Memorial to Crewe's Spanish Civil War volunteers

¡No Pasaran!

A poignant event took place at Crewe Cemetery on Saturday 4th May, with the unveiling of a bench to commemorate George Fletcher and Edward McQuade, both volunteers in the 15th International Brigade fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.  Both men are buried in Crewe Cemetery just a few yards away from the bench that now bears their names.

The result of a long and determined campaign by Councillor Joy Bratherton, the ceremony was attended by relatives of the two men, representatives of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, and local civic figures including Laura Smith MP and Cllr. Brian Roberts, Mayor of Crewe and representatives from Unite the Union, Crewe No.1 RMT Branch and ASLEF.

A big shout out has to be made to: Unite (NW region), NW/64 Wharton and Salmesbury, NW/1400/5 Wigan, NW0269 and NW/0270,Crewe and NE/0604 Manchester Central.  All of whom made financial contributions towards the purchase and future maintenance of the memorial.

The Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 is largely eclipsed by the two monumental struggles that went before and immediately after it, and yet it represents a crucial episode in the fight against fascism, militarism and dictatorship.  It is all the more remarkable in that those who fought - some 2,500 of whom came from Britain and Ireland - were volunteers.  They were fighting to uphold democracy and social justice, at a time when Governments (including that of the UK) were actively appeasing fascist dictators in Europe.  Many of them died for the cause and lie to this day in Spanish soil.

Delores Ibárruri, the republican heroine of the Civil War, said of the International Brigades' volunteers - "You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of the solidarity and universality of democracy."

George and Edward finally have a proper and fitting recognition of their bravery.

************

Public inquiry says Mark Cassidy was police spy

Undercover police officer HN15 = Mark Cassidy = Mark Jenner 

THE undercover policing public inquiry has finally confirmed that the joiner many of us knew as Mark Cassidy was in truth an undercover police officer.  His real name is Mark Jenner and 

between 1995-2000, he infiltrated the construction UCATT (his subs were paid from a bank account set up by Special Branch) 

He also infiltrated rank and file groups including the Building Worker Safety Campaign, the meetings of which he chaired at the Colin Roach Centre in Hackney. Jenner / Cassidy also targeted RMT, Unison, CPSA, TGWU and was on numerous picketlines including Dahl Jenson at Waterloo, JJ Fastfoods at Tottenham Hale and L.B. Southwark DLO.

Mark Cassidy / Jenner was first publicly named in by an article by journalist & union activist Mark Metcalf and in Blacklisted book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith.  The Met Police issued a public apology to 'Alison', the activist he lived with during the five years of his deployment. It is shameful that the Met and the public inquiry have taken so long to admit that Mark Cassidy was an undercover police officer from the Special Demonstration Squad, something that everyone has known for years.  

'Alison', Mark Metcalf, UCATT (now part of UNITE) and blacklisted workers Brian Higgins, John Jones, Steve Hedley, Frank Smith, Dan Gilman & Dave Smith (who attended meetings, protests and pickets with Mark Cassidy / Jenner) have all been granted core participant status in the undercover police public inquiry. 

This public confirmation about Mark Cassidy comes just a week after the Met confirmed that police provided information to the building industry blacklist. 

Blacklist Support Group send a huge hug to 'Alison' and all the women activist at Police Spies Out of Lives for their inspirational battle to force the authorities to tell the truth about the undercover police officers that abused them.

https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/finally-confirms-hn15-mark-cassidy/

Full story on Mark Jenner: http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mark_Jenner

Death or life sentences for Indian trade unionists

13 TRADE UNIONISTS IN INDIA FACING DEATH SENTENCES OR LIFE IMPRISONMENT

SAVE THE LIVES OF THE MARUTI 13!

Letter to his Excellency Y.K. Sinha
High Commissioner of India in London:

We the undersigned are writing to you regarding the Indian trade unionists at the Maruti Suzuki car factory in Haryana State, an Indian plant of the Japanese Suzuki multinational corporation, who were arrested and charged in connection with incidents that took place at this factory in 2012, in which a factory manager died, have just been tried in court. (1)

117 of them were acquitted and 31 were convicted of various offenses, including 13 who were convicted of murder -- which in India is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Finality of the quantum of punishment will be out on March 17.

Of the 13 convicted of murder -- convictions in which no evidence was produced to prove their guilt -- 11 were leaders of the MSWU, the independent union that was formed in Maruti and that management sought to break through violence.

