CODIR ran a busy and engaging operation at UNISON’s recent National Delegate Conference.  Our information stall was visited by hundreds of delegates.  As in previous years, we ran our stall alongside Liberation (formerly the Movement for Colonial Freedom, established in 1954), one of Britain’s oldest human rights non-governmental organisations, to which CODIR has been a longtime affiliate.

This year, there was of course particular interest in our stall, campaign, and activities owing to the disastrous US-Israeli war on Iran taking place in the background.  Many delegates took the opportunity to visit our stall and talk with our Assistant General Secretary, Jamshid Ahmadi, as well as members of CODIR’s committed and excellent team of volunteers.  Further interest was generated by a motion on the war on Iran and the ongoing campaign for human and democratic rights in the country that was on the NDC’s agenda and a further emergency motion put before Conference by UNISON’s National Executive Council.  When General Secretary, Angela Egan (second from the right) came to see us, we were able to thank her personally for UNISON’s affiliation and its invaluable continued support for CODIR’s work.

CODIR Exhibition Stand spreads the message…

CODIR volunteers at the stall were able to provide up-to-the-minute information on the struggle of the Iranian people for trade union and democratic rights and for lasting peace.  Many who visited were international officers in their branches, and we were able to suggest how UNISON organisations could best contribute to CODIR’s work.  One visitor kindly and positively remarked that there were three campaigns, aside from War on Want, whose stalls she always made a point of visiting each year at Conference without failure: the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC), the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and… the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) owing to the “illuminating and up-to-date information” she would receive “on the actual situation affecting those countries, refreshingly free of the bias and misinformation often presented by the mainstream media and elsewhere.”   

Fringe meeting

Many delegates attended our lunchtime “Hands Off Iran!” fringe meeting. Our panel (left to right) was Jamshid Ahmadi (Assistant General Secretary, CODIR); Alex Gordon (National Officer, Stop the War Coalition); David McKnight (Meeting Chair and Regional Organiser, UNISON North West); Micaela Tracey-Ramos (Vice Chair, UNISON NEC International Committee); Joe Gill (journalist at the Middle East Eye); and Liz Payne (President of the National Assembly of Women).

Attendees to the fringe meeting were offered a delicious light lunch as well as refreshments prepared by a Brighton-based collective working for peace in Palestine.                                             

CODIR Assistant General Secretary, Jamshid Ahmadi, told the packed fringe meeting about the sheer horror and devastation that has been inflicted on Iran and his people as a result of the illegal and unprovoked attack launched on the country by the U.S. and Israel.  He further pointed out how important it is to ensure that the Memorandum of Understanding, signed on the very morning of the fringe meeting by the Iranian President Mahmoud Pezeshkian and U.S. President Donald Trump, results in a full ceasefire, a definitive end to all hostilities, and a bona fide peace thereafter.  However, he went on to sound a note of caution owing to the dubious nature of Trump’s various pronouncements, including his threat to simply return to bombing Iran should he not get what he wants out of the negotiations to follow.

Mr. Ahmadi added that the war had tragically already served to greatly weaken and set back the movement for human and democratic rights inside Iran, which had up until then been gathering pace and strength.  He called upon UNISON and other trade union affiliates of CODIR to resolutely get behind the growing campaign for an immediate ceasefire and peace in Iran and the wider Middle East.  “Without peace, there is not even the basic foundation for the struggle in defence of Iran’s national sovereignty as well as for human and democratic rights, including trade union rights, inside the country,” he concluded.

CODIR Celebrates the Success of its Executive member

Micaela Tracey-Ramos (Vice Chair, UNISON NEC International Committee) visits CODIR’s stand at Conference to support our work. CODIR is excited to receive the news that Micaela was elected by the NDC to serve as the Vice President of the union for 2026- 27.