Racism, Bullying and Abuse: A Timeline of Events Featured
May 2018: Unite the Union and its London and Eastern Region lose yet another legal case of sexual harassment and race discrimination.
August 2018: Five senior Jewish rabbis resign their membership of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch in protest at antisemism within the Union.
October 2018: Revd Dean Henley, a gay Officer of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch Executive Committee for equalities, resigns following his experiencing homophobic bullying and abuse in the Union.
March 2019: Revd Steven Saxby, Executive Committee Member of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch, caught and subsequently suspended for his extra-marital sexual relationships. He is later suspended for sexual harassment.
12 and 19 July 2019: Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, Muslim academic and Officer of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch Executive Committee, publishes two articles in the Church of England Newspaper, concerning bullying of clergy by the Church of England hierarchy and interfaith industry, and victimisation and abuse of whistleblowers of sexual abuse within the Church of England.
17 July 2019: There takes place a meeting between Revd Peter Hobson and the Executive of Church of England Clergy Advocates (CECA), the Anglican sub-group of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch, with authorities of the Church of England at Church House. At this meeting, the Church of England authorities complain and apply pressure in relation to Muhammad Al-Hussaini's newspaper articles on bullying, sexual abuse and victimisation within the Church.
2 August 2019: Peter Hobson publishes a statement falsely claiming to be issued "On behalf of the Executive of the FWB of Unite", despite his doing so in the face of objection from the Anglican Chair, Revd Stephen Trott and the black Anglican Secretary, Revd Dr David Isiorho, and without any consultation with the Executive Committee including Muhammad Al-Hussaini himself as an Executive Committee Officer. On the same day, Stephen Trott resigns in protest at this behaviour and due to the ongoing "vendetta" perpetrated against Muhammad Al-Hussaini by another Anglican Executive Member, Revd Steven Saxby at the "agitation" of William Campbell-Taylor, a controversial fellow Labour Party vicar also within the City of London. The Church of England confirms that both Steven Saxby and William Campbell-Taylor are currently the subject of legal action for alleged sexual abuse and harassment and other offences under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003.
3 August 2019: A mutlifaith letter from Christian, Hindu and Jewish clergy is sent to Officers of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch expressing strong concern at these events, and furthermore raising objection to Revd Ruth Oates, Peter Hobson and others involved in this incident of dishonest media statement, bullying and victimisation from taking over leadership of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch.
August 2019: Nicole Charlett, Regional Officer of Unite London and Eastern Region, is abusive to David Isiorho, Secretary of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch, on his attempting to broker a mediation and also she shouts at Muhammad Al-Hussaini, Officer of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch Executive, when approached for mediation.
September 2019: Despite formal complaints and written objections, Ruth Oates, is voted by the white Christian majority as "Acting Chair" of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch at its Branch Meeting. Muhammad Al-Hussaini is silenced from raising a point of order under the Unite Rule Book, by Vice-Chair, Revd Terence Young banging on the table. Muhammad Al-Hussaini is also blocked from attending a training course of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch. Hindu scholar and theologian, Pandit Satish Sharma, raises objections about racial and religious discrimination at the same meeting. In the same meeting, Ruth Oates makes false statements, claiming that Stephen Trott resigned as Chair entirely due to work commitments elsewhere.
January 2020: Satish Sharma and Muhammad Al-Hussaini submit constitutional documents and formal application for recognition of the two BAME and non-Christian Workplace Groupings (sub-groups within the Unite Faith Workers' Branch), the Association of Hindu Faith Workers' and Muslim Faith Workers. Both Workplace Groupings have been constituted with a governance document and Executive Committees which have been meeting, and meet all the requirements of the Unite Rule Book. These are properly entered on to the Agenda of the meeting and no query is raised or received by any Officer of Unite the Union.
28 January 2020: At the meetings of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch Ruth Oates, unilaterally blocks any vote taking place on these two BAME and non-Christian Workplace Groupings for Hindus and Muslims. She falsely claims that the two Workplace Groupings have not met the minimum numbers and other requirements, and calls out Donna Williams, Unite Regional Officer and David Isiorho from the meeting room. David Isiorho, clearly objects that there is no evidence for Ruth Oates's false claims, but is overruled. In the same meeting, Ruth Oates repeats the lie that Stephen Trott resigned entirely due to the reasons she had given at the previous meeting in September and claimed falsely to have correspondence to support her claim. Ruth Oates further blocked any vote taking place on the co-option of Satish Sharma as the first Hindu Representative on the Executive Committee.