SAVE THE LIVES OF THE MARUTI 13!

Excellency, we ask you to communicate the following demands to the Indian authorities:

FREEDOM FOR ALL THE IMPRISONED WORKERS!
DROP ALL THE CHARGES!
(1)  This car factory was first privatised in 2002, and the consequences that flowed from this notably included making 50% of the monthly salary variable, depending on the level of production, and having the workers lose around 25% of this part of their wages if they were absent for a day due to sick leave! In order to defend the employees’ rights, an independent trade union, the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU), was set up in 2011. This was nothing more than the application of recognised provisions under the international Conventions 87 and 98 of the ILO. However, the company’s management stated attitude was that it was not even worth trying to set up a trade union, and it then resorted to deploying armed thugs around the factory.

Endorsers - pers cap

John Sweeney trade unionist, Member of the Mumbai Conference Continuations Committee; Mike Calvert, Deputy Secretary Islington Unison ; Ian Hodson, National President Bakers and Food Workers Union (BFAWU) ; Steve Hedley, RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary ; Jane Doolan, Secretary Islington Unison ; Nick Phillips Secretary Southwark Trades Council pers  ; Ronnie Draper General Secretary BFAWU ; John McNally National Vice – President Public & Commercial Services Union  ; Dave Auger Unison NEC; Adrian Kennett Unison NEC; Dean Ryan Islinton Unison  ; Dean Kirk Hull Unison  ; Keith Dunn Tottenham CLP ; Rachel Harris Halesowen and Rowley Regis CLP- USDAW ; Tam Dewar CWU- Labour party; Alison Birmingham Norfolk County Unison; Mina Rodgers Unison Retired members Secretary Leics Health Branch NPC National Committere; Tony Goss Trade Union Managers in Partnership Organiser , Torbay CLP; Rachael Harris, Halesowen and Rowley Regis CLP and USDAW; Michael Calderbank, Brent Central CLP; Cllr Mouna Hamitouche, Islington Labour Councillor; Jo Cardwell, Islington Unison; Mark Still, RMT; Jane Gebbie Bridend CLP Unison NPT; Geoff Jelly. Unison; George Binette Camden UNISON Branch Secretary & Camden Trades Council Chair; Steve Campbell Unite Community & Unison Retired; Liz Davies, UK barrister, Honorary Vice-President Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers; John Dennis Secretary Dumfries Trade Union Council & Secretary; Terry Luke, Islington Unison; Alex Wood, Unison; Richard Gill (Islington Unison); Claudia Calvino. Labour member Heeley CLP. Unite; Fiona Monkman  Islington Unison, Mike Arnott Dundee Trades Council; Stefan Cholewka Greater Manchester Association of Trades Councils ( GMATUCs) ; Doreen McNally Unite Liverpool Community Branch; Raymond Mennie Unite Dundee; Dave Green National Officer Fire Brigares Union FBU ; Islington Unison BC; Roger Silverman Newham NUTNewham Momentum; Brian Lawton,  Unite , London IT branch; Harry Smith UNITE;  Vinothan Sangarapillai, Camden Unison; Ayten Selcuk RMT; Kath O'Connor unison; Neil Parry  Unison Welsh Government Branch Secretary Cynon Valley CLP; Roger Lewis Lambeth Unison assistant branch secretary; Victoria Cuckson PCS; Michele Marshall UNIT; Richard Knights NUT; Peter Durrant, Unite. All members of Islington Unison Branch Committee: Isabel Handovsky. ; Andrew Berry; Denise Facey; Ghile Ghebrenegus ; Kevin Perkins; Angela Faventi; Tina Clayton Unison; Alison wood West Yorkshire; Adrian Kennett Unison NEC; Sue Dockett president Wisbech/March TUC; Lucia Collins, Nipsa General Council Member, (pers cap); JON ROGERS unison nec; Eddie Dempsey RMT NEC; Sean Fox Haringey UNISON Joint Branch Secretary; Richard Gerrard, Camberwell + Peckham CLP (pers cap); Oliver New, president Ealing TUC; Seema Chandwani Tottenham CLP; Tony Church PCS DWP Leicestershire/ Secretary Leicester and District Trades Union Council; Lee Cooper, Socialist Party; Katrina Coomber UNISON Health Branch; Jane Gebbie and Kerry Jones Unison Ymlaen Branch; Katie Hall. Unison. Cardiff University Branch; Danuta Kulisa; Jonathan Dunning UNISON NEC; Tara Styles-Lightowlers UCU;Findlay, Mark, Unite, Brighton Pavilion CLP; Ann Whitton CWU; Maggie Simpson, unison Cardiff County Branch; Pam Woods, Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party; Alison Bushell, Member Felixstowe CLP and Momentum; Gerry Downing;
Mike Hogan; Jim McFarlane; Bobby Clelland; Phil Buyum Jackson Tottenham CLP; Naomi Fearon Wythenshawe and Sale East CLP Socialist Educational Association Equalities Officer , NUT rep; Councillor Peter Rees, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Chair of joint Council for Wales,
Arlene  Chaves,   GMB,  neath Port Talbot County Borough Council,
LYNNE Doyle, unison Neath Port Talbot Council Borough Council,
David Smith,  unison cwm taff  local government branch; Jan Davies, UNISON, Monmouthshire Local Government Branch; Cheryl Morgan, UNISON Torfaen Local Government Branch; Peter Garland UNISON Newport Local Government Branch; Jackie Griffiths GMB Swansea County Council;?Dorothy Gordon GMB Swansea County Council; Mick Hutchinson GMB Powys County Council; Alwyn Rowles Unite North Wales Wales Branch; C Rogers Unite North West Wales Wrexham CLP;James David Unite Wrexham County Borough Council; Gary Simpson Unite Wrexham County Borough Council; Jane Isles UNISON Bridgend County Borough Council; Alyn Thomas GMB Wales and South West Region;Karen Evans GMB Denbighshire Composite Branch; Glenn Pappa UNISON Vale of Glamorgan;Tina Greaves GMB Vale of Glamorgan; Tommy Bower Unite Pembrokeshire County Council; Jo Rao UNISON Cardiff County Council Branch; Gwyn Roberts GMB Vale of Glamorgan Council; Owain Davies UNISON Ceredigion County Council; Lesley Davies Unite Rhondda Cynon Taff; David Andrew Williams Unite Caerphilly Council; Mark Preece Unite Carmarthenshire County Council;

