Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Back worker victimised over Blair protest

I am pleased to be one of the signatories of the following petition protesting at the victimisation of a UNISON member who helped to organise a protest against Tony Blair;
“On 7 September, Tony Blair and Education Secretary Alan Johnson visited Quintin Kynaston school in north London to announce the first wave of 28 "trust schools" run by business, charitable and religious organisations - of which QK will be one of two in London. They were met by a demonstration, supported by Unison and NUT locally and School Students Against the War, and composed mainly of students from the school, expressing opposition to government policy on trust schools, privatisation and the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
The initiator of this demonstration, QK classroom assistant Robin Sivapalan, has now been suspended from his job for "insubordination" and "breaching confidentiality" by informing people of Blair’s visit.
The attempt to victimise Robin is an attack on freedom of speech and the right to protest. We are not prepared to see public service trade unionists silenced when they dare to express opposition to government policy.
We the undersigned call on the management of Quintin Kynaston to immediately reinstate Robin Sivapalan and drop all disciplinary charges against him.”
To see the full (and impressive) list of those supporting this campaign click here.
Sign the petition!
Robin is fortunate to have the support of the Westminster branch of UNISON and his Branch Secretary, Rahul Patel, one of the strongest fighters for workers rights I know.

1 comment:

Kit said...

Absolutely brilliant news, Jon - thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Now all we need is the NUT to get onside and then we'll be going places!