OFF THE RAILS IN OXFORD
In autumn 1998, Railtrack began piling up mountains of ballast at their new storage depot in New Hinksey, South Oxford, using ‘permitted development rights’ left over from the time of British Rail. John Prescott, secretary of state for the Environment, has still not decided whether to grant an Article 4 Direction, which would mean that Railtrack would be brought back under council planning laws. As a decision cannot be applied retrospectively, Railtrack made sure they started the quarry as fast as possible.
Furious about the ballast with its noise, pollution, and potentially toxic water run-off, local residents have taken to direct action. On the second day of work the gates were pad-locked shut, the one digger on site was disabled and the railway points locked shut, so preventing deliveries. On 7th November, 130 people, most of whom have never undertaken direct action, invaded the site, shifting the ballast into 10ft high letters spelling the message 'STOP THE QUARRY'. A delegation also went to Railtrack House in London and dumped sacks of ballast at the front entrance. Others have visited the home of Railtrack boss, Bob Horton. As one said: 'he has made his presence felt in my life, so I will make my presence felt in his'! Further info on the web: www.oxquarry.co.uk
NO MORE CHERNOBYLS!
December 14th was the International Day of Protest against the plans of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance the completion of two half-built nuclear reactors (K2/R4) in the Ukraine. Over 55 organisations in 30 countries joined in the Day of Protest, putting pressure on all of the EBRD's regional offices and some of the contractors involved, including Tractabel in Belgium and Siemens in Germany. Protesters in London rallied at the EBRD head office in a show of resistance to this insane plan to build more nuclear reactors in a country still ravaged by the effects of Chernobyl. The two reactors Khmelnitsky 2 and Rivne 4, which were left half-built after the break-up of the Soviet Union, are of a similar design to Chernobyl.
The Day of Protest was organised by pan-European network, ASEED, as part of an ongoing campaign against the EBRD and other multilateral investment banks to halt investment in nuclear power in central and eastern Europe. For further info contact ASEED Europe (contact details on p.42).
PaRTiZans
People against Rio Tinto Zinc (Partizans) recently celebrated their twentieth anniversary. The world's biggest mining company may have changed its moniker, but Partizans hasn't. As far as the globe's longest enduring campaign against a multinational is concerned, Rio Tinto still poses a great threat to the land and livelihoods of indigenous peoples.
Due to international pressure, Rio Tinto pulled out of Ecuador earlier this year and was forced to retreat to the Philippines. Since last year's AGM, the company has sharpened its "divide and rule" strategy on NGOs. It has held two forums attended by Save the Children, Oxfam and Amnesty, in an attempt to open "dialogue" with "reasonable" opponents. As a result, the World Development Movement, Partizans and FOE have been marginalised.
Partizans is opposed to sleep-walking with the enemy in this fashion. It has invited all NGOs approached by the company to join an alternative, open public forum late in 1999 or early 2000. This forum will be addressed by community representatives directly affected by Rio Tinto, with clear statements on what kind of solidarity actions they require from the rest of us. Contact details p.42.
VIVA LAS PATISERISTAS!
Daring activists across the globe engaged in the latest craze to hit the direct action scene. Pieing - the quick and fun way to expose those evil and unaccountable figures with too much power- by putting egg (sorry, vegan organic cheesecake) all over their faces!
Pie throwing is definitely catching on, sporting names like Agent Banana, Agent Mud-pie, Agent Peaches, under the banner of the Biotic Baking Brigade. Indeed, activists are totting up quite a list of disgruntled recipients including Renato Ruggiero, head of the WTO, Robert Shapiro and Douglas Watson, respective heads of Monsanto and Novartis.
The potential for desperate puns is yet to be exhausted, as the gastronomical rebellion "Operation Another One Bites the Crust" continues. To get involved all you need do is choose a silly name, pick your favorite shady and unaccountable character, cook up a pie, and throw!
DAY OF ACTION AGAINST ZENECA
Zeneca Pharmaceuticals is the largest British company involved in genetic engineering. To kick off a campaign against them, two concurrent actions took place on the 23rd November.
