unions
ASU members walk off work for Palestine
Union members in social and community services in Melbourne took up to four hours of unprotected strike action for Palestine on Thursday 22 February.
Around 500 workers and supporters took part in a lunchtime rally beginning at the Victorian Council for Social Service (VCOSS) that marched to the Federation of Community Legal Centres, with some staying off work for the rest of the day.
The workers, members of the Australian Services Union (ASU), called on their organisations break their silence on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The unofficial strike was organised by the rank-and-file group ASU Members for Palestine.
Workers at a number of Community Legal Centres and social and community service (SACS) workplaces participated, including Inner Melbourne Community Legal, Legal Services in Fitzroy, South-East Monash, Mooney Valley, West Heidelberg Community Legal, West Justice, Consumer Action Law Centre, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), Friends of the Earth and the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), where workers walked-off for the second time in a month.
Demanding SACS organisations break their silence
“The action came after workers in social and community services grew frustrated with the lack of action on Palestine from their employers and organisations, many who claim to be about human rights, justice and equality,” Monica Campo, one of the walk-off organisers and the chair of the rally, told Solidarity.
“With a few exceptions, most organisations have remained silent on the genocide, even after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of plausible genocide.”
ASU members for Palestine launched an open letter in December, now signed by 500 workers, calling on their employers to end their silence and speak up for Palestine. Many also wrote to their CEOs and boards. But few organisations changed their public stance.
Speakers at the rally described the stark hypocrisy of working in roles that are fundamentally connected to justice, equality, safety and human rights for organisations that can’t bring themselves to apply the principles to Palestine.
Well-known Palestinian activist Uncle Ihab and community lawyer, Shifrah Blustein, also addressed the rally.
Uncle Ihab declared “enough is enough” and called on others in the CBD to join the walk-out. Shifrah spoke about the long history of Israeli occupation, stretching back to 1948 and before, and Australia’s longstanding support for Israel.
She highlighted the expansionist logic of Zionism and argued that its ideology of supremacy, elimination and colonialism was fundamentally incompatible with SACS organisations’ professed values of social justice and human rights.
Walking off
In the lead-up to the strike a representative for the walk-off emailed the peak body, the Federation of Community Legal Centres (FCLC), to notify them and received a reply advising that the ASU open letter had been shared with all FCLC members.
In an email to CLC CEOs, Federation CEO Louisa Gibbs acknowledged the right to protest and noted that FCLC would not “prevent or retaliate against our staff members who wish to join protests relating to this issue”.
Some walked off with the support of their employers. VALS released a public statement declaring its support for the walk-off and giving permission for staff to attend. This was followed by a similar statement from Friends of the Earth.
A day before the action, workers at another CLC were given verbal assurances from management that they could attend. At other workplaces workers were told they could attend if they took leave.
ASU delegates at one organisation were told in an email that, “Given [the organisation’s] public position is clear and [the organisation] has supported staff to attend social issues-based rallies and public events in the past we support attendance at this event during work time.”
However, the email added, “ASU members attending the walk discuss and obtain permission from their line manager to ensure no clients are impacted negatively as a result.”
The action was a useful way of taking advantage of these service organisations’ desire to maintain their social justice credentials to show how workers can take action for Palestine.
Elsewhere, workers were threatened with having their pay docked. At one workplace, workers received a message saying, “If you attend the walk out this afternoon, we are required by law to not pay you for four hours as it is unprotected action.”
This shows the need to keep building rank-and-file organisation so workers can take action even where their employers are hostile.
Anti-strike laws
The action showed how workers can fight to reclaim the right to strike. Organisers circulated leaflets to workers that, while being upfront about Australia’s draconian anti-strike laws and the potential consequences for engaging in the action, noted that retribution was unlikely and, importantly, provided examples of the numerous occasions in recent times where workers in Australia haven broken the anti-strike laws and won.
The strikers also received solidarity from unionists and supporters elsewhere. CPSU members at Victorian Legal Aid passed a motion of solidarity. ASU members outside Victoria held a range of events in workplaces across the country, including virtual watermelon morning teas.
