The trade union UNISON has unanimously voted to pass a motion to divest council pension funds from oil, coal and gas. UNISON is one of the two biggest trade union groups in the UK, with over 1.3 million members, and is also the primary representative for local government workers, whose pension funds are collectively worth over £200 billion.
We are deeply saddened at the death of our friend and great climate campaigner and socialist, Ken Montague, who passed away last Friday.
Below are tributes from Suzanne Jeffery and Jonathan Neale.
Ken was secretary of the Campaign against Climate Change trade union group and a member of CACC steering group for many years. During that time Ken played an invaluable role in developing the work of the trade union group and especially the One Million Climate jobs report and campaign.
Ken's work was unseen and often unsung but without it much of what the CACC trade union group have done in the last few years would not have happened. Ken's work allowed the trade union group to campaign increasingly effectively within the wider trade union movement, to develop a deeper understanding of the climate crisis, its relevance to the struggle of working people and to counter the false narrative that jobs and the environment are mutually exclusive.
UPDATE: Tina walks free from court.
The charges for contempt of court have been dropped in a major victory for the anti-fracking movement and the right to peaceful protest
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Tina Rothery, Lancashire Nana and anti-fracking campaigner, is being aggressively pursued for legal costs of over £55,000 and the likelihood of a possible two-week prison sentence, thanks to the actions of fracking company, Cuadrilla. Her supporters, including well-known figures such as Emma Thompson, Vivienne Westwood and trade union leaders, as well as NGOs and campaign groups, have today called on Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, to drop the case as completely unjustified. Hundreds are expected to gather outside Preston court on Friday when her case is heard, under the banner #IamTinaToo.
Paul Ridge of Bindmans solicitors said: “I have never seen a company behave as aggressively and for such a sustained period towards a single protestor on the matter of costs as in this case by Cuadrilla.”
