Rabbis who quit Len McCluskey’s Unite over stance on antisemitism join GMB

A group of rabbis who quit the Unite union during Len McCluskey’s tenure as General Secretary have this week joined the GMB union after it passed a motion condemning antisemitism.

In 2018, five Progressive rabbis terminated their membership of the Faith Workers’ Branch of Unite over Mr McCluskey’s stance on Labour antisemitism. In a letter to the union at the time, they 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 6-months and plays down the genuine concerns of the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community, as expressed by our leadership.

“Moreover, his line: ‘before the political estrangement between them and the Labour Party becomes entrenched’, feels a little too much like a threat and does nothing to calm the anxieties we keep hearing from our congregants and across the Jewish community.”

They have now joined the GMB, which recently passed a resolution condemning antisemitism.

At the launch of a new branch for Jewish faith workers within the union earlier this week, GMB’s General Secretary, Gary Smith, pledged: “I give you this absolute commitment that when we encounter antisemitism within our ranks it will be dealt with head on. We don’t want a league table of racists. Antisemitism will be dealt with like any other form of racism.”

Some of the new rabbinical members have written in the JC about their decision.