Greenstein responds to Sharon Graham’s ‘ME ME ME ME’ email

Left-wing Jewish activist slams Unite general secretary for bizarre Christmas email, her record and her positions on Palestine, the arms trade and more

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham’s bizarre Christmas email to members has raised eyebrows and hackles among the union’s activists and others in the movement.

Graham and her allies are embroiled in an industrial dispute with staff who claim her husband is bullying them and that Unite is engaging in union-busting tactics against them – and as Skwawkbox revealed last week, at least three out of five women working in BDSU under Graham’s husband Jack Clarke left the unit. In a bombshell last week, Graham’s lawyers – in a response to a Skwawkbox press enquiry – admitted that Unite has destroyed evidence presented against Clarke by staff, particularly women, working under him in his previous unit.

Read Graham’s full email and a response from activist Reuben Bard-Rosenberg here. But Bard-Rosenberg is not the only one to respond. Jewish left-winger and anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein has written to Graham twice to challenge her over issues with both her email and her record and to give her his findings on their significance. He wrote:

Dear Sharon Graham,

Thank you for your undated Xmas message to Unite members.

It is usual at Christmas, the season of goodwill, to demonstrate a little of the same in oneself. Yet your message consists of a series of unevidenced boasts and a lashing out at your perceived enemies whom you implicitly accuse of corruption. Since it is rumoured that the police investigation into corruption will not sustain your accusations isn’t it better to wait?

What is clear is that your predecessor Len McCluskey was not an autocrat who ignored every democratic constraint. You have appointed people to posts in the Union, completely ignoring the requirement that they be advertised publicly and approved by the Executive.

Why did you not advertise or seek approval for the appointment as your Chief of Staff, Sarah Carpenter, the recent unlamented Regional Secretary of Unite South-East?

It is bad enough that your husband, who is at the centre of an official GMB strike based on allegations of bullying and harassment, is in charge of the Bargaining and Disputes Support Unit. He was on a final warning for bullying when he was appointed to the post.  It is also alleged that Clarke’s appointment to the post did not have Executive approval. Why not?

Does it not occur to you that nepotism is a form of corruption? How do you think it looks when your husband is appointed thanks to your influence? Since you are keen on investigations can I suggest that we have an investigation into you?

Your Xmas message reeks of false patriotism and British nationalism. As Samuel Johnson remarked patriotism is ‘the last refuge of a scoundrel’ Which seems most fitting in your case.

You single out Aerospace and ‘Defence’ for increased investment? Why? Defence means support for NATO and AUKUS.  NATO is an offensive imperialist alliance which is presently supporting Turkey’s attack on the Kurds and genocide in Palestine.

Does it not occur to you that the more money that is spent on imperialist wars the less that is available for social care, welfare and the NHS?  I realise that you have fallen in love with capitalism but war is merely an extension of capitalist competition. Hence the move to war with China which you have also given your support to.

The United States and Britain’s wars in the Middle East have all resulted in failed states, sectarian outbreaks and the death of hundreds of thousands. Does this not matter to you?

The priorities of capitalism and imperialism are not the same as the interests of workers. The Ukraine war which you support has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian workers. And for what? The only ones to have benefitted are the British and American industrial complex.

It is no accident that the United States, which has a trillion dollar arms budget cannot afford universal health care. That is the way Britain is going with Wes Streeting and Starmer’s support for privatisation of the NHS yet you have been silent on this.

Workers need to work in factories that produce useful goods for people not arms and weaponry to perpetrate genocide in Gaza and Syria. Not only is investment in arms factories highly capital intensive but it ends up producing goods that have no benefit for humanity.

I realise that the intelligence of the average trade union leader is not that high but surely even you must recognise that the reason for the removal of pensioner’s fuel allowance and now the abandonment of the Waspi women, to say nothing of the attacks on welfare benefits, has something to do with Starmer increasing the ‘defence’ i.e. war budget to 3% by 2030?

War is capitalism’s priority not ours. It is noticeable that the word ‘socialism’ has not crossed either yours or Starmer’s lips because you are both twins of a reactionary and racist kind.

Your refusal to implement Unite policy on Palestine, your censorship of the film Jeremy Corbyn The Big Lie about the false anti-Semitism narrative, make you unfit to hold the post of General Secretary. You are a reversion to the old right-wing trade union barons.

You accuse your predecessor Len MacCluskey of presiding over a corrupt regime in order to hide your own corruption.

Kind regards,

Tony Greenstein
Secretary – Unite SE6246 (in a personal capacity)

And in a follow-up, Greenstein added:

Re: Thank you and Merry Christmas

Dear Sharon Graham,

I will ignore all the self-promotion in your Xmas message.

Why is it that you have consistently and persistently failed to implement Unite policy on Palestine? Why is that policy not even on Unite’s own website? Are international issues and Israel’s genocide in Gaza not relevant to Unite? ‘Workers of the World Unite’ used to be the slogan, instead you support the use of ‘British’ arms against Palestinian workers.

You have done nothing to support the Palestinians in their hour of need, you haven’t marched once on the Palestinian demonstrations in London. Indeed you have done your best to prevent others doing anything. Not once have you spoke out about the genocide.

Some of us also remember the Unite statement of 16 October 2023 when you said that ‘Unite unreservedly condemns and expresses its revulsion at the recent appalling acts of violence by Hamas against innocent civilians in Israel. We further deplore the subsequent suffering and loss of life being endured by civilians in Gaza.’

When it came to a resistance operation against a colonial power you condemned it and expressed your revulsion but when it came to Israel’s deliberate attack on civilians in Gaza you merely deplored it.

In short you are an imperialist, a social chauvinist and quite frankly a racist since you consider the lives of the colonised as of less value than White and Israeli lives.

I don’t doubt that you will continue to plough the same furrow as before but perhaps you will come clean on the strike of GMB members who work under your husband, who allege harassment and bullying. And perhaps you might care to comment on the Skwawkbox allegations that you ordered the destruction of evidence [NB: Skwawkbox’s coverage did not say that she ‘ordered’ it, but rather requested it; the union’s lawyers have confirmed that it was since destroyed] concerning the previous final warning that was issued to him for much the same behaviour.

Your decision to suspend those in dispute replicates the actions of the worst anti-trade union employers. Not a record to be proud of but one which didn’t make your Xmas message.

Fraternally
Tony Greenstein

At the time of writing, despite sending the message in the early hours of Monday, Mr Greenstein has had no reply from Ms Graham or the union.

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