the council, who gave their permission for the police to enter, despite the fact that they didn't have a search warrant.
During the raid the council issued a press release stating that they were committed to stamping out such racist material and that two UNISON members were being questioned.
Angry
The overwhelming majority of employees have been quite rightly angered about the raids, and the council has realised the slanders against Simon and Andy won't wash.
They have had the cheek to write to all employees urging UNISON to work with the council in stamping out the racists. However the stories in the press about the raids are still being used by councils and right wing UNISON members to try and attack the left. Bernie Hynes, a Unison convenor, a national rep and a Health and Safety rep for British Gas Service, was derecognised and had his facility time removed by management on the grounds that they had "lost all trust and confidence" in him. Bernie, a CFDU supporter spoke to Socialist Outlook SO - Tell us about the background to your derecognition. BERNIE - On October 20 management announced that they had withdrawn my recognition as a convenor, a national rep and as a Health and Safety rep.
Their pretext was a newsletter to Technical Sales Advisers that I sent out. It stated that a Technical Sales Adviser was told by his district manager to resign or be sacked.
Management are claiming that it is not within my remit to give this information to home-based UNISON members. Whilst UNISON assert that I am perfectly entitled to such action, it is clear that management had met with a UNISON national full-timer about my derecognition, without informing either me or the regional official. It has also been suggested to me that they are try. ing to dismiss me. SO - How has the branch responded to this? BERNIE - There has not been a branch meeting since this happened, but a lot of people are angry that one national UNISON official has colluded with management behind the backs of the membership to remove an elected representative who management find troublesome.
All the branch stewards have backed me up despite pressure for them to find someone to replace me. At the next branch meeting we will be calling for the reelection of all the reps as a vote of confidence in the branch reps.
In particular we believe that it is probably illegal for management to try ar d impose a Health and safety rep of their choice upon the membership. SO - Have you had much support outside of the branch? BERNIE - We have had support from reps all over the country.
It is clear that a national official is trying to help management get their way, and has even implied that UNISON will not provide me with legal support.
It is important that as many branches as possible pass resolutions committing UNISON to defending me, and defending my branch's right to decide who it wants to represent them.
The derecognition of union representatives was legalised by Norman Tebbitt's 1980 legislation, we are also calling on branches to demand the repeal of that legislation, along with the rest of the anti-union laws.