against fascism, imperialism and racism.

Sharon Graham spits on the memory of the Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride who, in 1973, refused to work on the engines of Chilean aircraft which had taken an active part in Pinochet’s fascist coup. A strong trade union organisation ensured that the Chilean airforce was all but grounded. Eventually it fell to Israel and South Africa to service these aircraft.

International solidarity is in the interests of all workers. Without solidarity the capitalist class can play divide and rule. Rather than building solidarity across national borders Sharon Graham prefers to play the role of a British nationalist wedded to Zionism.

Arms production is highly capital intensive. Britain’s ‘defence’ budget has steadily increased at the same time as cuts to the NHS and social services budgets. UNITE also has workers in the NHS, local government and social services. Unite members also use the NHS and are being forced to wait longer for treatment because of the cuts that enable increased military expenditure.

UNITE and its predecessor unions have a proud tradition of international solidarity. Former General Secretary of the TGWU, Jack Jones, fought in Spain against the fascists. At the time of Apartheid in South Africa we supported the struggle for liberation. An injury to one is an injury to all. We live in a society in which war is in the interests of capitalism not the working class.

Sharon Graham’s statement is an open declaration of war against those who support BDS and the liberation of the Palestinian people. The liberation of the Palestinians from Israeli Apartheid and an end to imperialist war is in the interests of all members of Unite.

Sharon Graham asserts that we are a trade union not a political party. Trade unions have historically recognised that strikes alone are not enough. We cannot achieve our economic aims without a political struggle for socialism. The NHS would never have been created if Graham’s miserable, short-sighted, dog eat dog vision had been adopted.

Today the Labour Party has abandoned the working class and embraced the neo-liberal advocates of free market capitalism. About this Graham has nothing to say.

Implicit in Graham’s statement is a threat to the affiliation to Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Already the affiliation to StWC has been suspended.

We call on Unite to break from Keir Starmer’s support for genocide, his embrace of NATO and neo-liberal economics and to fight for a socialist society which is free from the fear of war. We salute those who have campaigned to close Israel’s arms factories in Britain and we particularly welcome the closure of Elbit’s factory in Tamworth as a result of Palestine Action’s campaign.

Unite4Palestine
1st April 2024