Solidarity photos were received from ASU members in SA as well as from a large grouping of ASU members in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. Greens MP for Richmond, Gabrielle De Vietri also published a video on social media declaring her solidarity with the strikers.
For Monica, the walk out not only represented “a challenge to institutional complicity with genocide but also a challenge to Australia’s restrictive industrial laws.
“We hope the action will inspire other industries to step up and go on strike for Palestine, particularly those unions and workforces with direct industrial connections (able to) disrupt the Israeli economy that supports the Zionist war machine.”
By Tom Fiebig
Shifrah, a community lawyer, spoke at the rally. Solidarity republishes her speech in full.
Some things about our organisations’ priorities are self-evident right now.
The orders of the world’s highest court to stop genocide are being flouted by Israel and its western backers. Yet all we’ve heard is crickets from the vast majority of our organisations who say they stand for the rule of law and human rights. (Thank you VALS and HRLC for your stance.)
On Tuesday, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights lawyer Nour Abo Nour was murdered along with seven of her family members including her daughter in an airstrike on Rafah. 1.5 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah are facing annihilation and a bigger ethnic cleansing campaign than the original Nakba. We are watching the moment Israel tries to complete its colonial project through open genocide. And still CLCs and our peak don’t think it’s their role to comment.
We demand action from our organisations that calls for an end to this genocide but that also understands it as part of a project stretching back to 1948 and before, when Zionist militias massacred and expelled Indigenous Palestinians from their homeland to establish an ethno-state. We demand action that acknowledges the 76 long years of Palestinian oppression and suffering since.
On top of that, our own government is deeply implicated in this history—not only through its support for Israel’s crimes (one settler colony to another) and its withdrawal of UNRWA funding, but also through the intelligence supplied by its Pine Gap facility and the weapons manufactured in this city and across the continent which are indispensable to Israel’s genocide now and decades of apartheid and ethnic cleansing that led us here. (Shout out to the activists repeatedly shutting down HTA, Rosebank Engineering and Zim shipping!)
Even after all that, our organisations don’t think it’s our place to say a thing. But it is not only about our sector’s silence on the rule of law and human rights that we should be angry about. It is also about the pervasive acceptance of Zionist talking points and manipulations by our orgs and civil society at large.
Zionism is not a cultural, ethnic or religious identity. It is a political ideology of supremacy, elimination and colonialism. No form of Zionism is compatible with the work of our organisations.
Equality, safety, freedom and human rights are for everybody. We should not tolerate our organisations accommodating an ideology that says that only certain people deserve safety and human rights. That some lives are more important than others. That apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide of one people is justified for the supposed security of another people.
But amidst the deep disappointment and anger at our organisations that we are here to express, this moment and our activism around Palestine is also an opportunity for us to repoliticise the CLC sector through collective organising. Not only in the fight for a liberated Palestine, but for all victims of genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonialism and imperialism.
The experiences and struggles of their victims are products of the same global system of racism, colonialism and capitalist exploitation and extraction that oppresses CLC clients and decimates our environment here in so-called Australia.
As workers, we need to force our organisations to make these connections and to refuse the neoliberal demands of pacification and compliance that being part of the NGO industrial complex entails.
The work of CLCs is meaningless if it sells out the struggle for justice in favour of funding and respectability, if it abandons advocacy for the rights of all peoples when it is politically inconvenient.
We must do more, as community organisations and as workers. Let today be the beginning. Until Palestine is free and all oppressed peoples are liberated. Free free Palestine.
The post ASU members walk off work for Palestine first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Ogle v Unite: ‘no decision today’ on whether to subpoena Sharon Graham to appear in Dublin
Legal team reserving issue pending analysis of transcripts so far – general secretary could face prosecution for failing to comply if summonsed
Leading Irish union figure Brendan Ogle’s legal team will not make a decision today on whether to subpoena Unite general secretary Sharon Graham to appear at the next phase of Ogle’s discrimination case against the union in Dublin, which is expected to take place in early April.
