By Sacha Ismail

Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, speaking at a picket – the refuse workers’ strike in Coventry – where strikers had raised Ukrainian flags

The motion and amendment discussed in the original article were trumped by a statement on Ukraine from the Unite Executive Council; the Policy Conference (July 2023) passed this EC statement and therefore the motion and amendment were not taken. The text of the statement passed is immediately below this; the original article below that. For a criticism of the statement from a USC supporter, see here.

Unite Executive Council statement on Ukraine (passed at Unite Policy Conference, July 2023)

The Unite Executive Council unreservedly condemns Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and stands in full solidarity with the millions of victims of the attack.

Over the last year tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and many more injured, as Russian forces have targeted cities, towns and critical infrastructure including hospitals and energy facilities. The catastrophic attack on the Kakhovka dam has caused devastation in local communities, hindering rescue attempts. Among the civilian deaths are 550 children, children accounted for four of the ten confirmed fatalities following the recent air strike of a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, Donetsk. The UN General Secretary’s report on children and armed conflict names Russia among the worst violator of rights.

This carnage is a humanitarian disaster, which is why Unite reiterates its call for an immediate cease-fire and a withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine.

In line with the oldest traditions of the international trade union movement, Unite believes wars are never in the interests of working people and that working people and their families always pay the highest price, and suffer most, when conflicts erupt that are led by elites with fully different interests to their own.

In continuation with the strong working-class history of cross-border solidarity, Unite salutes the continued actions of many of its branches and members in donating to humanitarian relief efforts, in providing relief and assistance to those directly affected by the war. We stand in solidarity with trade union centres in the Region who have mobilised to deliver humanitarian assistance, supported by international trade union public fundraising appeals – including the provision of support for bereaved families, providing accommodation, food, medical supplies and other necessities for displaced people, repairing damaged buildings and providing psychosocial and other support to families.

Unite continues to stress the vital importance of welcoming Ukrainian and all other refugees with compassion and assistance. This includes access to accommodation, employment, services and benefits and integrating children into education.

The UK Government has a shameful record of creating a hostile environment for refugees, which is now impacting those fleeing the conflict in the Ukraine. This is underlined by reports that Ukrainians are not getting visas because of bureaucratic obstacles and inadequate resources such as staff shortages. Unite also notes with extreme concern reports that some refugees from the Ukraine have been met with prejudice from other governments because they are ‘non-white’, have other nationalities or LGBT+ people seeking refuge in neighbouring countries governed by homophobic leaders. The UK Government and the wider international community must do everything in their powers to welcome and support all refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere as is determined under international law.

In addition to the horrendous human suffering, the crisis continues to cause economic disruption that impacts on working people in the UK. Spiralling food and fuel costs, exacerbated by corporate profiteering in energy, oil and petrol, food, automotive, road freight and shipping, continue to hit people and our communities hard.

Unite rejects any and all attempts by the UK Government to use this conflict as cover for its own failings or as an excuse to introduce unpopular and unacceptable policies.

Unite makes it clear that in expressing its full support for the Ukrainian people it in no way sees Russian workers as its enemy and stands in solidarity with those oppressed trade unionists and other brave people inside Russia who continue to oppose the war and are seeing the Russian conscripted soldiers returning to their families in body bags.

Unite notes the numerous reports of links between Vladimir Putin and Far Right parties across Europe, the continued presence of Russian oligarchs in the UK and huge amounts of Russian money flowing through the city of London, as well as the allegations of Russian financial support for some political parties in the UK.

Unite acknowledges the right of Ukraine to defend its citizens and territory within internationally recognised borders. The impacts on the people of Ukraine continue to be devastating, and the broad consequences for international relations and for the prospects of peaceful co-existence and cooperation globally are immense.

Unite continues to stand in solidarity with the people and unions of Ukraine.

We reiterate the call for all efforts to be exerted to achieve peace based on common security, for justice and for the full respect of human rights and international law and for negotiations to be supported by governments at the highest level.

Unite calls on the UK government to use all its efforts in the international arena to bring about a cessation of hostilities and find a negotiated solution, using all means at its disposal, including sanctions and divestments, but rejecting military escalation and intervention.

