- #spycops
Blacklisted workers were kept under surveillance by big business but also by the British state who exchanged information with major employers. BSG are among the core participants in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing and will therefore be attending the protest at the next hearing:
Protest at undercover policing public inquiry hearing – all welcome
9am Wed 5th April 2017
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
The police have confirmed the name of another undercover police officer who spied on activists during the 1980s. His real name is Roger Pearce and he is now a writer but his assumed name was ROGER THORLEY. Which campaigns he infiltrated is so far unknown. Does anyone recognize or remember him? Photo attached
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Roger_Pearce
Police admit to hacking activists emails & targeting Make Poverty History – oh and if you retire, they will drop all investigations of destroying evidence (apparently)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39341020
- BSG Solidarity action:
Orgreave
We made some noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKAAVgM0cqA
Pix: https://www.facebook.com/paul.rutland.94/media_set?set=a.1245970435499805&type=3
Don’t Buy The S*n
Blacklist Support Group together with the construction rank & file have paid for a Liverpool taxi to be covered in Don’t Buy The S*n livery – we are very proud to support such a worthwhile campaign and big thank you to Mo for allowing his taxi to be used. Photo attached.
Durham TAs
BSG were represented on the Durham TAs Day of Solidarity
background: http://shopstewards.net/2017/03/nssn-333-teaching-assistants-still-fighting-in-derby-and-durham/
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/familiesagainstblacklist/
Jobs Town Not Guilty
BSG are supporting anti-water charge activists in Ireland facing jail for a peaceful protest – including a 17 year old school student and Paul Murphy TD
https://sites.google.com/view/jobstownnotguilty/
Ferrybridge power station walkout
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-39427982
New Internationalist
‘Blacklisted’ book was controversial and we received multiple legal threats prior to publication. The only publishers we could find who were prepared to take the risk were New Internationalist (NI), who have subsequently worked in collaboration with the BSG at political events in the Westminster and Holyrood parliament and were sponsors of our two day conference at the University of Greenwich last September.
New Internationalist are a coop who have been publishing their well respected magazine for decades and also publish a series of books. Following the success of Blacklisted, NI have now set up a new trade union imprint and will be publishing more books aimed at a union audience. In order to survive in the current economic climate, NI have decided to offer their readers the chance to buy shares in the coop. So far Desmund Tutu, John Pilger, Emma Thompson, Jarvis Cocker and Billy Bragg among others have supported the cause. This is the video (you might recognize some of the people and some of the books): https://youtu.be/eOO7ZuNkHUY
- Tories promise legislation against blacklisting of NHS whistleblowers – activists are not impressed
- Dates for the diary
Crossrail prosecution over death of Rene Tkacik
silent vigil – Westminster magistrates court
Wednesday 12th of April at 2pm
nearest tube Edgware Road NW1 5BR
organized by Construction Safety Campaign supported by London Hazards Centre
International Workers Memorial Day
28th April 2017
Remember the Dead – Fight for the Living
Bristol – with Phil Chamberlain – https://network23.org/bristolhazardsgroup/
- Letter sent by TSSA union to John McDonnell MP
Dear John,
RE: TSSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE RESOLUTION 11 – BLACKLISTING
I am writing to you with the text of a resolution carried by delegates at TSSA’s Annual Conference which the Union’s Executive Committee has asked me to convey to you:
“That this Conference supports trade union efforts to expose and challenge historic and current blacklisting.
Conference notes that the Labour Party is opposed to blacklisting and welcomes the statement by John McDonnell MP that ‘Labour will do everything in our power to ensure that taxpayers’ money is only given to companies with the highest ethical standards’.
Conference urges the EC to explore actions that can be taken to persuade Network Rail not to let contracts to known blacklisting companies”.
As you will know, TSSA is a union that operates principally within the rail industry in Britain and Ireland, and it is for this reason that the resolution also includes references to Network Rail, the infrastructure manager for most of the railways of Britain. The company carries out a lot of its renewal and enhancements work through using contractors and sub-contractors, amongst whom are Carillion and Balfour Beatty. Both of these organisations have been subject to judicial proceedings which ended up by being settled for significant sums of money in May 2016.
Whilst the payment of compensation is an admission of culpability by these and other construction firms, it doesn’t really recompense blacklisted workers for the hardships that they have endured. On this basis, I am writing to you to also convey TSSA’s support for your stance on blacklisting and to add our voice to calls to both remove offending companies from contracting lists (especially those used by public sector organisations like Network Rail) and to demand a public inquiry into the whole issue.
Yours sincerely
Rob Jenks
Policy Advisor
Blacklist Support Group