Women
Exclusive: Unite membership ‘falls by 210,000+’ under Graham
Huge membership fall since last official figure in late 2020, say insiders – but management hasn’t reported official membership despite requirement to do so every year – and continues to donate millions to anti-worker Labour party
Yesterday, Skwawkbox reported the collapse in the Unite union’s strike fund – the fund members rely on to pay their bills and feed their families when they are on strike – from £35m when current general secretary Sharon Graham took office to just £11m now. Some insiders say the fund was increased to £50m just before previous general secretary Len McCluskey retired, though Skwawkbox has not yet been able to confirm this.
£11m is only enough for about eight months, based on spending in each of the last two years.
Senior union figures have also complained that the union management is not being transparent about the union’s membership and has not signed off financial accounts since Ms Graham took over in 2021 Unions are required to report membership annually, but Unite has not done so – and risks severe sanction from the Certification Officer. One senior official of another union told Skwawkbox:
Unions have to declare membership every year to the Certification Officer. Unite doesn’t appear to have done so for several years and the CO could effectively decide to shut them down if she chooses.
But well-placed Unite insiders have now told Skwawkbox that the latest internal estimates show a catastrophic fall. Unite’s membership in late 2020, the last official figure, was 1.081m:
- Automotive Industries 72,453
- Aerospace & Shipbuilding 63,238
- Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process and Textiles 43,134
- Civil Air Transport 65,892
- Community Youth workers and not for profit 42,985
- Docks, Rail, Ferries & Waterways 17,228
- Education 17,335
- Energy and Utilities 32,485
- Engineering, Manufacturing and Steel 57,753
- Finance and Legal 61,559
- Food Drink and Agriculture63,589
- Government, Defence, Prisons & Contractors 10,751
- Graphical Paper and Media & Information Technology 36,810
- Health 88,770 Local Authorities 61,783
- Passenger Transport 76,861
- Road Transport Commercial, Logistics and Retail Distribution 62,619
- Service Industries 50,564
- Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians 68,083
- Community 14,971
- Unknown 6,668
- Retired 65,503
Total 1,081,034
According to internal estimates, it is now around 870,000 – a fall of a fifth (19.5%) from the 2020 figure Graham inherited – and is still falling. By a different measurement, sources say that the 2020 figure was 1.28m, which would mean a fall of almost 400,000 in two and a half years.
Against that backdrop, according to the Electoral Commission the union under Graham has donated around £4m since the winter of 2021 to Keir Starmer’s Labour, despite Starmer’s assault on democracy, betrayal of and contempt for striking workers, blocking of union candidates in parliamentary seats and his support for ‘spycops’ and anti-protest laws.
Sharon Graham’s failure to speak out on Gaza and behind the scenes attempts to quell free speech on the issue since Israel’s genocide there began last October has outraged many members and others. She
Graham 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, placed an official under investigation who refused to cancel a Palestine solidarity fringe event at Labour’s 2023 annual conference
- allegedly 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 last week’s meeting of the union’s elected executive.
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 – a situation that has caused outrage among Unite members and politicians in Ireland.
Unite has been contacted for comment.
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Students occupy Bristol uni building in protest at ‘profits from genocide’
Students demand divestment and an end to academic ties
Bristol University students have taken control of one of the university’s Wills Memorial Building in a protest to demand an end to its ‘complicity with arms companies’ and to call for a series of actions on its part to ‘support Palestine and Palestinians’:
The demanded actions include:
- an end to cooperation with weapons manufacturers
- protection for Palestinian students and special consideration for those taking exams who have been affected by Israel’s slaughter in Gaza
- protection for anti-Zionist beliefs among staff and students – an issue on which Bristol university has a shameful record and has been the scene of intense pressure campaigns by pro-Israel groups claiming that anti-Zionism, opposition to the settler-colonial state that has displaced Palestinians and treats them as inferior
- recognition of the existence of Palestine – an existence denied by hardcore supporters of Israel
- scholarships for Palestinian refugees
Israel has killed over forty thousand Palestinian civilians, more than two thirds of them women and children, and injured twice as many, in its genocidal assault on Gaza and has ignored orders from the International Court of Justice to cease its slaughter and allow food, fuel and medicines into Gaza immediately. Gaza is now in famine, with experts predicting that more will die in the coming months from hunger and disease than from Israel’s bombs, missiles and bullets, with children again worst affected.
