Today a bunch of us from our branch treked down to London to join a lobby of Parliament 
(Photos : That high tec Visitors Pass ; Those offending T Shirts get organised)
(Photo above : I really need some taller colleagues)
The lobby was to request our MPs sign up to an Early Day Motion (EDM) that calls for the reinstatement of a Unison activist from Manchester.
Photo : "Silent Nightingales" by Richard Searle
Karen Reissmann was disgracefully sacked for speaking out against cuts to mental health services in Manchester. This is one of the highest profile and blatant cases of Trade Union victimisation that I can recall. The worry for us all is that what Karen said was not essentially different than quotes I have given to our local paper.
Karen Reissmann was disgracefully sacked for speaking out against cuts to mental health services in Manchester. This is one of the highest profile and blatant cases of Trade Union victimisation that I can recall. The worry for us all is that what Karen said was not essentially different than quotes I have given to our local paper.
(Photo: Control Bae Demonstration)
I got to Westminster before the others. I could see no sign of our rally. So wandering around I manage to briefly join a small demo against Bae Systems. I am a sucker for a good old fashioned lefty, anti capitalist, anti arms trade campaign. Mind you their campaign slogan "Don't sweep the real Bae under the carpet", didn't seem the the most snappy or angry. Anyway figuring that they could hopefully bring Bae to book without me, I resumed my search for our Rally. Eventually my colleagues and others arrived on College Green for the rally and photo ops. Photos snapped we all set off to queue to get into Parliament. It was surprisingly simple to get through security into the Palace of Westminster. All it took was bags through an x ray and a brief feeling up! Good job I no longer have my Rice bag false breasts, as I imagine having to take them out to be examined would be a tad embarrassing. It was interesting that colleagues wearing campaign T Shir
ts had to take them off, of turn inside out, yet they were happy for me to carry in a camera, PDA and all sort of crap in my handbag. Once checked we were given a high tech detailed Visitors ID pass (a pink sticker with Visitor on). The inside was even more stunning than the outside . We made our way through the bustle to the Disraeli committee room. I am sad enough to have seen these rooms on telly while watching BBC Parliament channel. We had an impassioned meeting, with some of Unison supporting MPs. I did recognise Gerald Kauffman amongst them.
ts had to take them off, of turn inside out, yet they were happy for me to carry in a camera, PDA and all sort of crap in my handbag. Once checked we were given a high tech detailed Visitors ID pass (a pink sticker with Visitor on). The inside was even more stunning than the outside . We made our way through the bustle to the Disraeli committee room. I am sad enough to have seen these rooms on telly while watching BBC Parliament channel. We had an impassioned meeting, with some of Unison supporting MPs. I did recognise Gerald Kauffman amongst them.(Photos : That high tec Visitors Pass ; Those offending T Shirts get organised)
(Photo above : I really need some taller colleagues)
We then moved on to the Lobbying. It is a fairly simple, but somewhat haphazard affair. All that you do is ask the immaculately uniformed clerks in the Central 
Lobby to contact your constituency MP, and if they are free they will come down and meet you. There is a lot of milling around and standing waiting moving from 1 foot to another. My problem was that I didn't know what my MP looked like. So I hung around the desk hoping that they would call out my name on the tannoy when he arrived. This would have worked if the poor quality tannoy, coupled with the cavernous echoy chamber meant that every name sounded the same. In the end one of the other Stoke MPs Mark Fisher came to meet us. A good traditional Labour MP he listened intently to our argument and pledged to sign the EDM
Lobby to contact your constituency MP, and if they are free they will come down and meet you. There is a lot of milling around and standing waiting moving from 1 foot to another. My problem was that I didn't know what my MP looked like. So I hung around the desk hoping that they would call out my name on the tannoy when he arrived. This would have worked if the poor quality tannoy, coupled with the cavernous echoy chamber meant that every name sounded the same. In the end one of the other Stoke MPs Mark Fisher came to meet us. A good traditional Labour MP he listened intently to our argument and pledged to sign the EDMThe day over, looking back it had been productive, and good to be participating in democracy. Our political system may have its faults, but I must admit I'm impressed by how accessible our parliament is. I'm not sure this is the case everywhere.
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