Scotland’s charity regulator has thrown out a complaint against the Glasgow Film Theatre over its decision to remove goods and brands linked to Israel.
Earlier this month Unite Hospitality members working at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) reached an agreement with management to remove goods for sale at the cinema listed under Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Coca-Cola products will no longer be sold, and a wider review of the GFT’s relationship with other goods linked to Israel will be reviewed.
However, this was challenged by the campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), who wrote a letter to OSCR - the independent regulator for charities in Scotland - who claimed the boycott broke the law.
UKLFI said the decision to remove products breached of sections seven and eight of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the Act), and that support for boycotts like BDS are outside GFT’s charitable purposes, and therefore illegal.
However, OSCR has now rejected these claims, saying it was for the GFT to decide.
The regulator released a statement on Friday afternoon, saying: "We have assessed the concerns raised and concluded that they do not present a regulatory issue.
“The matter is for the charity to decide, and therefore, OSCR will not be taking any further action."
The row began after an open letter from Unite Hospitality was called for the theatre to adhere to the BDS movement and endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
The letter was signed by the likes of Ghassan Abu-Sittah, rector of the University of Glasgow, and filmmaker Ken Loach; with others on the list of more than 1,400 names including Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur, BAFTA nominees Elhum Shakerifar (producer) and Theo Panagopoulos (filmmaker), ‘Still Game’ star Gavin Mitchell and filmmaker Paul Laverty.
More than 85 per cent of front-of-house and cleaning staff at the cinema are part of the Unite Hospitality Union and had vowed not to sell the products.
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The cinema is also reviewing the adoption of the BDS movement across the board and Unite say they hope it will encourage other similar companies to do the same in the future.
Launching the challenge, Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI said: “The political activism undertaken by the GFT by boycotting Coca-Cola products is clearly not in line with the GFT’s legal and charitable obligations, and brings the reputation of the GFT into disrepute, both as a business and a charity.
“We urge the Board of Trustees to reconsider their position and stop the boycott.”
However, the complaint has now been dismissed.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) said: "The request by Unite union members of staff that GFT join the BDS movement is under review by GFT’s Board of Trustees. The goal of the review is to ensure that any decisions made do not infringe our legal and charitable obligations and that all staff can have their voices heard.
"Glasgow Film Theatre is a not-for-profit educational charity committed to delivering its mission of Cinema For All. We are mindful of all the communities we serve and our responsibilities as a charity, and are happy to respond to any request for information from OSCR."
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