Sharon Graham is a Racist, Zionist, Nepotistic Supporter of Imperialism – She Cares Nothing About Global Warming – Graham’s Appeasement of Reform is the Last Straw
When Sharon Graham won the election for General Secretary of Unite in 2021 we were relieved that Gerard Coyne had lost. We didn’t realise how bad Graham was going to be.
Socialist Worker’s headline was Boost for left as Sharon Graham wins Unite general secretary election. Both the SWP and the Socialist Party supported her. The SP was particularly enthusiastic.
I find it amazing that the Socialist Party is still supporting her because she supports some strikes as long as they don’t challenge the status quo. She has been appalling over the Birmingham Bin Workers Strike. She has not built support for the strike in Unite. This is anti-Marxist economism.
Labour Against Antisemitism – the anti-Semitism smear group congratulates Sharon Graham on being elected
The SWP appears have had second thoughts. It endorsed no group for the Executive elections and it hasn’t, as of yet, endorsed Graham for General Secretary. However abstention is political cowardice.
Unite officials have recently secretly met with Reform which the SWP have criticised. I hope that they draw the necessary conclusions and back Simon Dubbins. No group that calls itself socialist should endorse a trade union leader prepared to meet with a far-right party like Reform.
Simon Dubbins isn’t perfect with his support for the Labour Party, but he is far better than Sharon Graham. It is essential that all Unite supporters of Palestine & opponents of Genocide in Gaza vote for Dubbins.
Sharon Graham called herself apolitical. She is pro-capitalist. Her record is one long attempt to suppress any form of anti-racist, environmental or Palestine activism.
Concentrating on local strikes has gone hand in hand with abandoning the fight against racism, global warming, war and imperialism. Class oppression isn’t just economic. Capitalism doesn’t just oppress people in the workplace but during their lives outside the workplace. There is no point in gaining higher wages if the Welfare State is cut, the NHS is in decline, schools privatised and housing too expensive.
MI5 Spook Paul Mason Calling for The Big Lie to be banned
Banning An Anti-Racist Film and Corbyn The Big Lie
In 2024 Graham banned On Resistance Street, an anti-fascist and anti-racist film that looked at the role music has played in the fight against fascism and racism.
The reasons for the ban were explained by Graham’s bag carrier, Sarah Carpenter who quoted an Executive resolution of September 2023 that:
‘Unite should not use its premises or resources to show or promote any external films or other content that does not relate to our industrial agenda to support the pay, terms and conditions of our members and/or support existing Unite policies.
the Union should be especially careful to avoid appearing to endorse any material which causes unnecessary offence to members.’
In other words Unite should not offend racists and fascists.
The first inkling that Graham was a Zionist came on 8 June 2023 when the Chair of Unite SE 6246, Damian McCarthy, wrote to Carpenter, then SE Regional Secretary, asking if it was true that she had cancelled a showing of Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie and if so why.
Carpenter, was subsequent appointed as Graham’s Chief of Staff, without any reference to the Executive. She replied:
I have asked for the screenings to be cancelled whilst I seek further guidance. I have not had any instructions to cancel. I hope to get back in touch with the Portsmouth Community branch as soon as possible to clarify the position.
Contrary to the BBC & MSM Most Israelis Killed on October 4 Were Killed as A Result of the Hannibal Directive
I wrote to Carpenter, as Branch Secretary, to ask why, if she hadn’t had any instructions to cancel the film, she needed to seek guidance. It was a clear lie:
That suggests that you were advised to cancel the booking. Perhaps you would enlighten us as to who gave you this advice? Otherwise your need to seek guidance makes no sense.
On 13 June Carpenter wrote back:
The issues covered in the film are pertinent to internal Labour Party matters and that is not the focus of our union. Unite’s members are working on issues linked to our local communities and to industrial issues, and union resources are prioritised in these areas. Resources include use, maintenance and security of Unite buildings.
As David Plank wrote
Frankly, this beggars belief. The unions founded the Labour Party to achieve the political voice that is essential to the best interests and welfare of our members. It is neither possible nor desirable to make such a flimsy, artificial distinction.
Our branch unanimously passed a motion saying that
The film is about the orchestrated attack on Jeremy Corbyn and the socialist leadership of the Labour Party from 2015-19. We do not believe that the following issues are irrelevant to Unite members.