Yesterday saw a heated argument in the Workplace Relations Commission hearing room about whether Graham will be required to testify in the case. Ogle’s lawyers insisted that she must be legally summonsed to attend if Unite’s legal team does not call her as a witness. Unite’s barrister Mark Harty insisted furiously, and it must be said rather bizarrely, that Graham is not relevant to the case and may not be ‘amenable’ to subpoena, as if such a legal summons is a matter of whether one feels like being summoned. Graham and her alleged words about getting rid of Ogle – who supported her rival Howard Beckett during the 2021 general secretary election – have featured prominently in the case so far.
If a subpoena is eventually requested and issued, the summons is enforceable and failure to appear and give evidence under a subpoena is a prosecutable criminal offence under Ireland’s ‘Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018‘.
Sharon Graham has previously cancelled appearances in the Republic, avoiding members’ anger and scrutiny over the union’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment of Brendan Ogle. The situation caused such outrage in Ireland that union members picketed Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin, Unite’s Community section condemned it as ‘disgusting’ and a whole sector branch threatened to disaffiliate.
After Unite’s legal team said they will not be calling Graham to testify, Workplace Relations Commission Adjudicator Elizabeth Spelman told both legal teams that before a subpoena can be requested, Ogle’s lawyers should write to Graham and ask her to appear, then apply for a subpoena if/when she refuses.
Skwawkbox is in Dublin to cover the case directly. If you would like to help cover the costs of the trip and can do so without hardship, please select from the options below.
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‘Sharon Graham told him to tell me there was no place for me in the future of Unite’
Irish union legend who supported rival in general secretary election tells tribunal he was sidelined on return from cancer battle and never had a positive day at work since he returned – and that he was told that union’s general secretary ‘recognises loyalty’ from those who supported her in election
Irish union legend Brendan Ogle, his wife Mandy la Combre (in beret) and supporters leaving the Workplace Relations Committee today
Today saw an explosive – and often fiery – day in Irish union legend Brendan Ogle’s case against Unite at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in Dublin.
Ogle, who supported Graham’s rival Howard Beckett for general secretary, and is claiming that the union discriminated against him by sidelining him from his role as senior officer after his return from a battle against life-threatening neck cancer, told the WRC adjudicator that he was ‘reeling’ when he returned and found that his job – which he had been promised would be held for him to return to if he beat the disease – had disappeared and that Unite was trying to move him into a makeweight job that required only three days work a month.
And in the day’s most explosive testimony, he told the court that he had been called to a meeting with Tom Fitzgerald, another senior Irish Unite figure, only to be told that there was no place for him in the union’s future and that:
he’d been told by Sharon Graham to draw up a strategic plan for the Republic of Ireland and I was not to be in it.
Ogle added that the union’s then-assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail had told him that Graham is:
very loyal to [Irish] regional officers who had supported her but many hadn’t… Sharon operates on the basis of loyalty.
This comment raised the obvious question of what Ms Graham does with those who did not support her and how this bears on the treatment Ogle said he was subjected to by the union management.
Unite’s barrister Mark Harty – whose wife Karyn is part of the team from Dentons, one of the world’s most expensive law firms, hired by Graham to represent Unite in this tribunal and in Ogle’s defamation lawsuit against her, Unite and her ally Tony Woodhouse – insisted that Fitzgerald, who still works for the union, would testify he had not said what Ogle reported. However, the authenticity of Ogle’s submission of a photo of a whiteboard layout said to have been sketched by Fitzgerald to show how the union would organise after his departure does not appear to be contested by Unite.
Ogle spoke harrowingly of his fight against cancer and its effects on him and went on to say that after his return – expecting to come back to a job held open for him on the promise of Graham’s predecessor Len McCluskey – that he had not had a single positive day at work. He also described how he applied for a regional secretary job as a means of resolving the issue, only to find on his arrival for interview in London that the interview panel was being chaired by Woodhouse, one of the figures who he says defamed him during a talk at Unite’s biennial Irish conference.
Barrister Harty’s aggressive approach and frequent interruptions of Ogle’s attempts to answer led to numerous confrontations with Ogle’s legal team and a fiery sidebar meeting in a separate room marked by shouting and a walk-out by Ogle’s lawyer saying she would not be talked to in that way. Harty had tried to question Ogle about claims that do not form part of the current case and, when challenged about relevance, had insisted that these questions were ‘central’ to Unite’s case. The dispute led to the sidebar meeting – and on the return of the lawyers and adjudicator, he told Ogle,
Mr Ogle, we’re just going to move on
before asking questions on another topic.