Joint Trade Union Statement on Police Spies

Joint Union Statement: 

We the undersigned are outraged at the news that despite court orders to the contrary, the Metropolitan Police Service has destroyed evidence required for use in the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry. State spying on trade unions and political campaigns is a human rights scandal that affects millions of British citizens.  

Despite continued reassurances, the Pitchford Inquiry has failed to secure the documents that will be central to the investigation. Trade union core participants are beginning to question whether the Inquiry team has the ability to stop the police from obstructing the pursuit of justice. Lord Justice Pitchford needs to act now to restore our faith.  

We are calling on Lord Justice Pitchford to announce an urgent Inquiry hearing to examine the destruction of evidence by the police. The Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe should be forced to give evidence under oath to explain why, how and under whose authority documents have been destroyed. 

Lord Justice Pitchford needs to take immediate measures to secure all documentation held by the police, in order to prevent future destruction and avoid the entire inquiry descending into a hugely expensive cover-up on the part of the Metropolitan Police.  

SIGNED:

Len McCluskey (General Secretary) and Gail Cartmail (Acting General Secretary) UNITE the Union, incorporating UCATT 

Matt Wrack (General Secretary) Fire Brigades Union

Chris Kitchen (General Secretary) National Union of Mineworkers

Tim Roache (General Secretary) GMB union 

Mick Cash (General Secretary) Rail Maritime and Transport union 

Michelle Stanistreet (General Secretary) National Union of Journalists 

Dave Smith and Roy Bentham (joint secretaries) Blacklist Support Group

'Carolyn Wilson, I don't know her from Adam!'

WE publish the report below just to keep our readers informed of the strange goings on at Freedom Press, which used to have the distinguished reputation of being the stable of one of the oldest journals in the country (founded in 1886), and is now a place where the inmates think nothing of operating bans and blacklists against fellow anarchists.  The latest rumour is that the Freedom Collective, led by the Bookshop manager, Andy Meinke, wants to extend his local blacklist to include a Friend of Freedom Press who he believes is leaking info. to Northern Voices.  The Collective under Andy Meinke got rid of the solicitor Richard Parry earlier in the Summer of this year, after Mr. Parry had sent a letter to the occupants of the building who sometimes pay rent to the Collective warning them they may have to move out as the Friends planned to sell the premises on Whitechapel High Street.  On that occasion Mr. Meinke rallied a mob to intimidate the Friends of Freedom Press by using his Facebook page yet again.