Ø increased privatisation of the NHS, which Starmer supports
Ø public ownership of water, rail and the utilities
Ø Zionism and Apartheid Israel
Ø the racist treatment of refugees
Ø worker’s struggles which Keir Starmer opposes and
Ø Tory legislation restricting the right of protest
Although Carpenter would not reveal who had given her the advice Skwawkbox revealed that it was Graham.
In an email of 5 July 2023 Carpenter wrote:
I can be clear that Unite has not been contacted by any group in regards to the decision made…. the decision taken was grounded in our focus to prioritise resources
As Skawkbox said of the banning of the film:
The move, which comes hot on the heels of the Glastonbury festival’s cowardly decision to cave in to pro-Israel groups that do not want the smears of the pro-Israel right inside and outside the Labour party exposed, appears to be a further confirmation of longstanding reports from insiders that Unite general secretary, for all her protestations about Starmer’s behaviour, has made an accommodation with his regime.
The irony of all this is that Sharon Graham is guilty of the very corruption that she accused Len McLuskey of and she has combined this with nepotism and reactionary politics.
On 23 July 2023 the Campaign Against Antisemitism claimed credit for the ban on Jeremy Corbyn The Big Lie. They wrote:
Following correspondence with Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Unite union has cancelled the screening of a propaganda film about the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn….
Campaign Against Antisemitism commends Unite for its swift and decisive action to cancel the screening as soon as we brought it to its attention. (my emphasis)
I wrote an Open Letter to Graham asking
‘How does support for the Palestinians square with working with the Israeli-state funded Campaign Against Anti-Semitism?’
On 30 August 30 I wrote to Cartmail telling her that she was
either a racist or an idiot (or both). You know very well that ‘antisemitism’ is the standard line of defence when Israel is accused of war crimes
Cartmail sent me an email less than two hours later:
Your disagreeable attack is based on a falsehood. No one in Unite took advice from the Campaign Against Antisemitism, on ‘Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’, nor indeed any other matter.
I was advised to check my facts ‘before launching another ill-informed and blatantly untrue broadside.’
This is the Racist Organisation that Sharon Graham Corresponded With
Now was it possible that the CAA were lying. Why would they lie about this? I therefore asked Cartmail whether Unite had contacted the CAA to ask them to withdraw their claim that Unite had corresponded or otherwise contacted them.
Suffice to say I didn’t receive a reply which means that the CAA, for once, were telling the truth.
Weaponising Anti-Semitism – Asa Winstanley
The same happened with the book launch for Asa Winstanley’s Weaponising Anti-Semitism whichwas scheduled to be held at Tony Benn House, Unite’s regional office in Bristol. They cancelled it. Benn would turn in his grave if he knew what Unite’s bureaucrats had done.
A local union official told organisers that the event was cancelled after “discussion with senior colleagues.” Asked to explain why he would only say the decision “relates to advice and opinion on controversy around the film” and that “the leadership of Unite” did not want to “be drawn into contentious political debate.”
The CAA is a McCarthyist Organisation Which Targets Academics and Others – Sharon’s Friend
Cartmail used exactly the same kind of language about the Big Lie and Asa Winstanley’s book as the Zionists had.
In saying that “Asa Winstanley’s publication has already caused deep hurt among Jews in Britain.” Cartmail was making evidence-free anti-Semitic claims.
Why should British Jews be ‘hurt’ by a film that exposes how the Israel lobby destabilised Corbyn and then boasted of it?
It’s not Britain’s Jews but Israel’s apologists who were ‘hurt’ by the revelations in the film and book. There isn’t a shred of evidence that British Jews were concerned about them.
But even if British Jews were offended. So what? When Muslims attacked Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses the Guardian proclaimed If we don’t defend free speech, we live in tyranny. But when anti-Zionists attack Apartheid ‘preventing hurt’ to racists is what counts.
Cartmail stated that she was responding at the request of Sharon Graham. Ken Loach noted that
Asa Winstanley’s book has been widely praised, including by noted Jewish commentators, for its rigorous and authoritative research.
By banning the author from discussing it in this way, Unite has shown the title to be accurate – anti-Semitism has indeed been weaponized. This is a critical political issue. Buy this important book and judge for yourself.
When it came to Ukraine Graham didn’t mince her words:
“There is overwhelming support being expressed throughout Unite to support the people of Ukraine. It is not only the struggle for democracy that concerns us but also the struggle for people’s rights to work and build their future in peace.”
