GMB North West & Irish Region
18 August 2015
This initiative is aimed primarily at highlighting and supporting various campaigns on behalf of those who have suffered as a consequence of powerful forces thinking they are above the law.  Many of these campaigns involve people who have experienced injustice at the hands of unscrupulous employers or those in authority or in power.  All of them have one thing in common: Their quest for justice.
 
This year’s conference will highlight campaigns such as Justice4Daniel with Alistair Morgan speaking about his experience of  trudging through a sewer of police corruption for 28 years and how he has been pressing for a judge led enquiry after his private investigator brother was killed in a horrific axe murder 2 days after he spoke of uncovering “serious police  corruption”.
 
Sylvia Lancaster (Sophie Lancaster Foundation) will address the conference on the aims of the charity set up to create respect for and understanding of subcultures in our communities in order to work in conjunction with politicians and police forces to ensure individuals who are part of subcultures are protected by the law.  In 2013 Greater Manchester Police became the first to monitor and record hate crimes and incidents against people from Alternative Subcultures. Several other Police Authorities have since followed their example.
 
Other speakers will include Dave Smith (Blacklisting Support Group) Michelle Livesey (Clare’s Law) and Helen Steel who even when she saw the words “police officer” on her former partner’s marriage certificate, found it hard to take in what it meant. The man she knew as John Barker was an undercover policeman and using the identity of a dead child.  Helen was one of a group of eight women who launched legal action over relationships they had with five undercover police officers over a 25-year period.
 
Also in attendance will be self described “Radical Lawyer” Mike Mansfield.
 
The conference will be opened by GMB’s North West & Irish Regional Secretary Paul McCarthy who said:  “GMB supports and is involved in a number of different campaigns for justice for people who have suffered as a consequence of powerful forces thinking they are above the law.  We have lined up speakers involved with some of these campaigns from many different backgrounds who all share the common goals of seeking justice and highlighting the abuses of power perpetrated by the state and its various agencies against ordinary people in the workplace or in wider communities. By helping to provide more publicity and visibility to each of the campaigns we hope to help campaigners inject fresh impetus and momentum as well as attracting new recruits and supporters.  We want to help in applying pressure on the powers that be to begin to deliver justice to all those who have been wronged by people who have abused their positions and, in some cases, colluded with a number of agencies to suppress those people’s rights.  Some of the campaigns have been running for many years and in some cases they are starting to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel.  In most instances this is as a direct result of the tireless efforts and dedication of the people leading the campaigns, without whom it is difficult to imagine that those campaigns would ever have their ultimate aim in sight - JUSTICE''
 
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS SO FAR INCLUDE:                                                                            
  • PAUL McCARTHY (North West GMB)                                                                            
  • ANDY BURNHAM (MP)
  • TOM WATSON (MP)
  • ALISTAIR MORGAN (Justice4Daniel)                                          
  • SYLVIA LANCASTER (Sophie Lancaster Foundation)                                          
  • MICHELLE LIVESEY (Chief Reporter Key 103 - ‘Clare’s Law’)                                     
  • DAVE SMITH (Blacklisting Support Group)                                                                        
  • HELEN STEEL (#Spycops)  EDDIE MARNELL (Cammell Lairds)                                                       
  • PETER JUKES (Journalist/Author)                                                                                       
  • MIKE MANSFIELD (QC - self described “Radical Lawyer”)                                          
  • HOWARD GAYLE (Show Racism the Red Card)          
 
 Tickets available from Neil Smith on 0161 622 4997or by Email at neil.smith@gmb.org.uk
 
 
Last year’s conference, hosted by GMB North West & Irish region at John Moores University Liverpool, was the first such event of its kind in the UK, attracting speakers and visitors from many different backgrounds and was hailed a roaring success by everyone in attendance. 
 
Speakers at that conference included:
 
  • Margaret Aspinall (Hillsborough Family Support Group) 
  • Andy Burnham (Shadow Health Secretary)
  • Tom Watson (MP)
  • Ricky Tomlinson (Shrewsbury 24 Campaign)
  • Dave Hopper (Durham Miners Association) will speak about Orgreave and the treatment of miners by the same police who marshalled Hillsborough.
  • Bryan Davies (Remploy) 
  • Dave Smith (Blacklisting Support Group)
  • Eddie Marnell one of the jailed workers at Cammel Lairds and still trying to get papers released.
  • Neil Findlay (MSP) on issues related to miner’s strike.
  • David Conn (The Guardian)
  • Alistair Morgan who has for 27 years fought to get his brothers killers brought to justice after he exposed “serious police corruption”.

Check out the Campaigns for Justice micro website www.campaignsforjustice.com