ADAM Lawrence Barr, who was the latest editor of Freedom, has now left the job he was paid to do apparently for good.  He is the latest in an  undistinguished line of holders this office to quit.  In fact most people I know connected with Freedom Press are embarrassed by both the printed version of the paper and the website offering.

What was more curious than Mr Barr fleeting participation at Freedom was the sudden conjuring up of the good lady Carolyn Wilson, who was installed on the eve of Referendum Day (22/06/16) as a new Friend of Freedom Press.  Carolyn Wilson was nominated by a departing Friend who had not only never met her but had no knowledge of who she was.  In other words she was just another 'name' put forward by the Secretary of the Friends of Freedom Press, Steve Sorba, who nominated the other new Friend, Jason Holdway, who is an anarcho-syndicalist and seemingly has some connection with the Solidarity Federation. 

What must be troubling about all this is that the director/ members of the Friends of Freedom Press are operating like puppets or nodding dogs; nominating any kind of odd or sod who presents themselves at the Freedom Bookshop in Angel Alley.  I write this in the knowledge that both Mr Holdway and Ms. Wilson are representatives of that shy school of anarchists and did not want to give their details, and that this presents a problem because Companies House to which the Friends of Freedom Press are registered as Company Directors normally requires the full names and addresses of the Directors on the board. 
Further investigations by Northern Voices shows a Ms. Carolyn Jane Wilson has now been registered at Companies House together with the other directors, and perhaps we should not be surprised that her 'correspondence address' is registered as 84b, Whitechapel High Street:  which is none other than the address of the Freedom Bookshop run by Andy Meinke.*  She now takes the minutes of the meetings of the Friends, so Mr. Meinke will have advance warning of anything that may affect his plans or his money-making schemes of renting out rooms.  Sources close to the Friends of Freedom have told Northern Voices that Mr. Meinke still hasn't provided proper accounts for his Freedom Bookshop operation.  We have been told that when the Friends have their meetings Andy keeps out of the way and very often sneaks off to the pub.
The relationship between Ms. Wilson and Mr. Meinke would seem to stem from when they were both associated with 'Reclaim the Streets' some years ago.   When  in 2012 there was trouble between Freedom and a left-wing photographer, over the copyright theft of intellectual property when Freedom Press agreed to publish the book 'Beating the Fascists'; the photographer David Hoffman then advised that people should take closer look at Mr. Meinke. 
Meanwhile, Mr. Jason Holdway is not registered as a director at Companies House, and has not attended any of the monthly meetings of the board of directors since he was crowned as a director at the AGM last June.

Since her elevation onto the Friends of Freedom Press, I have spotted the mysterious Ms. Wilson at various events associated with the left.  She was at the London Anarchist Bookfair last October, and at the Greenwich Conference on Blacklisting in September.  Her attendance at the Blacklist Conference is interesting because she seems to have been recruited by the Freedom Bookshop manager, Andy Meinke (see link below), her name being forwarded to Secretary Steve Sorba for her to become a Director of Friends of Freedom Press.  Curiously Mr. Meinke is on record on his Facebook for participating in a campaign against Steve Hedley, Senior Assistant General Secretary in the RMT union.**   Mr. Steve Hedley, was found to be on the Consulting Association blacklist and is a well known and respected trade union militant.  
Mr. Meinke has not been a great supporter of the campaign against the blacklist in the British building trade; he sold all of 5 copies of the Tameside TUC 'Boys on the Blacklist' booklet in his Freedom Bookshop and anyone who wants to know more about him can always go on his Facebook page.


*  WILSON, Carolyn Jane                                           
Correspondence address:  84b Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7QX                   

Role Active:  Director                        

Date of birth:  December 1974                            

Appointed on:  23 August 2016                            

Nationality:  British                            

Country of residence:  United Kingdom                            

Occupation:  Voluntary Worker

**  Andy Meinke - Had an unpleasant altercation with Steve... | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/andy.meinke.5/posts/778018038941893  
Blacklisted building workers hope for day in court after ruling | UK ...

https://www.theguardian.com  › World › UK News › Police
Blacklist blog | This blog is brought to you courtesy of Hazards magazine

www.hazards.org/blacklistblog/ 
Undercover police officer Carlo Neri spied on the RMT union - rmt

https://www.rmt.org.uk/.../undercover-police-officer-carlo-neri-spied-on-the-rmt-unio...

