Taj Salam (Unite
branch secretary at First Bus Bradford) describes the importance of public transport
and outlines a strategy to boost passenger numbers.
Wednesday, 11 May 2022
The importance of public transport and a strategy to boost passenger numbers
How the Unite branch at First Bus Bradford has successfully got some members involved in political activities
Taj Salam (branch
secretary and a Labour councillor) describes how the First Bus Bradford Unite
the union 302/7 branch, 100 years old in 2022, has successfully sought to get
its members involved in political activities including by becoming local
councillors.
Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Deep Deception Public meeting in Hebden Bridge on 10 April at 2pm: McLibel Campaigner Helen Steel tells the story of ‘the spycops network’
Public meeting organised by Calderdale Trades Union Council
2pm on 10th April at Hebden Bridge Trades Club
Deep Deception
McLibel Campaigner Helen Steel tells the story of ‘the
spycops network’ and the women like herself who uncovered the shocking truth
In 1987, Helen Steel was a gardener and environmental and
social justice activist with, amongst others, London Greenpeace. She later
formed part of ‘the McLibel 2’ campaign that badly damaged the reputation of McDonald’s.
Almost two decades earlier in 1968, a shadowy undercover
police unit was established in Britain – the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS)
– to spy on protesters in mainly left-wing and progressive groups. SDS This along
with its successor – the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU),
formed in 1999 – targeted anyone with a desire to protest the status quo.
That included anyone expressing a dissenting voice, or
attempting to hold the government or big business to account. Steel, as part of
‘The McLibel Two’ campaign that began in 1990 and lasted well over a decade, was
just such a voice.
Officers from the SDS and NPOIU secretly infiltrated
organisations by ‘any means necessary’, including forming long-term, intimate
sexual and emotional relationships with women activists, having children with
some and robbing others of the chance of motherhood. Helen Steel was targeted by
an SDS officer whose real name was John Dines but who hid behind the name of
John Barker, who had died at aged 8 in 1968. Steel had no idea she was involved
with a police spy.
Dines is amongst over twenty undercover officers who have been
identified as having deceived women into intimate relationships. The women had
no idea they were involved with men who were police spies.
Steel and the women have discovered the truth about these
men’s identities and tactics through their own research and shared experiences.
It was those efforts that led to the public exposure of the
officers and subsequent widespread outcry about the activities of these units.
Since these initial discoveries, the tactics of the SDS and
NPOIU have become one of the biggest policing scandals of our time. The
revelations led in part to the announcement of an undercover policing inquiry
(UCPI), which began taking evidence in November 2020. The fight for truth and
justice is far from over.
Steel and four women involved are now releasing a book DEEP
DECEPTION ON 31ST March. Come along to Hebden Bridge Trades Club at
2pm (prompt) on Sunday 10 April to listen to Helen Steel, a remarkable woman.
Other speakers at this meeting will include UCPI Core Participants
such as Mark Metcalf, a NUJ delegate to Calderdale Trades Council.
11 May - just over 50 people attended the meeting.
Friday, 11 March 2022
RUSSIA SOLIDARITY FUND REOPENS – comrades from 24 countries involved.
RUSSIA SOLIDARITY FUND REOPENS – comrades from 24
countries involved.
Over the years, experienced anti-fascists across
the world have politically, morally and financially supported their comrades in
Russia in their fight against the tyranny of the Putin regime.
We have now reopened a solidarity fund and at the
start of week beginning 7th March 2022. €6681 has already been sent
to our friends in Poland to be sent on to Russia.
Comrades from 24 countries are now involved. Here
in Great Britain, we are now collecting and want you, comrades and friends, to
start to collect funds towards paying the legal and medical costs of Russian
war-resisters and anti-fascists.
Please send your collected funds to the centralised
bank account below. It will be sent to Russia by safe route.
For obvious security reasons we can't give further
details.
We will send you a receipt and transfer money, as a larger sum, to Paris to
cut transfer costs. Everything will be transparent to the point that money
leaves for Russia.
