Green leader Zack Polanski is attempting to woo Britain’s trade unions as he attempts to replace Labour as the country’s main Left-wing party.
Mr Polanski, a self-described ‘eco-populist’, is said to have spoken to ten unions, including some of those who provide significant funding to Labour.
He is also set to speak at five union conferences in an attempt to win over their members, The Times reported.
There are already huge tensions in Labour’s relationship with Britain’s two largest trade unions under Keir Starmer‘s leadership.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, recently warned Labour will be ‘decimated’ at May’s elections and predicted the Prime Minister will be booted out of office in the wake of dismal results.
Unite’s executive council this month voted to cut its affiliation fee to Labour by 40 per cent, which will cost the party as much as £580,000.
Sir Keir also suffered a blow at the end of last year when Andrea Egan, another Left-wing critic of the PM, was elected as boss of Unison.
She has promised a ‘comprehensive review’ of her union’s relationship with Labour.
Green leader Zack Polanski is attempting to woo Britain’s trade unions as he attempts to replace Labour as the country’s main Left-wing party.
Mr Polanski, a self-described ‘eco-populist’, is pictured joining dancers on stage at a ‘House Against Hate’ protest rave in London on Saturday
Keir Starmer used the launch of Labour’s local elections campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday to attack Mr Polanski
Mr Polanski told The Times that he had held ‘fruitful’ conversations with union leaders.
‘When I became Green Party leader I said I wasn’t here to be disappointed by Labour – I’m here to replace them,’ he said.
‘And a crucial part of that is connecting with the organised labour movement.
‘Since becoming leader I’ve had lots of really fruitful conversations with key union figures.
‘And it’s clear that many people in trade unions are feeling really let down by this Labour government and are ready to work more closely with the Green Party.’
A Green source told the newspaper that Mr Polanski’s goal was to stop the unions funding Labour, rather than getting them to back the Greens outright.
Mr Polanski is due to make the first in a series of speeches to trade unions at the National Education Union’s (NEU) conference in Brighton on Monday afternoon.
He will urge the Government to take greater action to bring down bills and improve living standards in order to improve educational attainment.
‘The cost of living crisis is a crisis of childhood, too,’ Mr Polanski is expected to say.
‘Today, nearly one in three children are growing up in households that struggle to afford the basics – like food, heating, and school supplies.
‘It’s a crisis of youth, with financial pressures forcing young people to curb their ambitions and make choices about their future based on what they can afford now.
‘And it’s a crisis of education. I know that every day you’re seeing children come in tired, hungry, unable to concentrate and unable to learn because they haven’t eaten or haven’t slept. Kids missing school because they can’t afford the bus fare.
‘This is no way to raise the next generation.’
Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, dismissed concerns about allegations of anti-Semitism in the Green Party.
He told Times Radio: ‘I’m not a Green Party member. But what I would say is this: Zack Polanski is one of the few Jewish political leaders of our time. And we are an anti-racist trade union.
‘I have every faith that Zack Polanski is an anti-racist leader and leads a party that has an awful lot of anti-racists within it.
‘So I am not particularly concerned about having Zack Polanski come and talk to our conference on that basis.’
Mr Kebede also said he would refrain from again using the phrase ‘globalise the intifada’, as he did at a pro-Palestine rally in Newcastle in 2021.
Intifada is an Arabic term for ‘uprising’, with calls to ‘globalise the intifada’ seen by some Jewish people as an incitement to violence.
The NEU boss said: ‘I used that turn of phrase at the time of a general strike across Palestine at the West Bank and Gaza that was called the Unity Intifada, and that was in opposition to the evictions at Sheikh Jarrah.
‘I have been very clear that I wouldn’t be using turns of phrase like that again.’
It came as Sir Keir used the launch of Labour’s local elections campaign to attack Mr Polanski.
The PM claimed Britain would be ‘weak and exposed’ if the Green leader, Reform UK’s Nigel Farage or Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was in power.
‘Then you’ve got Polanski,’ the PM said.
‘He thinks that with a war on two fronts, now is the time to give up our NATO membership, now is the time to start negotiating with Putin over our nuclear deterrent.
‘We’d be left so weak and so exposed if any of those individuals were in government, and it’s really important therefore that we stick to our principles, stick to our values and show the leadership that’s needed in a time like this.’
Also speaking at the event, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell mocked Mr Polanski’s past as a hypnotist – including him once claiming he could enlarge women’s breasts through hypnosis.
Speaking in Wolverhampton, she said: ‘Look into my eyes, look deep into my eyes, and I will let you in on a little secret.
‘The Greens are no good at running councils. Their hypnotic promises are just an illusion.’
A Labour Party source said: ‘Labour is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation to address low pay, insecure work and poor working conditions, which will benefit 15 million workers across the country.
‘While Zack Polanski chases headlines, we’ll get on with delivering the change working people voted for.’