Did Carlo Neri Spy on Trade Unionists?

CARLO NERI

Blacklist Group Claim to have caught undercover copper on camera!

'UNDERCOVER police officer Carlo Neri', according to the Blacklist Support Group, was caught on camera and 'spied on the RMT union'.  Photographic evidence, the Blacklist Group claim, shows that in October 2004 an officer was present at the industrial dispute following the sacking of the prominent union militant Steve Hedley (now elected as Senior Assistant General Secretary of the RMT union) during construction of the Kings Cross terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.  

If this report is true, and it was indeed Carlo Neri captured on camera by the freelance photographer Andrew Wiard at the RMT picket and just assuming he was not supporting the industrial protest, but was indeed employed as a police spy (allegedly from the Met's disgraced Special Demonstration Squad), then it is yet further evidence of penetration by the police and security services into the trade union affairs of English activists.

The photographs sent to Northern Voices by the Blacklist Support Group show the alleged 'police spy' lurking behind an RMT banner with the slogan ‘Reinstate Steve Hedley’ while handing out leaflets to construction workers who had walked out in support of the victimised union activist.  Also present at the picket line were RMT activists Alex Gordon and Sarah Friday plus GMB construction organisers Kelly Rogers and Steve Kelly (who was subsequently banned from the project controlled by the blacklist companies Costain, O'Rourke and Emcor).   

Photographs only available for use in the media upon direct email request to Andrew Wiard andrew@reportphotos.com     

http://reportphotos.com/albums/qO1oC/undercover-police-officer-carlo-neri-at-union-meeting-1/5b8e82c0c8a22d8fd64cfb398a9b31347bbc57de

Steve Hedley commented:    'I am appalled that a secret police spy thought that it was justified to turn up on a peaceful RMT picket line in order to gather information. I had earlier housed this person rent free as he claimed he was being made homeless and feel shocked that taxpayers money could be used like this to betray the trust of people engaged in completely legitimate industrial action.  We heard a lot growing up about police states in other countries whilst it turns out  our state was doing exactly the same thing here.' 
The photographs were rediscovered by Dave Smith while researching for the updated version of the book Blacklisted and were first made public at the GMB conference in Bournemouth on Sunday evening (5th June). Smith commented afterwards:  'We were standing up for workers rights but apparently the British state considered us such a threat, that we were kept under constant surveillance by shady anti-democratic units in the police. This is nothing less than political policing and has no place in a democracy.  This took place during the Tony Blair government and I want to know why trade unions were were being spied on under a Labour Home Secretary. David Blunkett has serious questions to answer.' 
The Channel Tunnel Rail Link dispute is recorded on Consulting Association blacklist files of Steve Hedley and GMB organiser at the time, Steve Kelly. 
Both Steve Hedley and Dave Smith have been granted core participant status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing.

Information from Blacklist Support Group

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LAST November, Northern Voices was one of several publications to receive a solicitor letter from a firm of solicitors that  has been known to do work for the Police Federation.  The allegation was that NV had defamed a former police officer who had more recently done work as a university lecturer.  It seems that the officer in 2008 had given a power-point presentation on policing at pub down South to a group of individuals, who it later turn out were affiliated to the Consulting Association.  Ian Kerr was among those present taking notes:  Mr. Kerr, who has since died, is famous as the administrator of a blacklist for the Consulting Association, and he later pleaded guilt to running an illegal data base.  Kerr was exposed as such by the Information Commissioner in 2009.  We therefore caution our readers because the officer who gave this power point presentation to the Consulting Association has since claimed that he didn't know that he was addressing the Consulting Association, and that he'd never heard of either Ian Kerr or the body now known to be the Consulting Association.  He was just filling in for a colleague we are told, and is innocent of any complicity with the Consulting Association, Ian Kerr or blacklisting in the British build trade.  We only mention this now, in case it later turns out that Carlo Neri, if that is what he is called, was just out for a stroll and accidentally got caught up in the trade union protest of the RMT.