Graham supported dockers refusing to unload fuel from Russia but didn’t support workers refusing to produce arms to kill Palestinians. Why? Because Graham is an unashamed supporter of US imperialism and NATO’s proxy war.
In the Jewish News ‘Liar’ Lee Harpin described how,
In a further put down on far-left foreign policy dogma Graham also wrote “Similarly, we cannot be expected to affiliate to organisations that actively work against our members and their jobs….
Under Graham’s leadership Unite has also taken great strides in attempting to combat anti-Semitism… Despite early claims that the left-wing leader would seek to move the union away from Labour and disaffiliate, Unite now appears to be opting to become a “critical friend” of the Starmer led Labour Party.
In an interesting pro-Graham article in Dissent Olly Haynes observed that Unite refused to support the Enough is Enough coalition with the RMT and CWU because
two of the coalition’s five demands—building affordable housing and imposing heavier taxes on the rich—could only be enacted directly through state power. …
Graham was deliberately avoiding anything questioning the British state yet the SP support her!
Demonstration Outside Unite HQ
At her first Executive Committee meeting as General Secretary (September 2021) Graham promised to ‘Take the lead or provide practical support to other groups tackling wider societal issues such as; climate change, the housing crisis and racism.’ This proved to be a lie.
Under Len McCluskey Unite’s Community branches were established. It is no secret that Graham is hostile to them as she sees them as naturally political.
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My Branch Banner at the Demonstration Outside Unite HQ
Why is Unite’s Sharon Graham silent on Gaza genocide?
Graham is also supporting Starmer’s increase in expenditure on the military even though it means cutting the NHS, education and social services where Unite also has members.
At the 2022 TUC Conference Unite supported a GMB motion calling for increased military expenditure. Graham called on the TUC to back an increase in arms spending to 3% of GDP. As Chris Nineham of Stop the War Coalition wrote
‘It actually put the TUC to the right of the Tory government which even now only dares to push for 2.5 per cent arms spending.
There are also concerns about her nepotism, cronyism and authoritarianism. Her husband Jack Clarke was promoted to Head of Bargaining and Dispute Support after becoming General Secretary without following normal procedures
Graham tried to have evidence destroyed regarding Clarke’s bullying. Clarke was on a final warning at the time. The evidence of racism against a close associate Tony Seaman was binned as “the posting was take down quickly’.
Brendan Ogle
The mainstream media are ignoring a huge trade union scandal. Why?
Brendan Ogle was Unite’s senior officer in the Ireland Region who went off sick with cancer. When he returned he found that he had been demoted. He was told that there was no place for him. When he asked why, Gail Cartmail said that “Sharon operates on the basis of loyalty.” Ogle had supported Graham’s election opponent, Howard Beckett.
Brendan Ogle
John Douglas, former General Secretary of Mandate had this to say about Ogle:
Brendan had one of the highest profiles of any trade union official in the country as leader of Right2Water; [he was] the leader of very many other campaigns, so to see Brendan being humiliated in the way he was after the way he came back from cancer to do the job he did on behalf of the working class … it was shoddy.
The case was extremely high profile in the Irish press who made the most of Graham’s reluctance to appear as a witness at a Labour Court. It was reported that Unite’s legal bill against Ogle was over £1m and that was before Graham started her defence against a libel action by Ogle.
Demonstration Outside Unite HQ
Sharon Graham Has Refused to Oppose the Genocide
On October 16, in the wake of October 7, Unite put out a statement which
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 arising from the actions of the Israeli government.
Another Hamas Base? Israel destroys the PGFTU Palestinian Trade Union Building in Gaza City which housed a kindergarten and bakery
Note how the statement ‘deplored’ the genocide of Palestinians but expressed its ‘revulsion’ at the ‘appalling acts of violence by Hamas.’ The difference in tone between the deaths of the settlers and the Palestinians is a reflection of Sharon Graham’s deep racism.
Israel’s spokesman Daniel Hagari made it clear that “right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage”. Numerous Israeli government ministers made genocidal statements. President Herzog said on October 14 that ‘There are no innocent civilians in Gaza“.
Graham tried to pressurise Unite’s Director for International Affairs, Simon Dubbins into calling off a Palestinian event at Labour Party conference putting him under investigation.
On 17 October Peter Kavanagh, the Regional Secretary of London and Eastern Region, wrote a letter to Graham asking why there had been no Unite banner or speaker at the previous Palestine demonstration in London.
