2nd annual march & rally - Bob Crow (RMT Gen.Sec.) called for support for John McDonnell's EDM to repeal the anti-trade union laws.

Cheques should be made payable to "Shrewsbury 24 Campaign". Send to: Eileen Turnbull, National Treasurer, National Shrewsbury 24 Campaign Committee, 22 Cheyne Gardens, Liverpool L19 3PH.

Message from Shropshire & Telford Trades Council
Support the Annual Shrewsbury 24 March and Rally

In 21st century Britain an unelected judge deems as illegal a democratic decision of workers to take strike action. Lord Justice McCombe’s recent high court ruling against BA cabin crew shows that yet again the law can be relied on to back the rich and the powerful. The outrageous decision to outlaw strikes at British Airways is directed against everyone who wants to see resistance to the ConDem Coalition’s agenda of savage cuts.

The bosses and the government are on the offensive against workers and the entire union movement has to fight back. Shropshire and Telford Trades Council invite trade unionists and supporters to joins us for a March and Rally demanding justice for the Shrewsbury pickets, criminalised and jailed following the 1972 building workers strike, and forging solidarity with workers fighting back now in the face of draconian anti-union laws.

The first two events have been a tremendous success, the rallies - outside the court where the pickets were sentenced - reinvigorated the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign and brought the lessons of struggle and resistance to a wide layer of activist and campaigners both old and new.

The March and Rally is held in Shrewsbury  because this was where the main trial took place. The actual events that led to them being charged took place in Telford so there is even more reason that the event on the first Saturday of July is supported by all local Trade Unionists. It's time that Justice was finally done and pardon given to those who have been criminalised for being Trade Unionists, their only crime was in fighting for decent terms and conditions. The campaign is also calling for a Public Inquiry to expose the role of successive governments and the secret services in the events surrounding this important time in labour history.

Follow link  for photo collage of the first march

New short film about the Shrewsbury Pickets including interviews with Ricky Tomlinson & Des Warren.
Heroes of trade unions in the construction industry - one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the 20th Century
 

for further info, we recommend;

The Shrewsbury Three: strikes, pickets and "conspiracy" by Jim Arnison. This is the story of 3 building workers who were wrongly imprisoned and their fight for justice. The author was a journalist for the Morning Star.84pp. £3 + p&p from Working Class Movement Library.

Des Warren, "The Key to My Cell", (1982), republished 2007 £10 from www.shrewsburypicketscampaign.org.uk along with T-shirts, other books and all the latest campaign information.

Ricky Tomlinson, "Ricky", Time Warner Paperbacks (2003)