Special Demonstration Squad Spied on Workers

NEWLY uncovered documentary evidence shows how police officers infiltrated campaigns by construction workers protesting against deaths on building sites. The documents include a series of letters written to and from Mark Jenner, an undercover officer from the discredited Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), who during the late 1990s claimed to be a carpenter while infiltrating the construction union UCATT.  Using the cover name of Mark Cassidy, the spycop ingratiated himself with the Colin Roach Centre (formerly known as Hackney Trade Union Resource Centre) and targeted a series of trade unions and union backed campaigns, attending union branches, conferences, picketlines and pay talks.   

The new documents give an insight into how deeply, the police went to embed themselves into even grassroots union campaigns. On 21st March 1997, Cassidy / Jenner  wrote a letter to a number of different organisations regarding the 'Building Workers Safety Campaign',which he describes as a 'rank and file organisation run by building workers', asking for support in getting 'information on deaths on building sites' in order to visit 'the site within one week after the event and ask workers to stop work'. The police authored letter continued: 'We believe that only by hitting production can we hope to stop the killings on building sites'. This was in 1997, when the fatality rates in construction were averaging around 3 deaths a week. 

The identical letter was sent to a number of trade union bodies including Haringey UNISON, Hammersmith UNISON, TGWU North London Textile branch and civil servants in the CPSA union (forerunner to PCS). The police spy also sent the letter to the charity 'Inquest' that provides free legal advice to people bereaved by a death in police custody. Why a charity dealing with deaths in custody would be an obvious source of information about deaths on building sites is difficult to fathom but raises questions of public interest about what the undercover police officer was trying to achieve.   

One response from the local authority funded and well respected safety charity the London Hazards Centre, identifies HSE inspectors, the Coroners Office and the local police as sources of information but highlights that the authorities 'can be very tight lipped when it comes to giving out information' - this no doubt brought a smile to Jenner's face when reading it.  

The documents were uncovered by Brian Higgins, a 75 year old Glaswegian grandfather and blacklisted retired bricklayer based in Northampton who was the national secretary of the rank & file Building Worker Group (BWG). Brian Higgins has been granted 'core participant' status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing alongside a number of other union activists from the Blacklist Support Group, as information gathered by police officers appears on a number of blacklist files kept on construction workers by the notorious Consulting Association. 

Brian Higgins commented: 

'The police would be infinitely better employed investigating, prosecuting and jailing the corporate criminals responsible for the killing and maiming of many building workers, rather than spying on those of us who dedicate our industrial lives to trying to put a stop to this wanton carnage and the terrible grief which accompanies it. Intelligence gathered by these police spies has found its way onto an illegal blacklist in the construction industry. They say justice never sleeps: time it woke up over this!'

Alison (not her real name) was the female activist that Mark Jenner deceived into a long term relationship and lived with during his deployment.  It was from their shared address in Hackney that the undercover police officer joined the construction union UCATT and became a regular attendee at the Hackney branch meetings.  Alison is one of the women that has received an unreserved apology and compensation from the Metropolitan Police for the abuse and human rights violations they suffered due to the activities of undercover police.  Alison recalls having numerous conversations about the building industry and trade union campaigns which she describes as 'a key part of his work' and 'a big part of what he was doing during this period'.  

Another trade unionist who was spied upon by Mark Jenner and has been granted core participant in the Pitchford inquiry is the RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary, Steve Hedley.  He commented: 

'Mark Jenner gained my confidence and even stayed at my mothers home in Ireland. When I learned that he was a police spy I was dumbfounded .Why the police would be interested in a trade unionist like me is quite frankly astonishing. All my activities were open and transparent and usually even minuted. What kind of a society are we living in, when the state feels it's necessary to employ people at the taxpayers expense to snoop on people carrying out perfectly legal activities?'

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

Call for Pitchford Enquiry to look at police spies

MPs have called for the Pitchford inquiry into the failures of undercover policing to cover spying on trade unions. Teresa May is set to announce the full Terms of Reference for the Pitchford Inquiry next week. The full text of Early Day Motion #263 submitted by John McDonnell MP is below:

'That this House remains deeply concerned about the extent and conduct of undercover police surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources; deeply regrets the distress caused to women by undercover officers forming intimate relationships and even fathering children with them; is concerned that police surveillance extended to covert monitoring of anti-racist and family justice campaigns, together with other civil society and political groups; is shocked by the revelations of Peter Francis, former member of the Metropolitan Police Force's Special Demonstration Squad, in relation to the unit's covert state surveillance of trade unions and their members, including Unison, the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union, the National Union of Teachers and the construction workers union UCATT; commends the ongoing campaign of the National Union of Journalists over the surveillance of union members; welcomes the inquiry to be conducted by Lord Justice Pitchford into covert police surveillance; and calls on the terms of reference of the inquiry to include an investigation into the practice of covert surveillance of lawful trade union activities.'

