Later this month, another group of Filton actionists will be up in court at Woolwich. Like defendants in previous trials, they are facing serious charges under discredited “joint enterprise” laws which allow prosecutors to charge defendants with the same crime as the main alleged offenders in a case even if they were not present at the scene. Human rights organisations have been fighting against this legal doctrine for years: Liberty says “people are convicted under joint enterprise based on prejudicial evidence, information that could be inaccurate, or racial stereotypes.”

They also may face the prospect of “terrorist connection sentencing”, despite never being charged with, or convicted of, any terrorism offence. Recent sentences of this type mark the first time in British history that people have been sentenced as terrorists for damage to property. The resulting punishment being meted out to those taking direct action sets a very grim and ominous precedent for the future of British civil liberties and our right to protest, including what remains of our highly restricted rights to protest heinous state crimes like genocide. 

Prosecutors’ appeasement of Donald Trump’s rage at the “terrorists” who allegedly damaged the lawn at his Scottish golf course hit the front page of the New York Times last month when it was revealed that yet another group of activists are risking punitive “terrorism connection” sentencing for a protest which damaged property to call attention to crimes against humanity. 

Why should trade unionists care?

Defending civil liberties and the right to protest is the core of trade unionism – unions were formed in order to prevent human rights abuses at work and had to fight from the beginning for the very right to exist as a trade union and to protest against those abuses.

Unions should care about these developments because although they are currently aimed mostly at the Palestine and climate movements, not only are there vast intersections between these issues and the people who organise around them, it follows that if they succeed in silencing these realms of dissent they will target the unions next. 

Most importantly, we cannot sit by and let the state pick off a few individuals for standing up to genocide, when there are hundreds of thousands of us who feel the same way. We need to show the state that not only have they lost the argument about genocide and our government’s complicity – as seen in the 25 massive national demonstrations since October 2023, and the fact that jurors in British courts are increasingly refusing to convict activists facing show trials – but that the direct actionists opposing genocide are also part of our movement.

What can unions in Britain do?

How can trade unions today become more radicalised at branch level, how can they nurture autonomy from the stifling effects of passive trade union leaders and bureaucracy?

How can union branches be a place for radical ideas around Palestine, mass solidarity actions, and stopping the flow of arms for war and genocide, as we’ve seen at ports and in general strikes in Italy, Greece, Belgium, France, India, Canada and elsewhere.

In other words how can we fuse the pro-Palestine movement on the streets and in direct action groups, with the trade union movement?

Since the proscription of Palestine Action in July 2025, we have seen trade union solidarity working to oppose and condemn the ban, to support those who have faced unprecedented punishment for stopping the supply of arms to Israel, and to demand the government and the police stop state repression and manipulation of the justice system, designed to protect the profits of arms companies and cover up the atrocities of the Israeli and American war machines. 

Union members successfully pushed from below to change national union policy in the last year, most significantly at last September’s TUC Congress when delegates, representing 5.6 million workers, voted unanimously to demand the repeal of the proscription of Palestine Action.

TUC Congress also condemned the “serious escalation in authoritarianism” embodied in the Labour government’s attack on protest rights through restrictions on the national marches for Palestine and “the home secretary’s abuse of anti-terrorism legislation to ban a non-violent, direct action group, persecute opponents of this move and target peaceful activists.” The call to overturn the ban was an amendment to a motion proposed by the National Education Union (NEU) on Palestine.

Members in branches of the NEU, University and College Union (UCU) and Unite unions succeeded in getting motions to their national conferences and voted into national policy.

The NEU as of April 2026, is committed to defending the right to protest, opposing further restrictions on these rights including opposing the new Crime and Policing Bill, demanding the government immediately end the ban on Palestine Action, supporting calls for those arrested for taking part in protests organised by Defend Our Juries to have the charges dropped, defending the right to trial by jury, and demanding the repeal of the 2023 Public Order Act (Motion 21).

Following the union’s national congress in May 2026 it is UCU policy to:

Campaign against suppression of protest, censorship and attacks on the right to a fair trial in coordination with MPs, TUC and civil society organisations such as Amnesty, the Palestine Coalition, Defend our Juries and prisoners’ families (Motion 37).

At the 2025 Policy Conference, Unite the Union passed a “Right to Protest” motion which committed to: ⁠

Demand the Labour Government repeals the previous Conservative Government’s legislation which conflicts with international human rights law and risks the right to peaceful protest, and review legislation overall to ensure that political dissent, freedom of expression and trade union rights are not under threat in the UK

Speak out against the silencing of defendants and the handing down of prison sentences to non-violent protestors

Demand the Government reconsider the sentencing and imprisonment of non-violent protestors, particularly in light of the extreme pressure on prisons and prison staff. 

Having these motions as national policy provides leverage for branches to start organising local and regional meetings around the issue of the right to protest.

Union members have organised public meetings with speakers from groups facing state repression for direct action or challenging the extension of the terrorism laws. Unite Community Branch in Leeds hosted a public meeting on 5 September addressed by speakers from the Filton 25 campaign, Mothin Ali of the Green Party and a speaker from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. Around 70 people packed into the meeting, which heard a message of solidarity from Richard Burgon, MP. Glasgow Trades Council, Camden Unison and London Region UCU also hosted public meetings in July and September 2025.

Activists from the London Region of the RMT invited Kamran Ahmed from Filton25 campaign to speak at their meeting on 30 June. Reps heard directly from Kamran about the repression faced by the Filton actionists and the threat to protest rights and trade union rights. Eddie Dempsey, the RMT’s general secretary attended the meeting and spoke powerfully of his support for the campaign’s demands. Mel Mullings and RMT rep, National Women’s Advisory Committee Chair and Bakerloo Line Branch Secretary, took the Protest is Not Terrorism (PNT) model motion to her own branch and won members’ backing for a series of action points including producing information leaflets for members about the Filton Defence campaign, issuing a public statement and urging higher levels of the union to do the same. 

Mel says:

An injury to one is an injury to all. For me, this is not a slogan, it is a lived reality. As a Black woman, trade unionist, and community organiser, my solidarity goes far beyond the workplace it is global, personal, and duty bound. Motions of solidarity touch the very soul of what it means to be a socialist. Justice can be painful to fight for, but it is the only path to true harmony. To my comrades who bravely fight with direct action and the Filton 25: your struggle is our struggle. Rest assured, a motion is only the starting line. I will continue to fight, follow up, and turn these words into active, ongoing support through the RMT. Free Palestine.”

Union members in health and education have also organised and signed open letters: hundreds of academics signed a letter from global scholars in August 2025, while education union leaders called for the release of the Filton hunger-strikers in December 2025.

Union branch banners and delegations have joined protests outside court during trials of activists, such as Unite community members who joined a 150-strong demonstration outside Preston Crown Court in solidarity with the Barclays 5. Trade unionists from UCU, Unison, NEU and NUJ have joined delegations and brought branch banners to witness circles at Defend our Juries demonstrations around the country throughout 2025 and 2026.

By organising these kinds of initiatives at branch level, ordinary members can radicalise trade unions from below and help to bring the spirit of the Italian strikers and dockworkers against war and genocide into our movement.

Next steps for branches:

• Pass the Protest is Not Terrorism (PNT) model motion for trade unions opposing terrorism connection sentences and the wider crackdown on civil liberties 
• Invite a speaker from the Filton 25 campaign or the Barclays 5 to your branch meeting: email info@protestisnotterrorism.uk for further info and speaker contacts
• Send a message of solidarity and your branch banner to the rally at Woolwich Crown Court for the start of Filton Trial 3 (more details on timing to follow)