Pro-Graham slate doesn’t stand and supporters abstain en masse as numbers stack up against them – and new chair moves quickly to hold elections to exec’s Finance and General Purpose committee, to alleged fury of general secretary
The United Left ‘Members First’ group swept the board of the senior positions today at annual general meeting of the Unite executive council (EC) – unopposed. Tilbury docker Andy Graham is the EC’s new chair, while the vice-Chair positions went to Pat Davies, an Equality Rep at Arriva South London bus company, and Michelle Smith from the CMA North East Yorkshire and Humberside.
The numbers clearly did not stack up for the slate supporting controversial general secretary Sharon Graham, as her slate candidates ultimately did not stand – leading to bizarre votes of 30 for the left slate candidates and 27 abstentions, results that gave a true reflection of the strong performance of the Members First slate, despite spin from Graham’s supporters after the EC elections that they had in fact won a majority.
The poor pro-Graham performance came despite ‘dark money’ spending on ads and several allegedly ineligible supporters being allowed to stand. The elections were also marked by revelations of racism among candidates supportive of Ms Graham and, after the election, by a leaked email showing one of her paid senior people trying to rally supporters on the EC in readiness for the AGM, a breach of union rules, as well as rebellion from the union’s British Airways section at alleged attempts to deprive them of their votes at the AGM.
New chair Green then tabled a vote on the EC’s F&GP (Finance and General Purpose) committee – to the alleged anger of Ms Graham – and the left performed similarly strongly there.
Graham’s tenure so far has been marred by allegations – which neither she nor the union have denied – that she attempted to have evidence destroyed in bullying and misogyny complaints about her husband, whom she now employs in her office despite a final warning from the union for his behaviour and by the union’s appalling treatment of Irish union legend Brendan Ogle, who is now taking legal action over Unite’s ‘disgusting’ abuse and bullying following his return from cancer treatment. Ogle did not support Sharon Graham in the union’s general secretary election and the union’s conduct toward him led to protests during Graham’s recent Dublin visit, outrage among Irish politicians and even threats from a whole sector to disaffiliate entirely.
United Left said today in welcoming the result that the group is:
focused on the need for an open and transparent union holding the administration to account. Today is a vindication of that platform.
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Fuck me where is SteveH
Probably on his NAFFI break.
Dave – I haven’t commented on the above article because like you and the rest of the contributors on this page I don’t have anything relevant to contribute to the above article.
“I don’t have anything relevant to contribute to the above article.”
Could have been posted on any article, I suppose.
goldbach – Are you having an introspective moment?
I was still fast asleep when you posted this
Interestingly, everyone was awake until you showed up.
Dave – ……and there I was thinking that you were missing me . 🥹
…..in which case I’ll reload.
On another topic:
Interview with Jamie Driscoll on Novara Mdia
The success of the Labour right is based very largely on the idea that it knows how to win elections.
And so it feels very threatened if someone else can demonstrate an ability to win elections. That is one very obvious reason why he has been blocked.
The secret was how useless the Tories were, so close to oblivion until Gordon Brown gave them oxygen
Still to lose to Cameron is probably a better reflection of what the electorate thought of Red Tories
5 million votes lost
Predicted Hung Parliament to this current shower of shit tells you they still see through the spin
The other secret is Red Tories are the firewall between Socilism and the Kleptocracy, they are handsomely rewarded and care not a jot if the Labour party is destroyed
This latest Tribune article by John Trickett MP covers this and a whole lot more…..
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/06/trickett-driscoll-case-shows-its-time-for-democrats-to-take-a-stand
….though it does not articulate the very obvious question that when Party Members, local Councillors and even school governors are being selected, controlled and micro managed by an authoritarian clique in London how will those same people treat the citizenry should they ever be voted into Government?
This is TINA on steroids. One wing of a Patrician Oligarchy of feudal rentiers seeking to put down the troublesome plebian’s once and for all.
Heheheh…That photo of graham’s grid
Looks like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle 😏😏😏
A further aside:
I know little of Pink Floyd but, for some reason, YouTube thought I might want to see this.
Ignore the occasional understandable expletive, and it is a powerful statement.
Brilliant Roger and Solidarity.
I leant for myself Read!Read! Read!
See: G.D.Smith, A 3,000 Year History of Palestine, Paul Keleman, The British Left and Zionism: A History of Divorce, and Bernard, The Balfour Declaration.
Books should help Free Palestine & we should all stand up against the current Right Wing Clack.
Last book, Bernard Regan, The Balfour Declaration.
Such lies and hypocrisy are enough to make anyone swear.
As for ‘Christian’ Wakeford — Beelzebub might be more appropriate.
As an aside. While not particularly a fan of Pink Floyd, I did see them at Knebworth in 1975 — and an excellent show it was too! Looking at the poster from that concert, it was £2.75 a ticket (£3.50 on the gate)! Bearing in mind wages were obviously much less then — I was on about £30 a week, I think, working for BR — yet as a portion of my wage it was cheap compared to what you would pay now for bands of similar standing along with top-flight support acts.
https://i2.wp.com/www.knebworthhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Pink-Floyd-Poster.png?w=842&ssl=1
Well done Members First platform. Keep up the good work.
Any Labour MP’s who is a friends of the apartheid state of Israel are scum Roger Waters stands up for palestinian unlike these fucking rats who get funded and get free holidays from their masters
Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism
Violating the rights to freedom of expression and assembly in the European Union and the UK
European Legal Support Center (ELSC) – JUNE 2023
From the Executive Summary:
The endorsement, adoption and implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “Working Definition of Antisemitism” (IHRA WDA) in the European Union (EU), its Member States and the United Kingdom (UK) has led to widespread restrictions of the right of assembly and freedom of expression.
The “contemporary examples of antisemitism” attached to the IHRA WDA effectively redefine antisemitism by wrongly conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
While being branded as “non-legally binding”, the definition is being interpreted and used by governments and public and private actors as if it was law. The definition’s implementation has severe chilling effects on free speech and curtails human rights advocacy, specifically around Palestinian rights and political speech about Israel.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, allegations of antisemitism invoking the IHRA WDA are false. This report explains how the IHRA WDA has been adopted and implemented in a manner facilitating and validating the suppression of human rights advocacy for Palestinian rights and silencing criticism of Israeli government policies and practices.
Full report:
https://res.cloudinary.com/elsc/images/v1685978238/The-Practice-of-Suppressing-Palestinian-Rights-Advocacy-FINAL-PP/The-Practice-of-Suppressing-Palestinian-Rights-Advocacy-FINAL-PP.pdf
Many thanks to Craig Murray for this story about the latest framing of Jeremy Corbyn:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/06/the-framing-of-jeremy-corbyn/