Wednesday 3 October 2012

As British trade unionists, we stand with striking miners

Morning Star Online
 
Letters--Morning Star
Wednesday 3rd October
 
 
As British trade unionists, we stand with striking miners
 
Tuesday 02 October 2012 Printable Email An open letter to His Excellency Dr Zola Skweyiya, South Africa's ambassador in London:
As trade unionists and human rights activists, we were shocked and angered to learn that on Thursday August 16, police opened fire on striking miners at the British-owned Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa.
 
Forty-five miners were killed in what the South African press called a "bloodbath that recalled the worst massacres of the apartheid epoch" (Business Day).
The only "crime" the miners had committed was to go on strike with their independent trade union in support of the demand for decent wages and decent working conditions from a company which has been exploiting the miners and their families for years.
We understand that the wives of the miners came out into the streets singing the songs of the struggle against the apartheid regime and demanding that the South African government, led by the African National Congress, "stop shooting our husbands and sons."
We in Islington Unison pledge to support the miners and all our brothers and sisters of South Africa who are engaged in a fight for a society that will give the justice and the dignity that they won after their decades-long battle against apartheid.
We support the South African miners' demand that the South African government should withdraw the operating licence and nationalise the Lonmin Mining Company.
We add our voices to those of millions of trade unionists and human rights activists the world over who are urging your government to immediately release those arrested and lift all charges against them.
 
Jane Doolan and Mike Calvert
 
Islington Unison and 76 others

Letter supported by the following trade unionists in a personal capacity:

 
  • Cliffe Obaseki
  • Fiona Monkman
  • John McDonnell MP
  • Richard Jones
  • Alex Wood
  • Diana James
  • Rosemary Plummer
  • Alex Shaw
  • Denise Facey
  • Keith Facey
  • Clare McNulty
  • Jenny Densham
  • Jenny Mackley
  • Dean Ryan
  • George Binette
  • Sean Fox
  • Helen Jenner
  • Max Watson
  • Alasdair Smith
  • Richard Chapman
  • John Burgess
  • Jim Hollinshead
  • Roger Silverman
  • Julian Silverman
  • Leonardo Alvarado
  • Jo-Ann Rust
  • Andy Godfrey
  • Glenn Kelly
  • Owen Jones
  • Suzanne Jeffrey
  • Richard Chapman
  • Trudy Allen
  • Catherine Maguire
  • Richard Gill
  • Alan Rylatt
  • Don Euripides
  • Eddie Rowley
  • Cliff Snaith
  • Mark Campbell
  • Alex Tarry
  • Michael Murphy and M.Todd
  • Michael Ryan
  • Abdul Jallo
  • Ceinwein Hilton
  • David Tannett
  • Margaret Birleson
  • Colin Finney
  • Fanos Santis
  • Michael Perrell
  • Anthony Baptiste
  • Fatma Can
  • Gwen Fitzpatrick
  • Natasha Middleton
  • Natasha Chowdhury
  • Darlene Skeete
  • Maggie Ford
  • Paul Walker
  • Diane Jackson
  • Naomi Bain
  • Mark Hollinrake
  • Zoe Warner
  • Andrew Berry
  • Jennifer Gabbidon
  • Jacqueline Jones
  • Michelle Littaur
  • Gillian Wallington
  • John Philpott
  • Paul Whelpton
  • Frances Manning
  • Hannah Walker
  • Eryka Bancroft
  • Michael Calderbank
  • Peter Growse
  • Yesim Senler
  • Grace McHenry
  • Audrey Riley
  • Louisa Roscoe
  • Michelle Littaur
  • Sandra Murphy
  • Tracey Byers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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