May 2020: The applications and constitutions for the Hindu and Muslim Workplace Groupings are resubmitted for placing on the Agenda of the next meeting, together with a request for Unite the Union and the Faith Workers' Branch to offer any queries or further requirements with plenty of time between then and the subsequent July meeting. No questions, queries or requests for further information are forthcoming. Instead, a letter is sent to the Executive Committee by Siobhan Endean and Neil Gillam of the Unite the Union Legal Department stating that the Hindu and Muslim Workplace Groupings do indeed meet the requirements for recognition and that this full recognition should take place at the next meeting. In the intervening period there is considerable bullying, undermining and victimisation of black and ethnic minority Officers, in particlar the Branch Secretary, David Isiorho. The resolution for recognition of these two BAME and non-Christian Workplace Groupings and co-option of Satish Sharma to the Executive is again entered on to the written Agenda by the Branch Secretary.
June 2020: There is an agenda-setting teleconference in which Neil Gillam gives the clear assurance that at the next Executive Committee meeting in July the Association of Hindu Faith Workers and Muslim Faith Workers will be presented for vote for full recognition as Workplace Groupings of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch -- emphatically not merely partial or embryonic recognition.
July 2020: Despite this clear legal advice from Unite the Union, on the date of the Executive Committee Meeting, Peter Hobson, objects to and opposes the resolution for recognition of the Hindu and Muslim Workplace Groupings with the support of Ruth Oates, and then she forces Peter Hobson's change to diminish recognition only to recognition of the constitutions as part of a process of future recognition, despite protest by Muhammad Al-Hussaini who reads out the relevant paragraph from the Unite Legal Departments' letter. In any event, the white Christian majority Executive Committee rejects even the constitutions of the two BAME and non-Christian Workplace Groupings, which have already been approved by Unite the Union Legal Department. Peter Hobson states that he has been observing Satish Sharma since his joining the Unite Faith Workers' Branch and does not consider him suitable to be co-opted to the Executive Committee, while others raise the fact that Satish Sharma has presented complaints and taken legal action for race and religious discrimination as matters to consider when deciding whether to co-opt him. The white Christian majority Executive Committee reject Satish Sharma's co-option. A few days later, Ruth Oates, who has clearly faced concerns from Unite about rejected the Union's own legal advice, writes an urgent e-mail proposing to partially backtrack on these racist and sectarian decisions, but still making false and dishonest statements to delay the recognition of the Hindu and Muslim Workplace Groupings. These are condemned by the Executive Committees of both Hindu and Muslim Workplace Groupings and rejected.
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PRESS RELEASE 20th May 2021 from Unite - Faith Workers BranchLen McClusky’s Unite Union Officers accused of racial and religious discrimination against BAME Faith Workers.
Asian Hindu, Afro-Caribbean Christian and Arab Muslim ethnic minority religious leaders and academics are taking legal action against Unite the Union, the UK's biggest trades union for serious racial and religious discrimination, harassment and bullying.
Pandit Satish K Sharma, Hindu Chaplain and Scholar, Revd Dr David Isiorho, Senior Fellow of the Anglican Foundation and Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, Senior Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Westminster Institute have commenced legal proceedings against Len McCluskey's trades union, alleging racism and discrimination in its national branch for clergy and religious ministers, the "Unite Faith Workers' Branch". All three are Members of the Executive Committee of this Unite clergy union.
The allegations including severe racial and religious harassment and bullying, led to the resignation in protest of the Anglican Chair of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch, Canon Stephen Trott, due to what he called a "vendetta" against one black non-Christian Officer, followed later by the resignation of black Christian Officer, Revd Isiorho, due to the same allegations of discrimination and victimisation.
Pandit Satish K Sharma alleged gross racial and religious discrimination when he attempted to give the Hindu and Muslim community the same standing as Church of England and other Christian groups within the Unite clergy union, with repeated blocking by the all-white and all-Christian leadership, of the equal recognition of Hindu and Muslim groups on the same basis as white Christian groups. Pandit Sharma himself was the primary focus of an aggressive campaign of hate speech and obstruction from being appointed on the Executive Committee, by these same white Anglicans.