Kavanagh asked that Graham write to all branches urging that members attend the demonstration and that resources be made available to ensure that members could attend and that it be publicised on Unite’s web site.
There was no response. At the subsequent demonstration on October 21 there was only one Unite banner from London and Eastern. Can anyone imagine previous General Secretaries Ron Todd or Len McLuskey behaving in a similar way?
This didn’t stop Gail Cartmail stating on 27 October that:
The General Secretary has been actively promoting that the union should put out a statement calling for a ceasefire…. She is also clear that the Unite position must be that we do not stoke division through anti-semitism and anti-Muslim racism.
In other words Graham was more concerned about cries of ‘anti-Semitism’ than Genocide. On November 2023 I wrote
Unite is led by a right-wing British nationalist… The sooner this racist is removed from office the better. She is unfit to lead a scout troupe. She calls herself apolitical but in practice she has been doing her best to cosy up to Keir Starmer.
Graham also tried to persuade Kavanagh from speaking at the Palestine demonstration in London on January 13. Sarah Carpenter threatened Kavanagh with loss of a pension bonus if he continued to support the Palestinians.
Israel’s Destruction of Al Shifa Hospital
As Israel was preparing to follow its killing 500 people in Al Ahli hospital by threatening the same at Al Quds Hospital, Unite’s Executive Committee held an emergency meeting on Palestine on October 26. It broke up in disarray having voted 24-14 against making any statement on Israel’s genocide.
The meeting was only held because of the outrage amongst members at the fact that Unite has done absolutely nothing about Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza.
On 1 November I sent an Open Letter signed by 135 members to Graham demanding that Unite call for an immediate ceasefire and take part in the national demonstrations.
On November 3 Graham finally issued a statement calling for a ceasefire although it was pitifully weak, failing to mention still less condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
On December 19 166 Unite members sent another letter to Graham pointing out that in the statement of November 3
There was no mention of genocide or ethnic cleansing. There was no mention of the war crimes perpetrated by Israel – the bombing of hospitals, the targeting and murder of journalists, academics and doctors to say nothing of the bombing of residential areas or the murder of children, which now stands at over 8,000.
There was no mention of the fact that Israel has imposed a food, water and fuel blockade on the Gaza strip resulting in starvation according to the United Nations. … the statement treats the Palestinians and the Israeli state as equally responsible….
We quoted a report from Vatican News of 16 December:
‘Following heavy bombardment overnight of the area around Holy Family Latin parish in Gaza City, dozens are reported dead… and reports continue to arrive that shooting by Israeli snipers continues during these hours. A statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that an Israeli sniper murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war.’
On 17 December. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli bulldozers had crushed Palestinians who were taking shelter in tents outside Kamal Adwan Hospital. We wrote:
Dozens of Palestinians are reported to have been buried alive. These are Nazi-style massacres and yet you have said nothing and done nothing since issuing your statement. You were happy to wave the Ukrainian flag but you haven’t waved the Palestinian flag or expressed any sympathy with the thousands of murdered Palestinian civilians, not least children
For 4 months after the statement of November 3 Graham did nothing to campaign against Israel’s genocide. There was no national Unite presence on any London demonstration.
Demonstration Outside Unite HQ
On March 11 we organised a demonstration outside Unite HQ to coincide with an Executive Committee meeting. About 50 Unite members attended from 3 regions.
At the meeting there were two motions on Palestine. Graham and her supporters ensured that the motions on Palestine were not discussed with the aid of the Chair Andy Green.
Graham said this because ‘Palestine is not a service we offer members.’ This one phrase sums up everything about Graham.
Demonstration Outside Unite HQ
Unite had meanwhile increased the amount of money it gives to the Labour Party, despite Graham’s assurances.
Sharon Graham’s letter attacking Palestine solidarity & anti-war activists & supporting NATO & AUKUS
On March 7 Israel bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza City. Their five story building contained a kindergarten that served 380 children, as well as a large automatic bakery.
In a letter of 25 March to PGFTU General Secretary, Shaher Saeed, Graham boasted that Unite had donated £50,000 to Medicin Sans Frontiere. Although condemning the bombing of their headquarters Graham failed to mention the word ‘Israel’. It was as if the bombing happened by itself. I wrote:
it is of course welcome that Graham has, at last, written expressing her solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. But it is long overdue. It is also welcome that she has, for the first time, condemned Israel’s ‘war crimes’ but we will never forget that this only came nearly 6 months after Israel’s attack and with deaths and injuries over 100,000.