Palestinian flags can be seen through the Wills building’s doors. The figures in the second image have been blurred to protect identities.
The group is also demanding an end to the use of a ‘check-in’ system that tracks the location of students.
Wednesday’s action is not the first by Bristol students demanding justice for Palestinians and an end to discrimination against them and their supporters. Four months ago, students protested in the university’s ‘profits from genocide’:
And earlier this month, a group occupied Bristol University’s Victoria Rooms in a pro-Gaza protest.
The British government has mounted a pressure campaign against universities, threatening to defund them if they allow ‘extremism’ or ‘antisemitism’ in the form of pro-Palestinian speech and activism. Shamefully, a number of universities have capitulated to pressure from the UK state and from pro-Israel groups claiming that speech against Israel’s crimes and occupation of Palestinian land infringe on their rights and constitutes ‘hate’ toward Jews, even though many UK Jews oppose Israel’s actions and oppression of Palestinians.
Last month, former Bristol professor David Miller won a landmark employment tribunal case against the university, which had sacked him after pressure from pro-Israel groups, despite lawyers it appointed to run two investigations finding that he had said nothing antisemitic. The win set a precedent that anti-Zionist political beliefs are a protected characteristic under equalities law and cannot be used as grounds for dismissal. Skwawkbox understands that Prof Miller is not involved in the students’ protest.
Solidarity with students in Bristol and elsewhere who are demanding an end to complicity in war crimes.
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Breaking: UN Special Rapporteur confirms Israel committing genocide (video)
Report to go before UN’s human rights commission against backdrop of starving Palestinian children and continued murder of innocents
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, international lawyer Francesca Albanese, has told Al Jazeera this morning that she will present her expert findings confirming Israel’s genocide to the UN’s human rights commission next week.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that there is a ‘plausible’ case that Israel is committing genocide, but Albanese – like hundreds of millions of people around the world – knows that the case is far more than merely ‘plausible’, even more so after Israel ignored the ICJ’s instructions to stop bombing, shooting and starving the Palestinians of Gaza:
Albanese’s interview took place against a backdrop of another confirmation of the obvious – that Gaza is now officially in famine and approaching a point where starvation and disease caused by Israel’s continued will kill more than Israel’s bombs and bullets. The harrowing footage of emaciated, dying children shown on Al Jazeera shows that Palestinian children are Israel’s main targets in the starvation campaign, just as they have been in the mass murder of civilians through bombs and missiles.
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Exclusive: whistleblower accuses Labour W Mids PCC of refusing to act on abuse allegations
No response from Simon Foster’s press office to Elaina Cohen’s allegations – also covered up by Keir Starmer
A former MP’s staffer who blew the whistle on alleged abuse of Muslim domestic violence victims has accused West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster of ‘refus[ing] to investigate’ the failure of the force’s then-Chief Constable to act on evidence of the abuse – and that Foster and the current Chief Constable ‘disregarding’ further allegations, from a separate source, about the same alleged perpetrator.
Elaina Cohen, who used to work for Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood and took him successfully to an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal when she lost her job after making protected disclosures about the abuse, first made the allegations against Foster during submissions to the tribunal, which Skwawkbox attended on behalf of its readers. Evidence given under oath to the tribunal by one of the victims of the ‘sadistic’ abuse, threats and blackmail she suffered was not disputed by Mahmood or his legal team.
And in an email today to Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, a Keir Starmer front-bencher, seen by Skwawkbox, Cohen wrote that:
Evidence already in the public domain shows Simon Foster has steadfastly refused to investigate why former West Midlands Chief Constable Thompson abandoned multiple victims when presented with evidenced abuse perpetrated by a Labour member working in a parliamentary office of a Labour MP.
An email from [Tory West Midlands Mayor] Andy Street states when he has the authority of a PCC he will seek justice for these women…
…an opposition party councillor has made representation to Simon Foster and Chief Constable Guildford with further allegations about the same perpetrator and was also disregarded.
I believe this information questions Simon Foster’s suitability to be a candidate.