Pandit Sharma, Sheikh Al-Hussaini and Revd Isiorho have previously raised concerns about anti-semitism within Unite which led to the resignation of several Jewish rabbis from the Unite Faith Workers' Branch.
Unite the Union has been plagued with prominent legal cases of antisemitism, racial and sexual harassment which it has lost, with compension and legal costs running into the millions. Another former Anglican Chair of the Unite Faith Workers' Branch was sacked from his job and suspended by the Labour Party for sexual harassment.Three black, Asian and ethnic minority clergy have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to fight institutionalised racial and religious discrimination in Unite the Union.
Enquiries to :-
Pt Satish K Sharma,
0208 123 8272
Further background information at https://www.unitefaithworkers.com/
Crowdjustice link : -
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/action-against-unite-the-union/ -
"Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?"
Secretary’s Report FWB JULY 2020
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?
The killing of George Floyd reflects the daily injustices that black people face and that includes the things that take place in Unite the Union and its Faith Workers’ branch. My report takes the form of a litany of concern and theological reflection on the work of the committee structure of FWB during the second half of the triennial.
When meetings are chaired in such a way that Points of Order are ruled against before they have been heard:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When agenda items are not discussed and even deleted by the acting chair following last minute discussions with Unite officials:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When we are denied faith-based workplace groupings other than Christian:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When able people from faiths other than Christian are denied membership of our executive committee:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When the branch secretary is told by the acting chair to rewrite the minutes of the previous meeting before their circulation:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When branch officers conspire to organise private meetings with unite officials without the branch secretary:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When clearly defined roles in the Unite Rule book for the branch secretary are usurped by the acting chair with the agreement of Unite officials:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When Unite officials invite lawyers to agenda setting meetings:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When the branch secretary has no confidence in Unite officials not to undermine his position and side with other officers within the branch against him:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When the branch secretary is falsely accused of not consulting the chair when draft agenda has been tabled many weeks in advance:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When so little has been done to address the equality issues facing the Faith Workers Branch:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members?When the branch secretary is Black:
Does Unite have its knee on the neck of its Black members? -
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Five senior Rabbis Quit Unite Faith Workers' Branch in Protest at Len McCluskey and Antisemitism
by Kate Proctor
Cross-posting from The Evening Standard
22 August 2018
Five senior rabbis have today quit Labour’s biggest union backer Unite in protest at boss Len McCluskey’s criticism of Jewish community leaders.
Rabbi David Mitchell of the West London Synagogue said he and his colleagues could no longer remain members of a union whose chief has been “disingenuous” about Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis.
In a letter to the union’s executive delivered last night, the group — who are all part of the Reform and Liberal movements — wrote: “Len McCluskey’s most recent comments about the leadership of the Jewish community are not only unhelpful, but are disingenuous, for in so doing he attempts to rewrite the story of the last six months and plays down the genuine concerns of the majority of the Jewish community, as expressed by our leadership.
“We can no longer remain members of a trade union which has lost control of its leadership, for when a leader writes: ‘I am a leader and I answer to those I represent’, we realise that he no longer means us.”
Unite is the only union in the UK with a faith workers’ branch and represents hundreds of clergy. Rabbi Mitchell, who serves a 3,000-strong congregation at the UK’s flagship Reform synagogue in Marble Arch, said: “Union membership is an essential part of being a rabbi. There’s an incredible Jewish legacy in the trade union movement and to resign from Unite is a really difficult decision.” He added: “I’ve never experienced a trade union getting involved in national politics in terms of anti-Semitism before and that for me is really shocking. Unite’s faith workers chapter should be the natural home of rabbis.”
Mr McCluskey, a close Jeremy Corbyn ally, enraged the Jewish community with a piece for the Huffington Post where he said community leaders had shown “truculent hostility” towards Labour and said they should “dial down the rhetoric” over the anti-Semitism row. He claimed the party had met all the requests of Jewish groups but that they were refusing to engage.
Despite calling for Labour to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism in full — something Mr Corbyn has been reluctant to do — his outburst sparked outrage.
A Unite spokesperson said: “Unite is actively committed to fighting anti-Semitism and racism. We hope that the rabbis take up Mr McCluskey’s offer to meet and discuss their concerns.”