After several months of suspension, fourteen days of strike action and a six day 'disciplinary' Karen Reissmann, chair of the Manchester Mental Health Unison branch has been sacked for the 'crime' of opposing mental health cuts.
The 700 strong branch has voted to go on indefinite strike. Urgent financial and other solidarity is needed.
Unison's national industrial action committee has sanctioned the community mental health team comprising some 160 workers to go on indefinite official strike action from this Thursday. This is a strike Unison must win. Donations need to flood in, with messages of support, invitations for speakers, national publicity and demands of Unison officials that they respect the demand of the branch and that the official strike is spread to cover the whole branch.
Rush donations and messages of support to the Manchester Community and Mental Health Unison branch, 70 Manchester Road, Manchester, M21 9UN. Phone 07972 120 451 or email unison@ zen.co.uk Cheques can be made out to "Unison Manchester Community and Mental Health"
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1 comment:
Thanks, Jon for highlighting this so promptly.
Can you raise with Labour MPs about having a public statement deploring the decision, supporting Karen in her appeal and perhaps offering to do a joint press conference with Dave Prentis with the media?
I'm not sure what else can be done to help but I do think this is an absolutely vital strike and one that Unison must win.
For that reason I think the officials shoudl back and be influences to back the branch's demand for the whole branch to go out on indefinite strike action.
Any other ideas?
Can this strike and its importance be used to revive and extend the united left in Unison to go beyond elections- important though they are- to become something of a network of rank and file activists in the union?
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