{"id":46081,"date":"2025-08-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/?p=46081"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:02:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T14:02:23","slug":"the-battle-behind-unites-belated-action-on-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/global-politics\/palestine-middle-east\/the-battle-behind-unites-belated-action-on-palestine\/","title":{"rendered":"The battle behind Unite\u2019s belated action on Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While polling<\/a> shows overwhelming public support for a full embargo on UK arms exports to Israel, British factories<\/a> continue to produce parts for planes dropping bombs on Palestine. Many weapon-producing factory workers are Unite members. As recent events show, their opposition to the genocide is becoming more critical to embargo campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the genocide<\/a>, activists across Unite have been challenging their union leadership to take action \u2013 and growing increasingly frustrated over its lack of effective solidarity with Palestine. At the July 2025 Unite Policy Conference, its Executive Council (EC) finally agreed to take a stand<\/a> against the production of arms for Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory was hard fought. In March 2024, Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham had instructed union staff not to support campaigns against arms factories. She wrote<\/a> then that there was \u2018no contradiction for a trade union to hold a position of solidarity with Palestinian workers while at the same time refusing to support campaigns that target our members\u2019 workplaces without their support\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham\u2019s letter continued: \u2018The \u201cfirst claim\u201d on our priorities is always the protection and advancement of our members\u2019 interests at work [\u2026] Unite cannot and never will advocate or support any course of action which is counter to that principle\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c9t\u00e1in, a young Irish delegate to the Scottish Executive Council (which sits below the EC in Unite\u2019s structure) summed up a widespread frustration caused by the leadership\u2019s previous position.<\/a> She remarked to me at the time: \u2018You can drape yourself in a Palestinian flag, but what are you actually doing? What is the tangible impact of your actions?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union activists expected far more leadership action to oppose Britain\u2019s complicity with the genocide. Over the past year, they report proposing numerous motions on Palestine at EC meetings only for the chair to rule them out of order. The Policy Conference presented a new opportunity to challenge leadership inaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity of tactics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the Conference, members from across various regions and sectors responsible for building and transporting military equipment \u2013 including Aerospace and Shipbuilding, Docks, Rail, Ferries and Waterways \u2013 presented motions for solidarity action. Members in hospitality sectors and the Young Members Committee \u2013 whose members tend to work in services, bars and theatres, where Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS<\/a>) is a growing unofficial campaign \u2013 were also central to opposing the union leadership position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 17 different Unite bodies submitted motions during the Conference \u2013 making it obvious to the leadership that their passive position would be defeated if a vote was taken. As well as campaigning for an arms embargo, members were also determined to support the Palestine Solidarity Campaign<\/a> (PSC) and to re-enact the union\u2019s dormant BDS policy. While BDS policy had been previously implemented successfully at Veolia, Salisburys, Hewlett Packard and others, official BDS campaigns had stopped under the current Unite leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One tactic the EC can use in order to avoid open policy debates on potentially \u2018controversial\u2019 motions is making an \u2018Executive Statement\u2019: by accepting a tabled statement, related motions fall off the agenda. While many activists have grown to oppose this bureaucratic maneuver in general, the Executive Statement on Palestine<\/a> moved by Megan de Meo was unexpectedly positive \u2013 and combined most of the key points from the 17 tabled motions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following an impassioned, lively debate<\/a>, the statement was overwhelmingly passed by conference delegates. Its key points include commitments to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n