Unite recognises the dangers of our union being sucked into the geopolitics of military alliances. Since 2010 the UK and other countries have entered into no less than 24 military treaties involving a plethora of nations, all with the aim in on way or another of building defensive alliances. To properly analyse and dissect the impacts on world peace of unravelling these treaties or picking and choosing between them would be a distraction for our union and would require resources of time and money that should properly be focused on our core industrial business. Direct opposition to NATO or other alliances would also risk offering succour to Vladimir Putin and implying that Ukraine is wrong to seek military support from those alliances against Russia’s invasion. However, Unite does call for the establishment of a global framework that underpins the inalienable right of all peoples to live within internally recognised borders in peace and free from occupation.

Unite notes with concern the use of cluster munitions by Russia to attack Ukraine and the recent US government’s intention to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, thus escalating the use of cluster munitions in breach of the 2008 United Nations Convention, banning their use, which we note the UK and Ireland Governments have ratified.

To accelerate the process of securing that peaceful settlement, Unite demands action from the UK government, including:

1. Sanctions to be maintained and strengthened on the Russian economy including the seizure of Russian state assets held in the UK.

2. Action to stop the institutions of the City of London being used as a global money laundering hub for the wealthy and the seizure of UK held or traded assets, including housing and corporate holdings, of targeted supporters of the Putin regime.

3. Immunity from third party litigation for those workers and their unions taking direct action against Russian goods in support of Ukraine and in line with the objectives of this unions.

4. To provide full support for all those fleeing the conflict and to receive Ukrainian refugees – and all refugees – with compassion and assistance.

5. Seek to strengthen links with Ukrainian trade unions and support their rights to organise freely and especially recognise their role in building a more just and democratic post-war reconstruction.

Original article (June 2023)

If delegates to Unite the Union’s upcoming biennial policy conference (11-14 July, Brighton) want to support

• withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine
• Ukraine’s right to self-determination
• strong links with Ukrainian trade unions and socialists
• clear demands for strong rights for all refugees

they must support the text submitted by my branch, London and Eastern 524.

Delegates to the first Unite policy conference since Russia invaded Ukraine should vote to push for the UK’s largest private sector union, involved in many of the most successful industrial disputes of the last year, to stand in clear solidarity with Ukraine and its labour movement.

Only one motion on Ukraine has been submitted to the conference (from the Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process and Textiles ‘Regional Industrial Sector Committee’/RISC for North East, Yorkshire and Humberside). It seems to me, at best, highly politically ambiguous. The substantial amendment submitted by London and Eastern 524 (Central London Voluntary Sector branch) seeks to ensure a strong pro-Ukraine stance. (You can read the text of both below; document with all motions and amendments here.)

USC is calling for the policy conference to pass the amendment, to take a clear stand in support of comrades in Ukraine. If it is not passed, the motion should be rejected. (Unite does compositing, merging some motions together, only shortly before the conference. It is crucial the whole text of the amendment is either accepted for compositing into the motion or left for the conference to vote on as an amendment, rather than being whittled down in some way.)

In March 2022 the Unite executive council released a fairly strong statement in solidarity with Ukraine. Since that, however, little has been done. Policy conference should pass the pro-Ukraine amendment as the start of a general push for solidarity.

Much of what the motion submitted to the conference says, sentence by sentence, is unobjectionable – though it is wrong to suggest NATO expansion was a significant cause of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The main problem is that it has little to say about the war or Ukraine as such. Having condemned the invasion, it then spends most of its words talking about Western hypocrisy, with few active conclusions about the war – not even a call for Russian withdrawal. Without even that, the call for a “peaceful resolution” shades into apologism for Russia (even if that was not the intention).

We can agree that the big powers backing Ukraine are hypocritical and self-interested, but that does not settle the character of the war or what socialists and trade unionists should say about it. Crucially, it does not – at all – invalidate Ukraine’s right to self-determination and self-defence, a right strongly upheld by the Ukrainian labour movement.

The logic of the motion’s approach is shown by the part where it calls for “equal treatment for all refugees not preferential treatment”. With no positive demands, taken literally, this could mean putting all refugees in camps! So focused is the motion on the inconsistency and hypocrisy of Western governments that it has nothing positive to say even about migrants’ rights.

The amendment from LE524 remedies all this by calling for Russian withdrawal, an end to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and Ukrainian self-determination; and support for Ukraine’s labour movement both in its participation in national defence and in its struggles to defend social rights both during and after the war. And by advocating free welcome and strong positive rights for all refugees.