Little did I know the depths of cynicism which Graham is capable of. The PGFTU HQ was bombed on March 7. Graham’s letter was sent on March 25.
One day later, 26 March 2024, Graham issued a letter condemning attempts to stop the manufacture of arms for Israel. Graham attacked ‘groups that look to build networks inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment of NATO and AUKUS’.
She held that it was ‘a core principle of Unite’ to support Unite members producing arms to kill other workers. Graham wrote:
to alert and inform you about a number of extremely troubling actions being undertaken by a tiny minority of individuals, inside and outside of our Union.
Some of these individuals are linked to the past leadership and a small number are linked to groups who want us to make decisions detrimental to our membership and their jobs.
Unions Abroad Did What Sharon Graham Refused to Do – Embargo Arms Shipments to Israel
Graham could have told Unite workers that she would support them refusing to handle arms destined for the genocide in Gaza in the same way as happened with Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride in 1973 when they refused to service engines for Pinochet’s airforce.
The language was McCarthyist, aimed at witchunting the left and Palestine solidarity activists. It was also aimed at climate and anti-war activists deemed a threat to jobs. In other words what happens in wider society, with growing militarisation and reduced spending on the NHS is irrelevant. We must tie our fortunes to the military-industrial complex.
None of this stopped Graham claiming that Unite ‘was the first major union to publicly and unambiguously call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.’ This too was a lie.
UNISON called for an immediate ceasefire on October 26. UNISON also condemned Israel for its attacks on civilians unlike the even handed Unite statement a week later.
“We are Fighting Animals” Israel Announces Blockade of Gaza
The rest of her letter suggested that those who oppose the production of arms for Israel are targeting the workers in those factories. Instead of trying to persuade workers in arms factories to take action themselves and defending them she was pitting workers against Palestine activists.
Instead of supporting the diversification of production with arms factories being retooled to produce useful things Graham represented the most backward section of workers who a few generations before believed that opposition to the British Empire spelt doom for British workers. Graham suggested
there is no contradiction for a trade union to hold a position of solidarity with Palestinian workers, while at the same time refusing to support campaigns that target our members’ workplaces without their support.
In Marx’s day the burning question was Ireland. Marx wrote:
Every industrial and commercial centre in England now possesses a working class divided into two hostile camps, English proletarians and Irish proletarians. The ordinary English worker hates the Irish worker… he regards himself as a member of the ruling nation and consequently he becomes a tool of the English aristocrats and capitalists against Ireland, thus strengthening their domination over himself…. His attitude towards him is much the same as that of the “poor whites” to the Negroes in the former slave states of the U.S.A.. The Irishman pays him back with interest in his own money. He sees in the English worker both the accomplice and the stupid tool of the English rulers in Ireland.
This antagonism is artificially kept alive and intensified by the press, the pulpit, the comic papers, in short, by all the means at the disposal of the ruling classes. This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organisation. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power.
If you want a good example of the British left’s national chauvinism then read the SP’s article which transforms criticism of Graham over Gaza into a dispute between the United Left and the ‘industrially militant ‘transformation’ agenda’ of Graham. For a more informed article see here.
Sharon Graham’s Conflicts with Unite’s Staff
On 11 April 2024 the Officers National Committee submitted a collective grievance concerning the flouting of grievance procedures and the victimisation of workers who challenged Graham’s repressive regime. They wrote:
Graham and her management team were accused of contempt for Unite staff’s collective agreement on grievances – and of a string of other abuses, including the use of legal action to silence and intimidate workers and avoid transparency, banning workers from their workplace under an implied threat of dismissal – and putting people into ‘special measures’.
Among Graham’s other innovative employment practices there was the threat that anyone submitting a grievance would be treated as in breach of the duty of trust and confidence entitling the employer to dismiss the employee.
Neither the SWP, SP or Counterfire has had anything to say about this. This election is crucial – make sure you vote.
Tony Greenstein
These are the blogs I have written on Graham dictatorship in Unite
Sharon Graham’s Hypocrisy Over Gaza Beggars Belief
Unite Executive Refuses to Call for a Ceasefire as Sharon Graham Proves Her Loyalty to Keir Starmer
Why is Sharon Graham of UNITE Joining Starmer’s Attempt to Ban ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’?
