https://sputnikglobe.com/20230603/uk-rail-union-head-urges-end-to-obscene-arms-transfers-to-ukraine-citing-war-crimes-1110867556.html
UK Rail Union Head Urges End to ‘Obscene’ Arms Transfers to Ukraine, Citing War Crimes
UK Rail Union Head Urges End to ‘Obscene’ Arms Transfers to Ukraine, Citing War Crimes
Sputnik International
British media is pushing back after the president of the UK’s main rail worker union urged an end to British arms transfer to the Zelensky regime, which he called “an absolutely improper use of public money.”
2023-06-03T00:17+0000
2023-06-03T00:17+0000
2023-06-03T00:12+0000
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British media is pushing back after the president of the UK’s main rail worker union urged an end to British arms transfer to the Zelensky regime, which he called “an absolutely improper use of public money.”Speaking at a livestreamed socialist conference on Wednesday, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) President Alex Gordon concluded his remarks by stating:“I think it’s an obscenity that needs to be commented on, that at a time when workers are struggling to pay the bills, when we can’t afford food price rises and energy price rises, and when we hear that the government supports an increase in interest rates to possibly 5.5% next month, at the same time we are spending billions and billions of pounds on arms to Ukraine.”Noting that “we’ve just seen troops belonging to a far-right militia using American vehicles, American humvees, invading Russian territory in the last few days,” he pointed out that “there are clearly, clearly,” British weapons being put to uses “which they shouldn’t be put to.”And he’s not the only figure among the British labor movement to feel this way, he explained.“We’ve got to back up our comrades in the UCU [University and Colleges Union] — and I take my hat off to them — voting this week to support a motion against arms sales to Ukraine,” he said, before acknowledging the work of the ‘Stop The War’ Coalition as well.Mainstream media in the UK has reacted to both developments with predictable displeasure, with one outlet complaining that a handful of Labour MPs in attendance “failed to criticise Gordon’s claims that Britain’s support for Ukraine was an “obscenity” and made Britain complicit in “war crimes … with British arms.””
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ukraine crisis, uk military aid, alex gordon, national union of rail, maritime and transport workers, war crimes, uk government,
ukraine crisis, uk military aid, alex gordon, national union of rail, maritime and transport workers, war crimes, uk government,
UK Rail Union Head Urges End to ‘Obscene’ Arms Transfers to Ukraine, Citing War Crimes
The RMT leader is facing serious criticism from establishment forces after demanding the UK stop sending weapons to Ukraine to be used in “war crimes.”
British media is pushing back after the president of the UK’s main rail worker union urged an end to British arms transfer to the Zelensky regime, which he called “an absolutely improper use of public money.”
Speaking at a livestreamed socialist conference on Wednesday, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) President Alex Gordon concluded
his remarks by stating:
“I think it’s an obscenity that needs to be commented on, that at a time when workers are struggling to pay the bills, when we can’t afford food price rises and energy price rises, and when we hear that the government supports an increase in interest rates to possibly 5.5% next month, at the same time we are spending billions and billions of pounds on arms to Ukraine.”
“This is an absolutely improper use of public money,” he continued, especially given that “there are war crimes being carried out in the Ukraine with British arms.”
Noting that “we’ve just seen troops belonging to a far-right militia using American vehicles, American humvees, invading Russian territory in the last few days,” he pointed out that “there are clearly, clearly,” British weapons being put to uses “which they shouldn’t be put to.”
“We have got to, as a movement, say which side we stand on in this question,” he added. “We’ve got to stand against war.”
And he’s not the only figure among the British labor movement to feel this way, he explained.
“We’ve got to back up our comrades in the UCU [University and Colleges Union] — and I take my hat off to them — voting this week to support a motion against arms sales to Ukraine,” he said, before acknowledging the work of the ‘Stop The War’ Coalition as well.
Earlier this week, the UCU, a 120,000-member union of professors and lecturers which bills itself as “the largest post-school union in the world,” faced a major internal dispute after the majority of the rank-and-file voted for a measure which called to end Britain’s arms shipments to Ukraine, sparking an angry backlash from leadership.
Mainstream media in the UK has reacted to both developments with predictable displeasure, with one outlet complaining that a handful of Labour MPs in attendance “failed to criticise Gordon’s claims that Britain’s support for Ukraine was an “obscenity” and made Britain complicit in “war crimes … with British arms.””
As the second-largest arms provider to Ukraine after the United States, the UK has officially committed to providing £4.6 billion in what it calls “military assistance” to the Zelensky regime so far.
