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;

'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

******
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/