The following motion has been submitted to this year’s Communication Workers’ Union conference (10-14 May, Bournemouth) by Greater London Combined telecoms branch. We believe similar text has also been submitted by other branches, but will confirm that.
In 2022 CWU conference voted down a Stop the War-type motion on Ukraine, the union has condemned the Russian invasion and organised some humanitarian aid, and many of its members have been active in solidarity. However the union conference has never passed Ukraine solidarity policy.
If you’d like to contact CWU members organising in solidarity with Ukraine, including in support of the motion, email cwuforukraine@gmail.com
More than four years after the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine we affirm our solidarity with Ukraine’s workers and our sister organisations in the FPU and KVPU union federations, as they fight to defend social rights, democracy and trade union freedoms in conditions of great adversity, in the midst of invasion, occupation and bombardment.
In Ukraine’s harshest winter since 2022, Russia deployed a strategy of suffering, intimidation and submission against the civilian population, by methodically targeting and destroying electricity, heating and water infrastructure. This reflects the wider character of its brutal war over the last four years (and longer in eastern Ukraine), targeting civilians, essential services and workers, and seeking to terrorise and subordinate the Ukrainian people.
We salute the courage and determination of Ukrainian trade unionists, who continue their work despite constant danger, precarious conditions and human losses. We are proud that the UK trade union movement has stood in solidarity with Ukraine and its workers, through both political support and practical aid. We recognise that in the new world order authoritarian leaders such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are more likely to collaborate on the economic exploitation than support the self determination of smaller nations and peoples. It is only through international trade union solidarity that we can achieve proper justice and peace in Ukraine.
Therefore we call on the NEC to:
1. Support Ukraine’s workers and the KVPU and FPU the main trade union federations in the country
2. Affiliate to the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign which works alongside the Ukrainian trade unions
3. Campaign for withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory occupied since 2014, the necessary condition for a just and sustainable peace
4. Defend peace, freedom and the rights of workers and trade unions everywhere and at all times.
Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (Кампанія Солідарності з Україною) 