Skwawkbox contacted Mr Foster’s press office for contact this morning, but received only an automated acknowledgement in reply.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and his general secretary David Evans also covered up the abuse, taking no action despite repeated warnings and appeals from Ms Cohen. They also did not act on Ms Cohen’s complaints of the antisemitism she suffered – or on complaints from Muslim women councillors in Birmingham about bullying, misogyny and threats at the hands of local party right-wingers.
Despite this appalling record, Starmer has continued to boast that he will be a ‘champion’ for victims of domestic abuse. Simon Foster has also promised to act to protect women:
Foster, who is standing for re-election, has just won a legal battle to prevent his PCC role being absorbed by Tory metro mayor Andy Street, but Elaina Cohen told Skwawkbox of her dissatisfaction with both Foster and his party boss:
I remain disappointed that Sir Keir Starmer refuses to acknowledge or act upon my protected disclosures and whilst I would support an independent office of a PCC I would question political appointments based on my own experience. In my opinion the cover-up of criminal abuse of vulnerable women is just as abhorrent as racism as a candidate issue.
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Hoyle’s excuse for ignoring Abbott amounts to ‘no time after the white folks had their say’
Speaker’s office’s excuse drips condescension and white privilege and ignores that HE’s the one who decides how long a debate or PMQs session lasts
White Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle opted today to ignore Diane Abbott as she constantly rose to try to speak during a discussion among MPs about the appalling racism shown toward… Diane Abbott by the Tories’ biggest donor.
Hoyle refused to call Ms Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP, while a succession of white MPs droned on – and about any old nonsense, not even just about racism, through the whole PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) session – and the whole sorry spectacle was caught on video.
Hoyle – already a subject of disgust and derision for colluding with Starmer to allow Labour to hijack a vote on an SNP motion for a ceasefire in Gaza and to replace it with an Israel-friendly version – has rightly been the subject of an avalanche of criticism for the condescension of allowing white MPs to talk about racism to a Black woman MP while preventing her from speaking for herself.
And his excuse, which he presumably thought would make things better, instead makes them even worse – dripping with condescension and white privilege:
‘There was not enough time to call all members’ ignores a) that this wasn’t about ‘all members’ but the one member who was being talked about and who has suffered disgusting racism, while white MPs were given free rein; and b) that the person in the Commons chamber who decides how long PMQs lasts is… Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
Basically, Hoyle is admitting that he decided there wasn’t enough time for the Black woman to speak once the white folks had had their say.
Pathetic and appalling.
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Video: ‘Freudian hasbara – ‘Don’t compare other genocides to this one’
Young pro-Israel propagandist’s reaction when she realises what she’s given away speaks volumes…
The penny starts to drop…
The attempt by a young proponent of hasbara – pro-Israel propaganda – to shame a US town hall meeting for discussing a motion calling or a ceasefire in Gaza ended in humiliation when a ‘freudian slip’ let to her admitting that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Laughter broke out at the January meeting in Burlington, Vermont, causing the young woman to pause in her hectoring – and her reaction as she realised what she had said spoke volumes:
Shamefully, the meeting still voted with the pro-Israel propagandists – but the slip revealed that the ‘friends of genocide’ know the truth of what they are inexcusably defending. Tragically for the civilians of Gaza, the US, UK and other western governments are more than prepared to turn a blind eye to the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children and collude in mass murder of innocents.
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Black Lambeth councillor quits Labour after suspension over Gaza vote
Sonia Winifred quits Labour in disgust and says she has no confidence in leadership
Cllr Sonia Winifred
A Black councillor in London’s Lambeth borough has quite the Labour party in disgust after being suspended for voting for a ceasefire motion put before the borough council in January.
Sonia Winifred announced her resignation on her social media this afternoon, saying that in voting for an immediate ceasefire she was representing her constituents in ‘wonderfully diverse’ Knights Hill:
Former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP – also suspended by Keir Starmer – responded with an unfavourable comparison of Labour’s current Stalinist and imperialist regime to the party that stood against South African apartheid a few decades ago:
Shocked to hear that you have been disciplined because of your position on Gaza. On that basis not a single Labour councillor would have dared breathe a word about apartheid in the 80s.
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) March 7, 2024
Solidarity with Sonia Winifred, Diane Abbott and all those hounded by Starmer’s red Tory regime for standing up for justice and humanity.
