Exclusive: union Unite voted AGAINST TUC ‘welfare not warfare’ motion

Last month’s annual gathering of unions under the banner of the TUC was marked by the unanimous success of a motion condemning Keir Starmer’s ‘proscription’ (terrorism ban) on non-violent anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action.

But Skwawkbox can reveal that the Unite union, amongst extreme criticism from members and activists, general secretary Sharon Graham, voted against a ‘Welfare not warfare’ motion calling for public spending to be directed toward social security for vulnerable people in the UK rather than toward Starmer’s warmongering rises in spending on weapons.

Unite’s previous promises

Last year, Graham told Unite members that the union would always prioritise jobs in the arms industry above peace and even above fighting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The union was accused of using ‘shameless manoeuvres’ to prevent anti-genocide motions coming before Unite’s own conference and of attacking international solidarity in its own motion to the conference.

In addition, Graham has been alleged by Unite insiders to have:

• banned Unite officials and national banners from pro-Gaza protests
• banned and smeared films and books exposing the ‘Labour antisemitism’ scam
• placed an official under investigation who refused to cancel a Palestine solidarity fringe event at Labour’s 2023 annual conference
• told her chief of staff to threaten a soon-to-retire official with the loss of a pension bonus if he did not soften his support for Palestinians

Her supporters also prevented debate and votes on Gaza at a meeting of the union’s elected executive – and last month Unite members publicly accused Graham of a ‘systematic’ attack on union democracy to prevent debate over, and solidarity with, the people of Gaza. She has also stopped the union’s affiliation with Stop the War out of the same commitment to the arms industry and because of the organisation’s anti-genocide position and protests. But Unite members and their branches are pushing back.

Accusations abound

Graham has also been accused by workers and their union reps of using union-busting tactics to try to break industrial action by union staff working in the department run she created and which is run by her husband – despite him being on a final warning for bullying and threatening behaviour – who allege that he and managers working under him have bullied and abused staff. At least three of the five women working in the department have quit and the tactics used by Graham and her team include having allies join the GMB union that represents staff working for Unite to try to vote down the strike action – an allegation that the union’s sector committee has demanded be investigated.

She has also been accused of using anti-union legislation to stop union officers organising collectively and in a stunning development exclusively revealed by Skwawkbox, lawyers acting for Unite and Graham also confirmed Skwawkbox’s reporting that the union had destroyed evidence gathered by staff, particularly women, who had recorded the behaviour her husband, Jack Clarke, in their complaint that he was behaving abusively.

Featured image via the Canary