(24/2/03) UNISON's national executive council has issued the following statement on the situation in Iraq:

UNISON applauds the millions of people who demonstrated in the Stop the War marches on 15 February and have joined in protests across the world. These people included hundreds of thousands of public service workers and UNISON members united in a desire to stop the killing of innocent civilians and to prevent an unjust war.

It is crucial that we maintain the broad public pressure on the government to heed our concerns and we will continue to work with the Stop the War coalition, the TUC and International unions and NGOs to seek a sustainable and peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. To this end we endorse the statements issued by the TUC, Solidar and US Labour Against the War.

UNISON NEC reaffirms its statement of 8 October 2002 that “any military action without the explicit authority of the United Nations Security Council would be unjustifiable and against international law and the requirements of the UN Charter”.

To date the weapons inspectors have failed to find convincing evidence of a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and the case for war has not been justified. In these circumstances we oppose military action against Iraq, a view shared by an increasing number of members of the Security Council who do not accept that the case for war has been demonstrated. We believe that Hans Blix and his team should be given the fullest possible support to find an alternative way to disarm Saddam Hussein without the need for war.

The government should acknowledge the valid concerns of our key partners in NATO and the European Union and to take steps to heal the rifts which have developed. We are convinced that the position taken by, for example, the French and the Germans is one based on only going to war as an absolute last resort and we believe that our government should sign up to that principle.

UNISON’s position in no way indicates support for Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi regime whose human rights record and contempt for democracy we continue to condemn. We call on the UN Security Council to insist that Saddam fully co-operates with the weapons inspectors and the terms of UN resolution 1441 or face the consequences of international law.

We recognise and condemn the human rights violations and other attacks on people in Iraq and other countries by the regime of Saddam Hussein, and we express our solidarity with those democratic forces in Iraq which are seeking to bring about a free and democratic country. However, we believe that change must be brought about by a political rather than a military solution, and that regime change must be determined and brought about by the Iraqi people themselves.

Finally, we believe that if the UN is to retain its respect and authority in the world order it must adopt a consistent approach to implementation of UN resolutions. We recognise the steps already taken by the Labour government in making a case for an independent Palestinian state and call on them to work pro-actively in the UN and bilaterally to instigate peace talks in the Middle East which will deliver this objective.

UNISON therefore calls on the Labour government to:


Respond positively to the legitimate concerns of our union and the British people
Explicitly state they will only operate under the auspices of the UN and work towards an alternative to war
Confirm that they will not form a military alliance against Iraq with the Americans in defiance of the will of the UN
Allow a full debate and vote in parliament
Halt any further preparations for war while the UN weapons inspectors are still carrying out their work on the ground in Iraq
Use the so-called special relationship between the US and the UK to convince the US administration that the world is not prepared to rubber stamp George Bush's attempts to wage war at will
Intensify the political and diplomatic pressures on the UN and the US to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Palestine and Israel

The problem with the UNISON statement is that while it quite strongly states that the union is opposed to war, it fails to commit itself to actually taking action against it.

The big issue in the unions as far as the war is concerned at this stage isn't getting them to state that they are opposed to war or that they applaud the protestors. The issue is getting the unions to ACT.