Link to EDM 263 http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/263

John McDonnell MP has been at the forefront of exposing the role of undercover police spying on and colluding with the blacklisting of trade unions. He commented:

'Thousands of innocent trade unionists and their families have suffered at the hands of blacklisting companies. They deserve a thorough and open inquiry to bring out the truth of how they were victimised and harmed by blacklisting.'

The Blacklist Support Group (BSG) has led the campaign to expose the role of the police spying colluding with blacklisting union members and has made a formal submission to the Home Office with suggested Terms of Reference for the Pitchford Inquiry into undercover policing, calling for the judge led inquiry to investigate police surveillance of trade union members. The Pitchford Inquiry was set up by Teresa May before the General Election following the revelations that undercover police units spied on the Stephen Lawrence family and had long term sexual relationships with women activists they were spying on. BSG are being legally represented by the prominent human rights solicitor Imran Khan, who has supported the blacklisted construction workers since presenting an IPCC complaint about the police collusion in blacklisting back in 2012. Imran Khan is also representing Doreen Lawrence in the Pitchford Inquiry. 

Dave Smith, BSG secretary and co-author of the book 'Blacklisted' that exposes the blacklisting conspiracy commented:

'There are secret political police units in the UK that spy on anyone they consider to be a "domestic extremist". In reality, that means trade unions, environmental activists, anti-racist campaigns and even the families of murder victims who dare to criticise the police, all of which are perfectly legal within a democratic society. The Pitchford inquiry must investigate why the police have been spying on trade unions and why they have been exchanging information with multinational companies. Any pressure put on by politicians and trade unions is extremely welcome. BSG applaud the EDM and call on all MPs concerned about human rights to sign it.' 

Imran Khan commented:

'It is extremely sad to note that it often takes many years, grave injustices and tenacious individuals to uncover discreditable conduct in society. Those involved in the BSG have been bearing the brunt of severe injustices for a long time. Their hardship in doing so has not diminished their tenacity in seeking to throw light on this most murky of worlds. The Public Inquiry to be chaired by Lord Justice Pitchford will give the BSG the opportunity to not only uncover what happened to them but also ensure that the general public finally hears what went on and that the conduct complained of never happens again.'

Proposed Terms of Reference for the Public Inquiry into Undercover policing from the Blacklist Support Group:

 

To inquire into and make recommendations as to the role, conduct and governance of the police service and her majesty’s Government in the establishment and deployment of undercover and covert operations, with specific regard to the Special Demonstration Squad, National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit and any other similar units in the police and in particular, to consider: 

• The surveillance of trade union activists and trade union supported campaigns;
• The provision of information by the police, whether directly or indirectly, of information contained on databases they have access to, to businesses about prospective employees;
• The collusion, specifically with the Economic League and the Consulting Association and any other similar organisations, in the blacklisting of trade union members;
• The outsourcing of state surveillance operations to private contractors;
• The level and degree of political oversight into the above operations;
• The extent to which the police were assisted in the above operations by the security services;
• The circumstances of, and the reasons for, the loss, destruction and /or unavailability of documentation with regard to the matters above.

The Inquiry will also consider how to fulfill the objectives set out in these Terms of Reference by considering, in particular, the:

• Extent and degree of protection from prosecution, under the Official Secrets Act or any other relevant legislation, of any witnesses giving information / evidence including whistleblowers;
• Extent and degree to which the police's stated position of 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' affects a transparent and thorough investigation into the matters set out above.' 

Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary RMT, who was blacklisted by the Consulting Association and targeted by undercover Special Demonstration Squad officer Mark Jenner commented:

'The police and big business has spied on me and other union activists for decades, for nothing more than standing up for rights of our fellow workers. The undercover cop Mark Jenner targeted me for a number of years in the late 1990s and even stayed at my mum's house! The sooner this anti-democratic scandal at the heart of the British state is exposed the better.' 

Rough Justice on the Left!

