Unite union: SWP kicked out of the United Left

One piece of news about the Socialist Workers Party managed to get buried as a result of the current internal crisis surrounding the allegations against "comrade delta". The SWP has a presence in a number of unions and is usually "buried" inside one the various "broad lefts" that have been established over the years. 

All is not well for the SWP in the Unite union's United Left organisation  as they have been unceremoniously kicked out and have lost a member of the Unite National Executive Committee:

The United Left issued a statement in which they say:

Following the SWP’s decision this weekend to back Jerry Hicks for UNITE General Secretary, the UNITED LEFT  must regrettably carry out the decision previously made to exclude SWP members from all our activities.

There is no doubt that the UNITED LEFT has tried very hard to keep the SWP within the fold in order to maintain the unity of the Left. Once before during the 2010 General Secretary election, the SWP also backed Jerry Hicks in spite of a clear and overwhelming decision at a properly constituted hustings meeting to back Len McCluskey. UNITED LEFT decided on that occasion to suspend SWP members for the duration of the election campaign but they were readmitted into the fold on the clear condition that there was no repeat of this lack of basic discipline.

The SWP’s decision to back Jerry Hicks a second time comes after an even more decisive resolve of UNITED LEFT to reconfirm its support for Len McCluskey. Unlike before, this decision comes after experience of Len’s exemplary role for 2 years in office as UNITE General Secretary. 

They conclude:

Finally we wish to pay a special tribute to Frank Wood, UNITE Executive Council member for Health, who has immediately renounced his membership of the SWP following this weekend’s decision and will be backing Len. Thank you Frank for your courage and your conviction. You are welcome back into the fold and may others like you follow swiftly as well.

Yet another example of how the SWP make themselves unpopular.

In the meantime the SWP National Secretary, Charlie Kimber has issued a sternly worded letter to SWP members which is reproduced on Harry's Place:

Go to: http://hurryupharry.org/2013/01/13/swp-chief-responds/

Unfortunately for the SWP leadership the rebellion inside their organisation continues unabated.  Richard Seymour replies to the Central Committee on his blog Lenin's Tomb:

Go to: http://www.leninology.com/2013/01/a-reply-to-central-committee.html

This issue is not going to go away. reports of the alleged "Rape" dispute have now appeared on line in the Daily Mail and in today's issue  of the Sunday Times.