Harty also at one point – appearing to think this was some kind of trump card – demanded to know why Ogle had not told his wife Mandy la Combre to remove social media posts criticising Unite’s treatment of him. The exchange prompted one observer later to observe,
He was basically asking him, ‘Why didn’t you control your wife?’
Harty also appeared to imply that Unite was doing Ogle a favour by moving him to a less senior role in Dundalk after an occupational health report said Ogle was fit to return to his ‘senior officer’ role, because Ogle’s doctor had warned stress might be bad for his health. Ogle responded that the occupational health report was specific to him working in Dublin. Ogle lives in Dublin, but travelling to work in Dundalk involves a daily 100-mile round-trip.
Ogle also told the court that Unite Ireland’s lawyer had told him that the Dundalk role of ‘education and legal’ involved only a day or two’s work – and added that the education part of the role needed only a day’s work because union education in Ireland is not funded by employers in the way it is in the UK, leaving him effectively sent fifty miles away for just three days’ work a month. Unite’s barrister tried to have this evidence ruled out as hearsay.
Ogle told the tribunal that he had consistently refused to sign any agreement sidelining him to Dundalk, but that the union ‘had acted as if I had signed it’.
The day also featured a heated argument about whether Graham will be subpoena’d to testify in the case, with Ogle’s lawyers insisting that she must be legally required to attend if Unite’s legal team does not call her as a witness. Harty insisted furiously and bizarrely that she is not relevant to the case and may not be ‘amenable’ to subpoena, as if such a legal summons is a matter of whether one feels like being summoned.
Sharon Graham has been heavily criticised among union members and activists in the union – and by more than one Irish politician – for Unite’s treatment of Ogle, one of and perhaps the highest-profile and effective union figures in Ireland. The situation caused such outrage that union members picketed Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin, Unite’s Community section condemned it as ‘disgusting’ and a whole sector branch threatened to disaffiliate.
Ogle’s testimony and cross-examination continue tomorrow.
Skwawkbox is in Dublin to cover Ogle vs Unite. If you would like to help cover the costs of the coverage, see options below.
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McCluskey: looking after Ogle after cancer was ‘Unite culture when I was general sec’
Former Unite head says he felt uncomfortable testifying against his old union and didn’t want to be critical of successor Sharon Graham – but testimony to employment tribunal in discrimination case was still explosive
Len McCluskey did not want to be photographed as he left the WRC in Dublin
Long-time former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey testified to the Irish Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in Dublin today in union legend Brendan Ogle’s discrimination case against the union now run by Sharon Graham. Despite McCluskey’s obvious discomfort having to testify against his old union and his expressed determination not to speak critically of his successor, his testimony was infused with explosive criticism nonetheless. McCluskey was not thrown off course by hostile questioning from the union’s expensive legal team from Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, which has been engaged by Graham and Unite for both the tribunal and Ogle’s separate defamation claim. The adjudicator in the case is former war-crimes prosecutor Elizabeth Spelman.
Unite’s lawyers tried to portray McCluskey’s insistence – that Unite was always going to keep Ogle on full pay if he was able to return to work from treatment for life-threatening cancer, regardless of the duties he was able to carry out – as somehow outlandish. In a bristly cross-examination, McCluskey told the tribunal he was astonished that anyone would contend that it was bizarre not to want someone to be penalised for being ill and that such a matter of basic decency was part of the ‘union’s culture when I was general secretary’.
Sharon Graham has been heavily criticised among union members and activists in the union – and by more than one Irish politician – for Unite’s treatment of Brendan Ogle, one of and perhaps the highest-profile and effective union figures in Ireland. Ogle, who backed Howard Beckett rather than Graham during the last Unite general secretary election, returned from successful cancer treatment expecting to take up his old duties, but was ‘sidelined’ to a lesser position in Dundalk, over fifty miles from his Dublin base. The situation caused such outrage that union members picketed Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin, Unite’s Community section condemned it as ‘disgusting’ and a whole sector branch threatened to disaffiliate.
