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Message to UNITE: No Cover Up! Lift the Gagging Clause!
Gordon McNeill to resume protest at Transport House from midday 28 August against the attempts by the Unite leadership to bribe and gag him. Unite leaders, Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly, pay Chris Bowyer and Madan Gupta £40,000 each on condition that they never again criticise the role of union officials in their long dispute.
Gordon McNeill says: "My right to tell the truth about what happened is not for sale, not at any price. I want them to give me the compensation to which I am entitled as a right, not as a bribe"
Sacked airport shop steward, Gordon McNeill, has announced that he intends to resume his public protest at Transport House starting at midday tomorrow – (28 August). His protest will be in defiance of the injunction served on him by Irish Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly, barring him from protesting at Transport House.
He is doing so against medical advice. As a result of his previous hunger and thirst strikes, Gordon needs urgent and high risk surgery on his neck. He has restricted movement, is in constant pain and has been told that any blow to his neck could leave him paralysed.
He is refusing surgery until the Unite leaders responsible for his dispute, General Secretary, Tony Woodley and Irish Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly, remove the gagging clause from their settlement offer.
Gordon's two colleagues, Chris Bowyer and Madan Gupta, will not be participating in this protest only because they have been paid £40,000 each by Unite on the condition that they never speak about this dispute again.
Gordon today said:
"I will never be bribed into silence. Unite members and members of other unions have a right to know what has happened to us. I have no right to sell that right and Jimmy Kelly and Tony Woodley are acting in a completely unprincipled way in demanding that I do so.
"I should be in hospital getting surgery that I urgently need but I am determined to get this dispute resolved before I undergo this operation. I don't want to have to spend months recovering only to have to resume protests that might again damage my health.
The way to resolve it is simple – just pay me the compensation that has already been paid to Chris Bowyer and Madan Gupta but without the gagging clause. If Jimmy Kelly and Tony Woodley continue to refuse to do so, the question that must be asked is what is it that they are so concerned about that they are prepared to pay three shop stewards a total of £120,000 to suppress?"
For further information contact Gordon on 07934632366
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national |
worker & community struggles and protests |
press release
Wednesday August 27, 2008 16:58
by C
07934632366
printable version
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3If kelly and woodley recognise that these workers are owed compensation why don't they just remove the gagging clause? This is another disgusting attempt to bully these victimsed workers into silence and to prevent them from speaking the truth to the members.
I know it doesn't take a genious to work this one out but I'll ask the question anyway.
Who has something to hide, and who is affraid of the truth coming out?
Sorry no prizes for the correct answer, it's too easy.
Good luck Gordon in your fight for justice.
Court case to be heard next Wednesday (3rd Sept) at which Gordon will face fines or imprisonment or both
Protests to be called next week against the injunction
“Not only are the Unite leaders trying to deny me the right to speak, now they are also trying to take away my democratic right to protest” Gordon McNeill
Unite leaders this afternoon served Gordon McNeill with a court summons in order to prevent him from continuing his protest outside Transport House in Belfast. Gordon now faces the prospect of imprisonment or fines or both as a result of the injunction barring him from protesting in Transport House that was taken out against him by Unite Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly.
Gordon was peacefully protesting outside the building – which is closed for renovations - demanding that the Unite leadership pay him the compensation that they have paid his fellow shop stewards, Chris Bowyer and Madan Gupta, but without the gagging clause that would prevent him from ever again speaking about the role played by union officials in this dispute.
This protest has been because Gordon has refused to sell his right to tell other trade union members the truth about what happened to himself and his colleagues. Unite General Secretary, Tony Woodley and Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly have offered him £40,000 if he will sell this right.
As Gordon has said in a letter that is now being circulated throughout the trade union movement in Britain, Ireland and beyond: “The truth about what happened in our dispute is part of the history of the labour movement and, as such, is the property of the whole movement. It is not mine to sell.”
Now the issue is not just about the right to speak, it is also about the democratic right to protest.
PROTEST
In response to this vindictive attempt by union leaders to imprison a trade union activist, protests are to be organised next week at Unite offices throughout Britain and Ireland. There will be a protest in Belfast outside the Amicus office, AEEU House 26 Antrim Road (where all Unite officials are currently based) on Monday 1 September at 1pm.
After being served with the summons Gordon said:
“This just shows the lengths that the Unite leadership are prepared to go to keep me silent. Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly are so determined to shut me up they are prepared to put me in jail rather than allow me to protest outside an empty building!
”It is a scandal that trade union leaders should use the courts to prevent a peaceful protest. They are setting a dangerous precedent that will be taken up by employers and by the government to prevent pickets and protests by trade union members or by communities.
“If Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly think that, by approaching me with a bribe in one hand and a court order in the other, they will shut me up they can think again. I am appealing to all trade unionists to stand with me to defend the basic freedoms of speech and association”
For further information contact Gordon on 07934632366