The following emergency resolution was passed at UNITE the union’s policy conference 25-28 June 2012.

Emergency resolution on Egypt

Unite conference condemns recent moves by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt which concentrate legislative, executive and judicial power in the hands of unelected generals. These include the dissolution of parliament, the removal of the powers of the presidency and giving the military police the authority to arrest civilians for joining peaceful protests and strikes. The question of whether power lies with the generals, at the ballot box or in the streets is now even more urgent with the election of Mohammed Morsi and the defeat of Ahmad Shafiq, the candidate of the counter-revolution.

We proclaim our solidarity with all those Egyptians who are working to resist the military’s clear attempt to undo the democratic gains of the 25^th January revolution. We stand with our sisters and brothers in Egypt’s independent unions who are fighting to realise the revolution’s demands of ‘bread, freedom and social justice’.

We call on the trade union movement nationally and internationally to urgently organise the widest possible campaign against the attempted military coup in Egypt, and to demand that the British government withdraws from all forms of military co-operation with the Egyptian authorities.

Proposer: Gill George
London and Eastern Region