Unite’s lawyers claimed the union’s policy was to ‘red-ring’ the salaries of ill employees for two years only, but McCluskey said that this had not been Unite’s practice when he was in charge. The union’s legal team also tried to claim that Ogle’s position had been created specifically for him, presumably implying that this was some kind of ‘grace and favour’ position, but McCluskey angrily rejected this, pointing to the union’s changes in Ireland during its disaffiliation from the Irish Labour party over the party’s support for austerity, the organisational changes this necessitated, and the extensive approval of Unite’s executive for the need for such a position and for Ogle’s appointment as the most suitable candidate by a distance.
McCluskey told Skwawkbox that he felt very uneasy testifying against the union he and his team had built, but had been forced to do so because Unite had included claims about him in its submissions to the tribunal in the case.
Ogle’s testimony began this afternoon but is expected to continue into tomorrow.
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Skwawkbox is in Dublin to cover Ogle vs Unite discrimination tribunal
Irish union legend claiming discrimination by Graham-run union after return from cancer treatment. Skwawkbox will report from Irish Workplace Relations Commission
From Tuesday, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in Dublin will hear the discrimination case brought by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle against Sharon Graham’s Unite, for abuse Ogle – who supported Howard Beckett during the 2021 Unite general secretary election – says he suffered at the hands of the union management after his return from a successful battle against life-threatening cancer.
Ogle, who is also separately suing Graham, her ally Tony Woodhouse and the union for defamation, has alleged that he was abused by the union after his return from treatment for cancer – and after he made ‘protected disclosures’ to the union about its failures to adhere to covid protocols during the pandemic.
Graham and her representatives have been accused of ‘disgusting’ behaviour toward Ogle – and anger in Ireland at the situation became so great that an entire sector branch threatened to disaffiliate entirely from Unite, the well-known ‘Right2Water’ campaign said it will no longer work with Unite, Unite’s Community section in Ireland condemned the ‘injustice inflicted’ on him and members picketed general secretary Sharon Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin.
Skwawkbox is in Dublin to cover the proceedings, including Tuesday’s session where Graham’s predecessor as general secretary, Jeremy Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, is expected to take the stand to testify. Graham herself has been subpoenaed by Ogle’s legal team to give evidence, despite allegedly trying to get out of appearing.
Graham is using one of the world’s most profitable law firms to defend the defamation suit – and also, as Skwawkbox revealed, in the tribunal case. Her tenure as Unite boss has been marked by a string of other allegations – which neither she nor the union has denied – including alleged destruction of evidence against her husband in misogyny and bullying complaints. She is currently being sued, along with an ally and the union, by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle for defamation.
She has been exposed using proxies to order the cancellation of showings of the film ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie’, which exposes the political abuse of antisemitism accusations against left-wingers in the Labour party, and discussion of Asa Winstanley’s forensic book Weaponising Antisemitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn. Proxies were similarly despatched to try, unsuccessfully, to cancel a Unite ‘fringe’ event at Labour’s conference earlier this month in support of Palestinians.
Ogle’s barrister told the Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator last November that she expected the union would be required to ‘produce’ Sharon Graham to testify, along with a string of current and former senior Unite officials and employees.
If you would like to help cover Skwawkbox’s costs of attending this week’s session, which is expected to be the first of two or three at the WRC before the case is adjudicated, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thank you for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
Graham suspends official who refused to cancel pro-Palestine Labour conference fringe
Simon Dubbins told Graham’s proxies she should come and tell him herself if she wanted Unite Palestine solidarity fringe cancelling.
CORRECTION: Dubbins is ‘under investigation’, but not suspended..
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has suspended a senior Unite official who refused last October to cancel a solidarity fringe even for the Palestinian people that he had arranged during Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool.
Graham sent underlings to tell Simon Dubbins, Unite’s Director for International Affairs, that the event must be pulled – but as Skwawkbox revealed exclusively at the time Dubbins refused, telling the proxies that if Graham wanted the event cancelled she should come and say so herself. She didn’t, and it went ahead.
The official reasons for the suspension have not been revealed, but Unite insiders have linked it to the fringe event.
