January 2007

GROW THE UNION IN 2008

After a slow start Solidarity has begun too grow in stature amongst Trade Unionists and in membership too. We now have over 200 members. We are however very ambitious and our next target is 1,000 which we hope to achieve in 2008. You can play your part in this by recruiting one new member.  If every Union member does this we will double in size. It is a realistic target.

We enclose a membership application form for your use.

When approaching friends and neighbours you could point out the threat to British workers posed by an unrelenting flow of migrant labour. This is reflected in lost jobs and suppressed wages. At the same time jobs are being 'off-shored' to countries offering cheap labour. Greedy owners are ignoring the fact that the resulting service is often poor, particularly in call centres. Existing Trades Unions are reluctant to face up to their obligations in protecting their own members due to a shallow internationalism. Solidarity does not suffer from this confusion and will resist these developments resolutely.

Increased memberships will result in an increase in the services we can offer members, an increase in the Unions viewpoint expressed in the media and through letterboxes and an increase in the number of officials working full or part time in your interests. Let us go and spread the word and gather to our banner the long suffering British worker. Together we are strong!

SPREADING THE MESSAGE!

Solidarity is delighted to announce that it has appointed as its PR consultant the company Accentuate. The owner has been an early member and has helped to develop the Union's image over the last year. They will be promoting the Union within the media and assist in increasing our membership. Accentuate owner Graham Williamson said "I am delighted to help build the Union next year and beyond. There is a market for the Union's position and stance amongst the workforce. I shall work tirelessly to promote Solidarity".

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Some of you may have seen the recent articles regarding the election of Simone Clarke to our National Executive. The first article appeared in The Observer and was then picked up by a number of websites, forums and newspapers worldwide. We will ensure that the Union viewpoint is put over and that we are given a fair hearing. It is a process and it will raise our profile and let people know that there is an alternative.

DO YOUR BIT!

Most of you will have heard of the Mark Walker Appeal Fund. Mark Walker is the teacher based in the North-East who has been suspended and been interrogated on his political beliefs and associations. When he was betrayed by his former Union (the NUT) our Union adopted the case.

General Secretary Patrick Harrington has been at a number of School hearings and meetings with Mark to find a way out of the impasse. It may be that the Local Authority is prepared to take this to the wire. If so we shall have to defend Mark legally as well as morally. To fund such legal action we recently launched an appeal on our website (in conjunction with the pressure group Civil Liberty).

Mark has engaged a Solicitor who specialises in Employment Law. Like all of our learned friends he doesn't come cheap. So far the combined fund (Union and Solidarity) has raised £1200.  We are asking all Solidarity members to give at least £5 this Christmas to the fund. This fund can only grow with your generosity. We are sure you will agree it is a fine cause. If this 'rotten borough' can ride roughshod over a British worker, let alone one of our members, then who will be next?

Please send your donation by post to: Solidarity Trade Union, PO Box 93, Spennymoor, DL16 9AN. Cheques should be made payable to 'Solidarity' but enclose a card or letter indicating it is for the Mark Walker fund.

EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW PUBLICITY FORMS

Solidarity is experimenting with new forms of publicity.  Our first effort was a short clip of stills and captions on Youtube in support of Mark Walker (also on our website). It is a modest start but one we intend to build on. We are looking at many forms of new media to get the Union message over. If you have any comments or suggestions get in touch.

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

As members will be aware we are phasing out the Union bank account held at HSBC. All members who pay into this account have been contacted and asked to switch payments to our Bank of Scotland account. If you have been contacted and have not yet done so please ensure that you switch. If you have switched to payments to Bank of Scotland please ensure to remember to cancel payments to HSBC with your Bank - otherwise you will be paying twice!

OUR NEW EXECUTIVE

The independent Scrutineer has now declared the result of our Union elections. His report will be made available on our web page. This is a summary.

The number of voting papers distributed for the purposes of the election was 149.

The number of voting papers returned to the scrutineer was 93, 3 were received on the 20th and were therefore out of time and not counted.

The number of valid votes cast in the election for each candidate was as follows:

Garry Aronsson 73; Simone Clarke 78; David Durant 76; David Kerr 63;
Lindsey Nieuwhof 54; Mark Walker 79.

There were no spoiled or otherwise invalid voting papers returned. One objection to the election was sent by a member to the independent scrutineer.

As a result, Garry Aronsson, Simone Clarke, David Durant, David Kerr and Mark Walker were elected to the Solidarity Executive for a period of five years. Pat Harrington and Adam Walker were elected nem con as General Secretary and President respectively

SOLIDARITY WITH KEYNSHAM WORKERS

Cadbury have announced plans to close the profitable Somerdale factory at Keynsham by 2010 axing 500 jobs. A further 200 jobs will go at Bournville in Birmingham in 'restructuring'. Cadbury's has said that the bulk of manufacturing would move to Poland.

A campaign has been launched to "Keep Keynsham Cadbury's". Show solidarity with the workers there by signing the online petition at http://www.petition.co.uk/cadburys