ON the 8th, August the former Scottish correspondent of the Morning Star posted the following post on his Blog:

'My name’s Rory MacKinnon, and I’ve been a reporter for the Morning Star for three years now. It’s given me a lot of pride to see how readers and supporters believe so strongly in the paper, from donating what cash they can to hawking it in the streets on miserable Saturday afternoons. I was proud to represent a “broad paper of the left”, as my editor Richard Bagley always put it: a paper that saw feminism, LGBTQ issues, racial politics and the like as integral to its coverage of class struggle.

'It’s for this reason that I thought I would have my editor’s support in following up domestic violence allegations against the Rail, Maritime and Transport union’s assistant general secretary Steve Hedley. Instead the Morning Star’s management threatened me with the sack, hauled me through a disciplinary hearing and placed me on a final written warning.

'If you want to see my reasons for writing this, skip to the bottom. But I’m a reporter, and in my mind the most important thing is that you all know exactly what’s happened behind closed doors. So let’s get on with it.'

On the 30th, August Private Eye No.1373 published the following report on this matter by 'Blackleg' :

'LAST MONTH the Communist Morning Star gave space and prominence to a demand by Women’s Aid that Tory MP David Ruffley must face “strong disciplinary sanction” for assaulting his ex-partner. Short shrift was given to his claim that because the ex-partner had accepted his apology no more needed to be done. As readers were reminded: "Domestic violence is a criminal, not a private matter."

'Well, if it’s committed by a Tory MP, that is. When the alleged perpetrator is a senior trade union official, the Morning Star will discipline any of its hacks who has the temerity to pursue the story. That is what it did to Rory MacKinnon, its Scotland correspondent, who quit last week after three years on the paper.In March this year MacKinnon was sent to cover a women’s conference in Glasgow organised by the RMT transport union.

'For months, women he knew in the union had been talking about Caroline Leneghan, an RMT member who had written a blog-post about the violence allegedly inflicted on her by Steve Hedley, the RMT’s assistant general secretary, with whom she was in a relationship until last year. On one occasion, she wrote, he “threw me around by my hair and pinned me to the floor repeatedly punching me in the face”. She published photos taken at the time, showing her horrendously bruised and swollen face. Finding himself attending an RMT women’s conference – and one at which the RMT was launching its new policy on, er, domestic violence – MacKinnon thought it a good moment to ask if the union’s refusal to hold a proper investigation into the allegations against its assistant general secretary might affect female members’ perception of the union. He put the question at a Q&A session with the union’s national organising co-ordinator Alan Pottage, who declined to answer. Soon afterwards, however, the hack was forcibly ejected from the conference.

'The next day, Morning Star editor Richard Bagley told MacKinnon he was being suspended while his bosses investigated allegations of “gross misconduct” and “bringing the paper into disrepute”. A month later he was summoned to London for a disciplinary hearing, with the company secretary Tony Briscoe acting as prosecution counsel and Bagley sitting as judge. Briscoe told MacKinnon the question he’d put to the RMT official “feels more like something a Daily Mail reporter would ask than someone from the Morning Star. You should have known better. This indicates a lack of journalistic etiquette and has damaged our relationship with the trade union movement.” The public had “no right to know” about whatever occurred between Hedley and Leneghan...'

On the 26th, July, Rory MacKinnon had handed in his resignation to the Morning Star and went public with his story claiming the public had a right to know.  The two men who had castigated him at the Morning Star, Bagley and Bristoe, were not far behind stepping down days later:  Bagley resigned the editorship for 'family reasons', and Briscoe retired.

Since then Steve Hedley wrote the following letter protesting his innocence in last Thursday's issue of Private Eye No. 1374 (5th, September):
'I was very disappointed that you published  TUC News in Eye 1373 without contacting me to check this story out.  It refers to allegations of domestic violence made against me two years ago, about an incident that happened three years ago, by a lady with whom I was previously in a relationship. 

'I have never been guity of violent behaviour.  These allegations were investigated by the RMT union, which found that I had "no case to answer"; they were also considered by the police, who likewise decided to take no action.

'On the matter of Rory MacKinnon, the Morning Star reporter, he asked his question at a conference to someone who had no knowledge of the investigation and couldn't provide an answer.  Had he contacted me, which he didn't, I would have provided him with the correct information.

'Believe it or not I am a big fan of Private Eye and usually your work is much better researched than this.  I now wish you to publish this reply in the interests of fairness and to clear my name.'

It is unlikely that Comrade Hedley will live this down despite his protestations, and it is understood that he has already resigned from the Socialist Party over this issue.