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INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE REMEMBERED
Heroes – International Brigade with Jack Jones (second from left) at the battle of Ebro 1938
Our heroes honoured
General secretary Len McCluskey represented Unite at the July 1 London ceremony to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the start of the Spanish civil war – organised by the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT) of which Len is a patron.
It’s always important to Unite to mark the day for one of our greatest general secretaries, Jack Jones, who left Liverpool as a young man to fight against fascism as it wrapped its hatred around Europe.
Headline speaker Len honoured the 2,500 UK men and women who had joined Jack in Spain to oppose Franco, the general who unleashed cruelty and oppression on those fighting for a free country.
ROYAL MAIL
He told the crowd that times may be different now, but “democracy is under pressure in many countries as economic crisis leads to a new authoritarianism as it did in the 1930s.
“Not fascism, perhaps, but an elite very willing to play fast-and-loose with democracy, and willing to use racism and xenophobia as part of their political arsenal.We can see the dangers in Britain today as war has contributed to the danger of terrorism, which in turn carries the risk of a racist backlash.”
He added, “But we can also see the hope – a labour movement championing, for the first time in many years, a real alternative to the crisis of capitalism, a real antidote to the politics of division and despair.
“In honouring those who sacrificed everything 80 years ago, we must not only be vigilant against any return to the worst aspects of the past, but also proud in winning a new generation to the politics of solidarity and social justice.”
Speaking after the event, Len said, “It’s an honour to mark those giants of our movement who taught us that we must always defend our liberties.
“The ordinary men and women who went off to a then far-off land, to face unknown horrors, to do so that we may know our freedoms today, they are rightly our heroes.”
To find out more see
www.international-brigades.org.uk
Find out more HERE Vote on Royal Mail pensions plan
As we go to press Unite is holding a consultative ballot of its 6,000 Royal Mail managers on the latest pension proposals.
In a statement, the Royal Mail said that it’s offering members the choice of joining either a defined benefit cash balance scheme or a defined contribution scheme. Royal Mail said it is one of few companies offering to replace one defined benefit scheme with another.
“The latest position is an improvement from the original proposal and through our
discussions we have achieved this,” Unite officer for the Royal Mail Brian Scott said.
“We have had many discussions with the company over the last few months and these have been difficult. But the Unite negotiating team consider that what is on offer is the best achievable in the circumstances.”
Unite has about 6,000 members working for the Royal Mail that is now a privately- owned company, following its controversial sell-off by the coalition government after five centuries of state ownership.
Peter Everard Smith
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