Zack Polanski meets unions in attempt to get them to switch party funding to Greens | Zack Polanski

Zack Polanski launched a charm offensive designed to persuade unions to stop funding Labor and throw their weight behind the Green party as he delivered the first of a series of speeches at union conferences.

According to party sources, the Green leader has had “good discussions” with 10 unions, including some affiliated with the Labor Party, and will address the University and College Union and the non-Labor Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union in the coming months.

Britain’s largest unions, Unite and Unison, were among those who refused to negotiate with Polanski and said they remained loyal to the Labor Party. But Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labor ahead of a special conference in 2027, at which time it could potentially decide to leave.

While Green party sources acknowledged that Polanski’s talks with individual unions varied in formality, some within the union were adamant that supporting the Greens would be unacceptable territory and that such discussions were “futile in vain”.

Although there has been a change in Unison’s leadership, some union members believe there may be more to come in the future than “public disagreements over the government’s political agenda”.

The Greens have enjoyed a huge surge in voting since their first national by-election victory in Gorton and Denton, with the party’s membership in England and Wales tripling to nearly 200,000 since last September.

A Green party source said: “Zack said his aim when he became leader of the Green party was to replace Labor and building strong links with unions was a central part of that plan.

“The working class is increasingly looking to the Greens as the only party that will tackle the cost of life crisis and defend their rights. Zack’s first priority is to force unions to stop funding Labor, which made big promises to workers in opposition and is now making a U-turn by watering down those promises.”

Polanski sought to impress teachers across the UK with a savage attack on the government’s education record at the National Education Union annual conference in Brighton on Monday.

He received a standing ovation from members for his speech in which he promised to abolish Ofsted, “serious cash injections” into schools and a halt to academic teaching.

Polanski, the first Green leader to address the Near East University, said education had been “pushed to the brink by the toxic twin pressures of ideologically driven restructuring and an inexcusable squeeze on budgets.”

Promising additional funding for education that would come from taxing “excessive” wealth, Polanski said the Labor government had come to power promising change but had only been “tinkering” around the edges.

The Greens will propose more radical reforms. “Ofsted is a toxic, failing institution that harms teachers and children,” he said, to great applause. “We need to end the Ofsted era altogether and move towards a truly collaborative model.

“Next we need to talk about academies. Another failed model imposed on teachers and children by previous governments’ ideological drive to market our children’s education.”

It was music to the ears of NEU members, as was its attack on more testing in Labor-run schools with a grade 8 reading assessment – ​​something members had previously opposed.

“It is time for a different approach. An approach that recognizes that real learning, real skills, real understanding cannot be measured by standardized tests alone. An approach that recognizes the vital role of arts and vocational subjects and treats them equally in the curriculum.

“And it is something that truly equips children for the world they grow up in, giving them the media literacy they need in a dizzying landscape of social media and fake news, the understanding of ecosystems and biodiversity vital to tackling the climate and nature crisis, and the creative and critical thinking skills that distinguish us from machines in the age of AI.”

Polanski’s speech was welcomed by NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede, who said more than 60% of its members voted Labor in the last election, adding: “Our members think Zach is talking more about schools and education at the moment.”