Defend the 4 found guilty

DEFEND THE FOUR NEWSLETTER
JULY 17TH 2009
The four found guilty of both charges and await their penalites!
 
The 2-day hearings have now finished. The four have been found guilty of both charges (see details below). However the four will have to wait for up to 14 days to find out what penalties will be imposed on them.
 
Glenn, Suzanne, Kas and Brian have been charged with producing a leaflet at the annual conference of Unison in 2007 which questioned why the Standing Orders Committee had ruled out key motions from being debated. Simply highlighting this on a leaflet resulted in the first charge of an "attack on the integrity of the members of the Standing Orders Committee."
 
The second charge relates to the use of a well known Buddhist proverb and cartoon on the leaflet of the three wise monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). The four have been charged with "Failing to show due care in not anticipating that someone might take offence [from the leaflet]".
 
The attacks have nothing to do with these trumped up charges and everything to do with eliminating any opposition to the Unison leadership, and specifically when this opposition is from members of the Socialist Party, as with the four. Five Unison members were originally investigated but charges against the member who was not in the Socialist Party were dropped!
 
Socialist Party members in Unison have consistently argued that Unison should put their members before the interests of New Labour who receive huge sums of trade union money but then attack public sector workers.
 
This is a classic witch-hunt, with some Unison members already expelled and others under investigation for opposing the leadership. The two-year investigation and hearings have whipped up widespread anger towards the Unison leadership. The Defend the Four campaign has attracted huge support within Unison and the wider trade union movement.
 
Please protest against the charges
All supporters of the four are called on to flood the union headquarters with protests against this blatant witch-hunt. The charge of racism in particular, no matter how it is framed, could not only jeopardise their union membership but also their employment chances.
 
Send your protests now to Unison HQ:
UNISON
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Telephone: 0845 355 0845 
e-mail: <> d.prentis@unison.co.uk 
Please Send copies of protest statements
email: <> info@stopthewitchhunt.org.uk
post to: Defend the Four Campaign,  PO Box 858 London E11 1YG
Check out    <http://www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk/> www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk.  for further details

MarshaJane
xx
www.unionfutures.blogspot.com

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