Israel has so far killed at least 40,000 civilians in Gaza, maimed twice as many and is inflicting starvation and disease on more than two million innocents, half of whom are children.
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Video: ‘Goodbye Palestine’ – deranged US congressman wants Palestine erased
Republican Chuck Fleischmann’s ‘Israel forever’ rant
Republican US congressman Chuck Fleischmann has been caught on video in a deranged rant in which he tells a Palestinian-American ‘Goodbye to Palestine’, appearing – and not denying when asked – to wish for Palestine and its people to be ‘wiped off the face of the earth’.
Fleischmann was challenged by two anti-genocide activists about his support for Israel and began his rant that he will always support Israel before gesticulating in the face of one of the pair and telling them ‘I will never support the Palestinians. Never!’:
Fleischmann’s unhinged rant is a frightening window into the mentality of the US right – and the UK Israel lobby’s murderousness, which differs primarily in being less obviously expressed.
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South Africa calls on ICJ to take ‘additional emergency measures’ against Israel for Gaza
World court asked to rule immediately, without the delay of a hearing
South Africa has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take extra ‘urgent’ measures against Israel and its genocide in Gaza – including ordering an immediate halt to military action and to any actions by Israel that may prejudice the right of the people of Gaza not to be subjected to genocide.
The request also asks the ICJ to order Israel to act immediately to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance and the restoration of essential services by ceasing all military operations and ending its blockade of the Gaza Strip, to ensure Palestinians can access food and water.
Because of the urgency of the situation – with hundreds more civilians slaughtered daily and hunger and disease now becoming the biggest killers in Gaza – South Africa has asked the court to issue an emergency ruling without a hearing:
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No response from GMB to recording of Smith ‘threatening’ sexual harassment victim
Union fails to confirm, deny or even acknowledge scathing #MeTU accusations from abuse victim
The GMB trade union has failed to respond to an urgent press enquiry from Skwawkbox about the serious accusations made against it by a woman employee of sexual harassment and rape by one of its senior officials – and of threats made by GMB boss Gary Smith if she did not withdraw the complaint and sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
While most of the victim’s allegations of what Smith said are related verbally, on one occasion she recorded Smith appearing to acknowledge that she had been abused, but warning her that if she ‘put a gun on the table’ she would be fired back at and that as a ‘big organisation’ ‘we’ would always have more money and better lawyers for a legal battle – and that there’d be no room for tears if things went badly, so ‘don’t get into that game’:
A secret recording of what appears to be GMB boss Gary Smith
The complainant also says that Smith:
- told a friend to tell her that if she didn’t sign an NDA by the end of the day he’d ‘open a process on her’
- told her that the secret services were watching her
- told her the union was busy fighting the Tories and that she put the ‘whole trade union movement’ at risk if she pursued her complaint
- made her attend meetings, away from the union’s office, in the basement of a local hotel with no HR people present
- told her that GMB is ‘under no obligation to investigate any complaint of sexual harassment simply because it is the employer of the alleged perpetrator or because the GMB’s equipment had been used’
- told her she had ‘driven a wrecking ball’ through the union by launching an employment tribunal case and that ‘all the women on the senior management team wanted me sacked’
- refused to investigate complaints
- refused to help assure her safety at the union’s conference
and more.
In 2020, two years before the victim’s case, barrister Karon Monaghan’s investigation found that:
Bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment are endemic within the GMB.
The culture in the GMB is one of heavy drinking and late night socialising,
salacious gossip and a lack of professionalism…Sexual harassment is common in the GMB.
The union promised to implement Monaghan’s recommendations in full.
Skwawkbox wrote to the GMB, with the link of the alleged victim’s video and a request for urgent comment by 5pm this evening. At the time of writing, more than six hours later, Skwawkbox has still received no response.
At about the same time as the allegations in GMB were unfolding, the TSSA union was rocked by a massive sexual harassment scandal that led to the removal of its general secretary Manuel Cortes and a number of his senior team. The TSSA was accused in January and last month of failing to implement the recommendations of the Kennedy report and its new general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust – pushed by the TSSA executive despite having no relevant union experience – of presiding over a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying.
Watch the victim’s full statement about her alleged experiences here.
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