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Zack Polanski has kicked off a charm offensive designed to convince trade unions to stop funding Labour and throw their weight behind the Green party, as he delivered the first in a series of speeches to union conferences.
The Green leader has had “good conversations” with 10 trade unions, including some affiliated to Labour, according to party sources, and is due to address the University and College Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, not affiliated with Labour, in the coming months.
The UK’s largest unions – Unite and Unison – were among those that denied negotiating with Polanski and said they remained affiliated to the Labour party. However, Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labour before a special conference in 2027 at which it could potentially decide to disaffiliate.
While Green party sources admitted that discussions Polanski had held with individual unions varied in formality, some union insiders were adamant that supporting the Greens would be a no-go area, and that such discussions were “much ado about nothing”.
Although with a change in the leadership direction of Unison, some union members believe there could be more than just “public disagreements on the government’s political agenda” in future.
The Greens have enjoyed a huge boost in polling since their first national byelection victory in Gorton and Denton, and the party’s membership has tripled in England and Wales since last September to about 200,000.
A Green party source said: “When Zack became Green party leader he said his goal was to replace Labour – and building strong links with trade unions is a central part of that plan.
“Working class people are increasingly looking to the Greens as the only party which will tackle the cost of living crisis and stand up for their rights. Zack’s first priority is to push unions to stop funding the Labour party – a party which in opposition made huge promises to workers and is now watering down and U-turning on those promises.”
Polanski wooed the UK’s teachers with a savage attack on the government’s education record at the National Education Union annual conference in Brighton on Monday.
He won a standing ovation from members for his speech, where he promised the abolition of Ofsted, a “serious cash injection” into schools and a stop to turning more schools into academies.
As the first Green leader to ever address the NEU, Polanski said education had been “pushed to the brink by the toxic twin pressures of ideologically driven reorganisation, and an unforgivable squeeze in budgets”.
Promising additional funding for education sourced from taxing “extreme” wealth, Polanski said the Labour government had come into power promising change, but they were merely “tinkering” around the edges.
The Greens would offer more radical reform. “Ofsted is a toxic, failed institution which is harming teachers and children,” he said to huge applause. “We need to end the Ofsted era entirely and move towards a genuinely collaborative model.
“And then we need to talk about academies. Another failed model pushed on to teachers and children by previous governments’ ideological drive to marketise our children’s education.”
It was music to NEU members’ ears, as was his attack on the introduction of more testing in schools under Labour with a year 8 reading assessment – which members earlier voted to oppose.
“It’s time for a different approach. One that recognises that real learning, real skills, real understanding, can’t be measured only by standardised testing. One that recognises the vital role of arts and vocational subjects, and treats them equally within the curriculum.
“And one that genuinely equips children for the world they’re growing up into – giving them the media literacy they need in a dizzying social media and fake news landscape, the understanding of ecosystems and biodiversity vital to tackling the climate and nature crisis, and the creative and critical thinking skills that set us apart from machines in the age of AI.”
Polanski’s speech was welcomed by the NEU general secretary, Daniel Kebede, who said more than 60% of his members had voted Labour at the last election, adding: “I think our membership feels that Zack speaks more for schools and education than Labour do at the moment.”
