One of the candidates standing for the leadership of Unite, Britain’s second largest trade union, is a director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
Simon Dubbins, who has been Unite’s international director since 2008, also serves as the PSC’s trade union officer.
He is seeking to challenge Sharon Graham, the first woman to be elected as the union’s general secretary, a post she has held since 2021.
Speaking at a pro-Palestine demonstration in April 2023, Dubbins appeared to compare Israel to Vladimir Putin’s Russia as he called on the government to impose sanctions on Jerusalem.
“If it is right that the West demands boycott, divestment and sanctions from Russia for an illegal invasion and occupation of Ukraine, then why the hell are we arming and supporting an illegal occupation of Palestine?” he said to applause.
For back it they do. Here is Simon Dubbins of Unite at the same rally, comparing Israel to Putin's Russia.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) April 9, 2023
Dubbins is a director of the "Palestine Solidarity Campaign" company.
What on earth does backing a hatred movement that supports terrorists accomplish for British workers? pic.twitter.com/GzxHzKLsHH
Earlier this year, Dubbins took part in the controversial Nakba Day demonstrations.
Chants of “smash the Zionist settler state” were audible on the campaign video he filmed at the demonstration in May, where he said it was “fantastic to be here on this demonstration to mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, the appalling ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland”.
Demonstrators holding flags of the Iranian regime could also be seen in the background of Dubbins’ video.
Jewish communal organisations were highly critical of the Nakba Day march. Lord Leigh, the president of Westminster Synagogue, said there had been a notable drop in attendance at the shul, which was very close to the route of the march.
There were chants of “intifada” and “death to the IDF” and signs saying “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a slogan which the prime minister told the JC he considers to be antisemitic – at the demonstration.
One speaker addressing the protesters called Zionism a “cancer”.
Dubbins’ manifesto includes implicit criticism of Graham’s positioning on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We are the union that must never be afraid to take a stand against genocide in Gaza,” one section reads.
Another section pledges to: “Fully support the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its work to ensure justice and freedom for Palestine – including the implementation of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns in companies where Unite has members and the company is complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Although elected with the backing of left-wing elements within Unite, Graham has focused primarily on industrial matters.
It is something her re-election campaign communications emphasise: “I stood on a platform that knew we had moved too far from our core business— protecting jobs and improving the pay and conditions of our members. We are now winning concrete gains for the working class and it’s time to finish the job.”
Although the union under her leadership passed a motion to back its members in the defence and aerospace industries if they refuse to build, handle or transport weapons that could be bound for Israel, Graham has condemned the tactics used by groups like Palestine Action.
Graham, wrote in a letter to members that there was “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.
"We cannot and will not endorse any organisation which decides unilaterally and without any discussion (let alone agreement) with the workers themselves, to support the targeting of our members’ workplaces or their jobs.”
The election is set to commence next week from July 14 and the result will be announced on August 14.
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