The details are:
NatWest Bank
Sort code: 01 06 05
Account number: 83968792
As of early on Friday 11th March a
further £1200 has been collected.
We also have available t-shirt designs in English
and Russian – the words in Russian mean: I support war-resisters and
anti-fascists in Russia - that anyone is welcome to use. There is no
charge for this artwork but donations to the fund would be appreciated.
•
The organiser of this collection has had
responsibility variously for solidarity fund collections for Medical Aid for
Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s, for jailed dockers and construction
workers, for striking miners in 1972, 1974 and 1984-85, for more strikes and
industrial action than he can remember, for arrested and jailed anti-fascists
in the UK and Germany, for Asian workers in struggle, for an anti-deportation
campaign, for solidarity support for German anti-fascists in 1990 and 1996 and
most recently for Russian anti-fascists and striking miners in Spain. The total
sums of money involved have been considerable and always scrupulously
accountable.
During the miners’ strike of 1984-85, he moved sums
of money to help striking miners to continue mass picketing and to feed their
families. This was illegal because at the time Mrs Thatcher’s government had
sequestrated the funds of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). In addition
to being trusted to do that, he was also designated by the North Derbyshire NUM
with the responsibility of organising the collection and delivery of funds,
food and clothing for miners and their families across a region of northern
England.
At no time has anyone ever, whatever their political differences with
him, questioned his honesty, integrity or commitment to the cause.
Monday, 7 March 2022
Wednesday, 2 March 2022
Podcasts: the Rolls Royce Barnoldswick dispute & strikes by Unite members in 2020/21
The
Barnoldswick Dispute - Extracts from the episodes. by Unite Oral History
(anchor.fm)
In 2020 and 2021, Unite members at Rolls Royce, Barnoldswick took
strike action in a long-running dispute to defend their jobs. At the
conclusion, members accepted an enhanced agreement that secured the future of
the site and included a commitment that there will be no compulsory
redundancies for five years and manufacturing will be undertaken at
Barnoldswick for at least 10 years.
Mark Porter, works convenor at Rolls Royce Barnoldswick, David
Sproule, senior steward and one of the strikers, and Ross Quinn, Unite NW regional officer for aerospace and shipbuilding explain
why action was needed and the outcome.
The
Barnoldswick Dispute - Extracts from the episodes. by Unite Oral History
(anchor.fm)
Individual interviews
Mark Porter, UNITE
works convenor at Rolls Royce Barnoldswick, talks about the long-running
dispute at the plant in 2020/21 and how a satisfactory outcome was achieved.
The
Barnoldswick Dispute - Episode One by Unite Oral History (anchor.fm)
David Sproule, a UNITE senior steward at Rolls Royce, talks about the long-running dispute, during which he
was twice on strike for a number of weeks, at the plant in 2020/21 and how a
satisfactory outcome was achieved.
The
Barnoldswick Dispute - Episode Three by Unite Oral History (anchor.fm)
Ross Quinn, Unite NW regional officer for aerospace and shipbuilding, talks about the long-running
dispute by UNITE members at the Rolls Royce Barnoldswick plant in 2020/21 and
how a satisfactory outcome was achieved.
The
Barnoldswick Dispute - Episode Two by Unite Oral History (anchor.fm)
Showing of ULTRAVIOLENCE - a film about resistance to state violence in Hebden Bridge on 20 March 2022
HOME
The silence over the police killings of Black people is now broken. Since 1969, over two thousand people have died at the hands of the police in the UK. Shootings, chokeholds, batons, gassing, suffocation, restraint and brutal beatings are some of the methods used. The numbers of deaths is escalating. Inevitably police officers involved are not convicted for these killings. In this documentary, the families of the victims of police violence demand justice. They ask why society ignores human rights abuses by agents of the state. This reflection on resistance is poignant and political, capturing the brutality and trauma as well as the unrelenting fightback of those who will not be silent about state violence.
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