8/7/2019 Defend the Four bulletin

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8/7/2019 Defend the Four bulletin

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After a three-year long battle

four Socialist Party members(Glenn Kelly, Suzanne Muna,

Onay Kasab and Brian Debus), were

at last given justice in a court of

law. UNISON has been ruled to have

acted unlawfully in disciplining the

four, banning them from ofce and

taking control of their branches.

They were disciplined by UNISON

on trumped-up charges of racism,

after producing a leaet at the 2007Unison conference, challenging

the Standing Orders Committee

(SOC) about ruling resolutions

off the conference agenda.

The union ofcials tried to hide

behind the smear of racism, citing

the three wise monkeys cartoon

on the leaet. But the judgment is

absolutely clear on this question: It

is obvious to anyone looking at the

cartoon that it is meant to representthe well-known image of the three

wise monkeys who see no evil, hear

no evil and speak no evil.

The tribunal later goes on to say that:

All four claimants are committed

anti-racists and have fought against

racism. They quite reasonably

assumed that anyone who saw

the leaet would understand the

cartoon to be saying that the SOCwas out of touch and closing its

mind to and ignoring issues that

concerned the membership.

The cartoon was not a pictorial

depiction of the members of the

SOC... but a representation of its

attitude towards motions that were

submitted to it.

See the Defend the Four website for

more information on the ET ruling.

WITCH-HUNT

What is clear is that the four weredisciplined because they had the

temerity to demand the right to

debate whether union ofcials

should be elected and live off a

workers wage, whether ordinary

members should have control over

strike action and whether the union

should carry on funding the Labour

Party, particularly at a time when

a Labour government was voting

through thousands of redundanciesof our members.

The Four and their supporters are

demanding:

Lift the ban on the four

Allow the four to be re-instated

in their branch and national

positions.

UNISON branches to be taken out

of regional administration.

WASTING MEMBERS MONEY

Tens of thousands of pounds and

hundreds of hours have been used

to try to prosecute this case against

the four. Members have a right to

know that every penny in the union

and every moment will be used in

defence of their jobs and aimedat the real enemy which is the

employers and this government.

We call on all Unison members

and branches to demand that this

injustice be undone.

A model motion and the background

to this case can be found on the

Defend the Four Website.

www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk

DEFENDTHE FOUR