Sharon Graham has been slammed for her actions – and inaction – relating to Palestine and the Israeli regime’s genocide in Gaza. She has been publicly silent about the slaughter, but has been criticised for banning Unite officials and national banners from pro-Gaza protests, banned and smeared films and books exposing the ‘Labour antisemitism’ scam – and an email from her official union address to an angry member dismissed the genocide perpetrated on the people of Gaza.
Ms Graham’s tenure as Unite boss has also been marked by a string of other allegations – which neither she nor the union has denied – including alleged destruction of evidence against her husband in threat, misogyny and bullying complaints brought by union employees. She is also embroiled in both an employment tribunal for discrimination and a defamation lawsuit brought by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle for the union’s treatment of him and comments made about him by Graham and her close ally Tony Woodhouse.
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Unite Brighton/S Coast votes unanimously to picket next exec over Graham’s Gaza silence
Members blast ‘refus[al] to implement Unite’s democratically agreed policy on international solidarity in respect of Palestine/Israel but of actively suppressing attempts to mobilise in support of Gaza’ and move to ‘pause’ Unite’s affiliation with Stop the War group
Unite Brighton and South Coast branch (SE 6246) voted unanimously last night in favour of a motion to picket the union’s next meeting of its executive, which takes place Monday March 11th 1pm at Unite’s HQ at Holborn in London.
The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has been heavily criticised for her continued silence over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and for trying to thwart attempts to show solidarity with the people of Palestine. She has also been accused of banning or deterring union staff from participation in protests on behalf of Unite or showing official Unite banners on marches and at rallies.
The full motion reads:
Motion for branch meeting 20 Feb 2024
Many members by now will have seen the blistering speech by Jim Kelly, Chair of London and Eastern Region, in which he lays bare the General Secretary’s imposed policy of not only ignoring and refusing to implement Unite’s democratically agreed policy on international solidarity in respect of Palestine/Israel but of actively suppressing attempts to mobilise in support of Gaza.
Indeed, some 20,000 Palestinians had been slaughtered before Unite, on 3rd November, called for a ceasefire. Since then attempts to mobilise support have been met with obstruction, warnings issued designed to deter and silence Unite staff from speaking out on national marches, and in a particularly egregious move the General Secretary advised the EC to pause its affiliation with Stop the War. Unite members across the country are outraged at Unite’s continuing silence and failure to mobilise, particularly in light of the ICJ ruling that Israel may be committing the crime of genocide.
This branch demands that the
- Unite EC and constitutional committees use all means possible to publicise and encourage members to attend national PSC demonstrations in line with Union Policy as carried at Conference;
- Unite EC be present with their banner on national PSC demonstrations and provide a speaker, ideally the General Secretary;
- Unite EC and constitutional committees, as well as the Regional Offices, organise a visible Unite presence on national and local PSC demonstrations, providing members with the resources to attend including transport or reimbursement of travel fares;
- Unite HQ implement a social media plan that regularly reports on the on-going campaigns by Unite members as well as statements on social media channels of solidarity and support for the Palestinian struggle in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
- Unite immediately reinstate its affiliation to Stop the War
Further, that officers of this branch work with other branches to organise a mass lobby by members of the next EC meeting, Tuesday 5th March, 10.30am (tbc).
The exec is in fact planned for 11 March
One branch member told Skwawkbox:
The behaviour of our General Secretary Sharon Graham in seeking even to prevent others giving solidarity is despicable.
Unite’s press office has been contacted for comment.
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Unite’s Graham slammed for silence over Gaza
GS silence and ongoing ban on Unite banners at Gaza demos infuriates officials and members as Unite Scotland passes ceasefire motion
A search of Sharon Graham’s Twitter account reveals no mention of anything related to Gaza
Unite members and officials are infuriated by union general secretary Sharon Graham’s continued silence over Gaza, with even previously ardent supporters demanding to know why she is completely absent from the fight for peace and justice for Palestinians.
Skwawkbox has previously reported an effective ban by the Unite management on the participation of the union’s officers, and the use of official union banners and paraphernalia, in marches and rallies. This ban appears to be ongoing. The ban is matched by a complete lack of comment from Graham on her social media or other appearances on the issue of Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians, even after the International Court of Justice put Israel formally on trial for genocide and ordered the state to protect Palestinian lives, an order the regime has flouted.
