{"id":17982,"date":"2019-05-02T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17982"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","slug":"shrewsbury-24-fighters-now-one-step-closer-to-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17982","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098I almost cried with joy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Campaigners are one step closer to overturning the wrongful convictions of 24 building workers arrested for trade union activity in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign<\/a>, supported and funded by Unite, won a crucial victory yesterday (1 May) in its long struggle to overturn the convictions of the building workers, who were tried in 1973\/74 for picketing during the national strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a highly unusual move, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) agreed to reconsider the referral of the convictions to the Court of Appeal halfway through a judicial review of its refusal to do so at the Birmingham Administrative Court.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking after the CCRC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision, Unite member and convicted picket Terry Renshaw said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I left court yesterday I almost cried with joy. We have now had three judges saying that we have an arguable case. We look forward to the day when the CCRC sends our case back to the Court of Appeal.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The CCRC had originally refused to make the referral despite the ample grounds submitted by the pickets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 legal team.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These grounds included evidence showing that original witness statements had been destroyed and that this fact had not been disclosed to the defence counsel at the first trial, as well as the broadcast of a highly prejudicial documentary during the same period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Covert agency <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The documentary, entitled Red under the Bed<\/a>, contained material that was contributed to by a covert agency within the Foreign Office known as the Information Research Department.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The pickets along with the campaign, refused to accept CCRC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision and commenced court proceedings, which were funded by Unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two hours into the case the CCRC conceded and said it would reconsider its decision not to send the convictions to the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commenting on the reversal, Shrewsbury 24 Campaign chair, Harry Chadwick, said he was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bparticularly proud of the magnificent support that we have had from my union, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chadwick added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fight goes on until we achieve justice for the pickets.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Brilliant news\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbrilliant news\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is fitting that the news should come on Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Day<\/a>, bringing the Shrewsbury 24 one step closer to the justice they deserve,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Beckett.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is proud to be a long term supporter of the campaign and to have financially supported the legal action. We will continue to stand with those impacted by this miscarriage of justice every step of the way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beckett added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe right to organise, take industrial action or peacefully protest must never be taken for granted because those who wish to stop working people being able to defend themselves will always seek ways to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relentless fight to right an historic wrong is also a fight for the future \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sending a warning to those who would unjustly target trade unionists that, regardless of how long it takes, their actions will be exposed and accounted for and providing vital insight on how to prevent such injustices from happening again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSolidarity from Unite to the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pic from 1973 London demo <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaigners are one step closer to overturning the wrongful convictions of 24 building workers arrested for trade union activity in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, supported and funded by Unite, won a crucial victory yesterday (1 May) in its long struggle to overturn the convictions of the building workers, who were tried in 1973\/74 for picketing during the national strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[167,468,405,451],"wps_subtitle":"Shrewsbury 24 fighters now one step closer to justice","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17982"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25305,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17982\/revisions\/25305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}