Shop stewards say they will now defy and resist the Unite injunction barring them from protesting at Transport House
A major campaign to be launched to expose the role of the Unite leadership in this dispute and to help Unite members change the union.
The sacked shop stewards are barred by an injunction got by Unite Regional Secretary, Jimmy Kelly, from protesting at Transport House. They are now planning a campaign to defend their democratic right to protest by defying the injunction.
They are also intent on launching a major campaign in Ireland, Britain and internationally to expose what the Unite leadership have done and link with other union activists who are campaigning to transform the unions into the fighting combative organisations they are supposed to be.
After Gordon had been taken to hospital, union officials in Transport House, in a display of petty vindictiveness, destroyed the tent and personal possessions the shop stewards had left behind on the balcony of the building.
Gordon McNeill today said:
“I have taken my hunger strike as far as I am able. If I had continued to refuse food I would have been kept in hospital and force fed. This would have lifted the pressure off the Unite leadership and would have been ineffective. My protest showed that Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly were prepared to see me die rather than give justice to myself and my two colleagues.
“It is an outrage that the union went to the lengths of serving us with an injunction barring us from protesting at Transport House and then called the police to have me removed from the building. I will not accept this infringement of my basic democratic rights and will be defying the injunction. After everything else these union leaders have done to me the threat of fines, court costs and imprisonment mean little to me now.
“Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly wanted to bribe us into silence about this dispute, and about and their role and the role of their predecessors in it. My answer is clear – my right to tell Unite members and other trade unionists what happened is not for sale. I know this means they will never pay me a penny in compensation but I will not forsake my principles for any amount of money.
“Rather than sign up to any gagging clause, we will now launch a campaign to make sure that the full truth, down to the last dot and comma, of what happened in this long dispute is made public so that the lessons can be drawn.
“I hope to launch this with a meeting in Liverpool hosted by the Liverpool dockers and other leading local trade unionists.
June 1, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I heard your story at the Universi opening night on Friday in the Dockers’ and I think it’s extraordinary. Keep up the fight. I’ll write a peice about you on my blog with a link back to here.
I think I actually was in photos with Gordon, as I am the Universi web designer. Anyway, good luck and let me know if there is anything web related I can do to get the story out there even more!
June 6, 2008 at 9:04 pm
What is the latest position on this dispute?