Unite members are now demanding to know whose side Ms Graham is on, as in the example shown above. But even formerly entrenched supporters have lost patience, such as the activist behind this account – who has previously attacked Skwawkbox for scrutinising and exposing the general secretaries actions and alleged actions:
Original tweet and video here.
But the criticism is widespread, as the representative examples below demonstrate:
Where's your support for Palestine #GazaGenocide
— #EnoughisEnough #FreePalestine #FreeJulianAssange (@carolehope2) February 6, 2024
I too am a member of Unite but not for much longer @UniteSharon @unitetheunion I am appalled at your lack of Solidarity with the other unions and Palestine
— Jezzabeau C. #GazaGenocide (@JezzabeauC) February 3, 2024
@UniteSharon not one post on her feed about palestine in recent days. Disgusting.
— Traderboy (@Aminthegreat4) February 13, 2024
I too am a member of Unite but not for much longer @UniteSharon @unitetheunion I am appalled at your lack of Solidarity with the other unions and Palestine
— Jezzabeau C. #GazaGenocide (@JezzabeauC) February 3, 2024
Your silence on Palestine goes against Unite policy.
— Mike (@Fleabag2016) January 23, 2024
Unite’s democratically-decided policy is to support the international ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ movement against Israel’s oppression, apartheid and illegal occupation. Yet members in Ireland have been forced to demonstrate against Unite’s use of Israeli-linked firms, entire regional groups have condemned the lack of support and solidarity for Palestinians, and members have accused Graham of using proxies to ban pro-Palestine events on union premises and even to try to cancel a solidarity event organised by union officials at Labour’s 2023 conference.
And while other unions have been clear in their solidarity with Palestinians facing the genocidal assault of the occupying Israeli regime, Unite – at least at an organisational level – appears determined to say nothing that will upset Keir Starmer’s Zionist apple cart.
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Teachers won’t be silenced on Palestine
More than 70 Victorian teachers and school staff attended a forum “Teachers for Palestine: why there’s no ‘neutrality’ on genocide” on 22 January, despite the Opposition Education spokesperson calling for the Education Department to discipline attendees.
In the wake of the forum, more department circulars have warned teachers against displaying “bias” when discussing “current events in the Middle East”.
And yet STEM programs like First Lego League and Beacon are among 35 programs in Australian primary and secondary schools that are funded by global weapons companies like BAE systems and Lockheed Martin, which are profiting from the genocide in Gaza.
The use of these programs is in breach of the Department’s own “inappropriate materials” policy, but the Department makes no visible effort to ensure schools are not using them.
The broader Trade Unionists for Palestine Victoria group has also been campaigning to end the harassment and victimisation of science teacher Jason Wong.
Jason spoke at a weekend protest calling for Education Minister Ben Carroll to end his threats against teachers who have expressed solidarity with Palestine. Jason made the point that many others, including the Secretary General of the UN, have made—that there is a context for Hamas’ violence on 7 October.
The Department of Education is now investigating Jason for misconduct, and the Victorian Institute of Teaching is also investigating Jason’s registration.
More than 500 unionists have signed a petition calling for the Department to end its investigation. When Zionists threatened to mobilise outside Jason’s school, 31 January, Trade Unionists for Palestine called a counter-action.
In the face of this, the Zionists retreated, but a protest of up to 100 unionists outside the Department of Education in solidarity with Jason went ahead.
Members of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine have begun moving sub branch and regional union support for bans on weapons sponsored programs, and in solidarity with Jason.
Victorian Greens MPs, union groups, student groups, parents and Palestinian leaders have made videos calling on teachers to continue to teach for Palestine.
The group is planning another protest outside the Department of Education to launch a campaign for a union ban on weapons sponsored school programs, and resources to support teachers to teach about Palestine.
Sydney organising
In Sydney 60 teachers and supporters attended a forum with Randa Abdel-Fattah, writer and human rights activist of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage, discussing the repression in schools against support for Palestine.
A day of action on 13 February saw 12 schools so far wear badges, keffiyeh and t-shirts into work. More reports from schools are still coming in.