If you are a Unite member and would like to work with USC supporters in the union to promote a pro-Ukraine/Ukrainian labour movement stance at the conference (and after), get in touch.

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Motion 46. Ukraine

Chemicals Pharmaceuticals, Process and Textiles RISC, North East, Yorkshire and Humberside

Conference utterly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and fully supports the decision of the Unite Executive Council and branches to donate to the ITUC fund to support the Ukrainian refugees and Ukrainian trade unions.

Conference also fully condemns the role that Putin has played in destabilising Europe and the US by supporting and funding extreme right politicians such as Trump in the US, Orban in Hungary, Le Pen in France, and the Vote Leave campaign in the UK. But Conference also notes the anti-trade union policies of the Zelensky government in Ukraine and urges caution against populist outright blind support of his government outside of the conflict.  

With the war in Ukraine, massively increasing tensions with China, and the Middle East on the edge of an explosion, the world is in a more dangerous situation than at any time since 1945. Trade unionists and the labour movement know only too well that wars are never in the interests of working people and the global trade union and labour movement must do everything in its power to prevent further escalations and to work for peace.  

Conference believes it is essential there is a full, open, and honest debate about the causes of the conflict – including the role of NATO expansion – and fully rejects the Labour Party’s attempts to silence any legitimate discussion of these issues or real analysis of how the world has arrived at the abyss of a nuclear confrontation. 

The conflict is already causing massive problems for the European and UK economy through the energy crisis and huge disruptions to supply chains, this may in turn have a disastrous impact on the jobs, pay and conditions of millions of workers in Europe and the UK – particularly with the UK government already trying to use the conflict as a reason to cut public spending including cutting the wages of workers.  

Conference therefore instructs the Executive Council to:  
• Publically  call  for  the  furlough  system  to  be  re‐introduced  for  any  workers  laid  off  due to supply chain problems stemming from the conflict  
• Oppose calls for an escalation of the war and call for a peaceful resolution 
• Ensure that NISCs, RISCs and branches are fully informed about the conflict and the  industrial issues that have arisen from it that affect members jobs and wellbeing 
• Demand  equal  treatment  for  all  refugees  not  preferential  treatment  for  those  refugees that suit the government’s political agenda  
• Call on the international trade union movement to be consistent when dealing with  conflict and for Unite to raise within the federations the following;  
– Publicly  denounce  countries  that  commit  the  same  international  violations  and human rights abuses as Russia, such as Israel and Turkey 
– Insist  that  if  the  Russian  unions  are  to  be  expelled  for  not  opposing  the  Ukraine  conflict,  then  so  too  must  Histradut [sic: it’s Histadrut] for  its  support  of  the  Israeli  occupation  of  Palestine and Hak‐is of Turkey for its  support of the invasion and occupation of Syria. 
– Demand that the ETUC do not allow unions, such as Solidarnosc from Poland,  to use  their high‐profile role in supporting Ukraine  to white wash  their own  extreme  right wing  policies  on  LGBT  rights, women’s  rights and their  public  support of Marie Le‐Pen in France; 
– Demand  that  the  European  and  Global  Trade  Union  Federations  condemn  racism at the Ukraine border and call on their affiliates in the area to demand  their governments let all Ukraine refugees across their borders regardless of  colour or ethnicity.

Amendment to motion 46

London and Eastern 524, Central London Voluntary Sector Branch

Where it says: Conference therefore instructs the Executive Council to:

… Oppose calls for an escalation of the war and call for a peaceful resolution;

Add to this point: To support peace on the basis of Ukraine’s right to self-determination, full withdrawal of invading forces and an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine. In particular Unite should strengthen links with our Ukrainian trade union and socialist sisters and brothers, and support their struggles to help defend their country against imperialist invasion; defend and strengthen workers’, social and democratic rights within it; and win a more just and democratic post-war reconstruction.

And where it says:

… Demand  equal  treatment  for  all  refugees  not  preferential  treatment  for  those refugees that suit the government’s political agenda

Add: , free welcome and full access to public services and the right to work for all refugees,

so it reads: “Demand  equal  treatment, free welcome and full access to public services and the right to work for all refugees, not  preferential  treatment  for  those refugees that suit the government’s political agenda”