Fifty attended a rally at Education Minister Jason Clare’s office to finish the day. In some schools staff wore Teachers for Palestine t-shirts all day but in other places signs of support had to be more subtle due to a crackdown against teacher involvement.
Teachers participating reported finding new allies, starting new conversations about Gaza, and distributing copies of a booklet the group has produced “We can’t be neutral on genocide” to colleagues. Another 500 colour copies will be distributed to union activists and schools.
Teachers and School Staff for Palestine in NSW is also planning a day of wearing the keffiyeh in schools on Harmony Day on 21 March, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to make support for Palestine visible.
Many teachers have been told nothing about Palestine can be discussed in classes at all unless it goes through the principal.
Teachers standing up to this censorship and repression deserve everyone’s support.
By Lucy Honan
The post Teachers won’t be silenced on Palestine first appeared on Solidarity Online.
DP World workers make big gains on pay but fall short on rosters
After more than four months of determined industrial action, wharfies at DP World port terminals have won a 25.6 per cent pay rise over four years, while accepting changes to rostering.
The in-principle four year agreement between the company and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), was concluded in three days of “facilitated negotiations” in the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
DP World’s media campaign, complaining of a massive backlog of containers left on the port and damage to the wider economy, fell flat as the government refused to intervene and suspend industrial action.
All protected industrial action has now been withdrawn. But the deal is yet to be drafted or voted on by the workforce, and local “Part B” negotiations are still taking place about issues relating to individual ports. The MUA is urging workers to vote yes to industrial action in a new ballot, in case the dispute re-erupts in the drafting process.
Wharfies will receive an 8 per cent pay rise in the first year, then in subsequent years 7 per cent, 4 per cent, and 4.5 per cent. There is a $2000 sign-on bonus, but no backpay.
This wage increase will help workers catch up on inflation and the increasing cost of living, although it is not explicitly linked to the inflation rate as a bare minimum, as at the Patrick terminal.
The package also includes triggers for conversion to the permanent roster, phasing out the “short shifting” practice of late finish straight into an early start, and improvements around delegates’ rights, safety, automation, graduated retirement, termination, selection criteria for promotion and more.
Given the recent history of EBA negotiations dragging on for years, achieving an in-principle agreement in four months is a positive step forward.
This was only possible due to the willingness to take serious industrial action.
Workers took a combination of 24 hour strike days, two hour stoppages at the end of each shift, eight hour delays on vessels, strikes on particular shipping lines, and alternating bans on road/rail and vessel operations.
The union have emphasised the deal as a win for “fair pay, safety and work-life balance”.
The workforce beat back DP World’s desired “five x three roster”, which would have completely changed the existing roster, and cut the rate at which entitlements like annual leave and superannuation are paid.
But roster negotiations in some terminals are still a sore point. In Sydney a 36 hour roster was reduced to 35 hours, but with extra nights and weekend work.
Some workers are still pushing for changes to soften the most undesirable parts of the new roster.
Another concession was that personal leave/sick days will have to be accrued throughout 12 months, instead of granted at the beginning of the each financial year, meaning that workers cannot manage their own sick leave and risk being without paid leave if they fall seriously ill or have to take extended time off for operations or injuries.
Anti-strike laws
The workforce and union were determined to go hard out the gate, knowing that Labor’s new “intractable bargaining” laws would set in after nine months, and the whole dispute could be arbitrated by the Fair Work Commission.
But the union also dropped their goal of signing only a two year agreement, so that workers can fight for improvements more often.
The fact that DP World and opposition leader Peter Dutton tried to pressure the Labor government to intervene and take away workers’ ability to take strike action just shows that every attack on our right to strike will only make the bosses and the right call for more.
Labor made a virtue of refusing to intervene at DP World, but has maintained laws that help the bosses, like the intractable bargaining laws and the anti-strike laws that restrict strikes to bargaining periods and prevent industrial action across the wharves.
Workers at DP World have shown that concerted industrial action can win big gains on pay.
But winning clear cut victories over the bosses will require a willingness to defy the anti-strike laws, the Fair Work Commission and the threat of forced arbitration.
The post DP World workers make big gains on pay but fall short on rosters first appeared on Solidarity Online.