At Avonmouth, near Bristol, a Zeneca plant was blockaded for several hours by 40 people. Activists locked on to 2 articulated lorries with d-locks at the main gates of the plants, causing a mile long tailback. Three others climbed a 150ft tower to hang a banner, while the band Tragic Roundabout entertained the rest.
Avon police turned up but then went away, as the action was just over the Gloucestershire border and outside their juristiction- seems the ‘county line’ doesn’t just work in cowboy films! The police eventually produced hydraulic bolt croppers and the activists locked off.
Meanwhile in Brixham, South Devon, another plant was targeted. Two people got onto the roof of the building, with one arrested for criminal damage.
The plant is on a sea-cliff, the obvious place for an anti-Zeneca banner. Activists abseiled down the 200 ft face and attached the banner to the cliff with climbing wedges. At the end of the action, they left it, figuring that Zeneca wouldn’t find anyone crazy enough to go and retrieve it!
GENETIX SNOWBALL
The GenetiX Snowball campaign started on American Independence day, 4th July 1998, when five women uprooted almost 200 genetically engineered rape seed oil plants at what Monsanto calls a 'demonstration' site 10 miles south west of Oxford. The five women were arrested but not charged.
Monsanto has issued injunctions and a damages claim for an unspecified amount. They have also injuncted the press officers, and have extended terms to include anyone deemed to be a 'member' of GenetiX Snowball. A court hearing in January is expected to set a date for a full hearing, probably in late summer 1999. For a £20 billion company the actual damage caused by the women's action is trivial. Monsanto's slowness in proceeding with the case reveals that it's the injunctions and threat of huge damages that they really want. Monsanto's actions therefore amount to a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). There have been three other GenetiX Snowball actions. In July at Manor farm, Oxfordshire; in August at Sharpe International Seeds near Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire and in September at AgrEvo, East Wynch Farm, near Kings Lynn in East Anglia. On Saturday 17th April GenetiX Snowball will be hosting actions at test sites all over the country. GenetiX Snowball has also published a handbook and video; speakers are available for public meetings. Contact details - p.42.
OPERATION CREMATE MONSANTO
Operation 'Cremate Monsanto' began in the village of Maladagudda, India where Mr. Basanna, owner of the field where an illegal genetic experiment was being conducted without his knowledge, local peasants, and Professor Nanjunda Swamy, president of KRRS (a Gandhian movement of 10 million farmers in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka), together uprooted the first genetically modified cotton plants. Afterwards, all the plants in the field were set on fire.
The action, convened by KRRS along with local organisations, such as the Progressive Front, the Action Front of the Untouchables, the Karnataka Liberation Front and the Organisation of the Landless, was the first in a prolonged campaign in opposition to Monsanto's illegal operations in the state.
The farmers claimed that Monsanto deceived them into planting genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto undertook no biosafety measures, so farmers sterilised the sites themselves by reducing them to ashes. They pledged to force Monsanto out of the state via prolonged mass civil disobedience. The Union Minister for Rural Development, Babagouda Patil, declared that 'Monsanto will be asked to leave India'. For more information on ‘Cremate Monsanto’ contact: swamy.krrs@aworld.net
TOBACCO WHITE PAPER TRUMPETS GLOBAL TOBACCO MARKETING STANDARDS
The recently published Tobacco White Paper contains a commitment by the British Government to take a lead role in developing the World Health Organisation’s International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The commitment means that the Government will work to prevent tobacco multinationals using advertising methods in developing countries which are banned in the UK.
The move represents a major success for World Development Movement (WDM)’s ‘Marketing Death’ campaign. The campaign included sending over 3,000 postcards to Tony Blair, an Early Day Motion in parliament with more than 120 MPs’ signatures, and a week long tour of Britain by campaigners from Malaysia and Sri Lanka. WDM will now be pressing for the Government’s commitments in the White Paper to be backed up by early provision of money and human resources. Contact: World Development Movement.
Solidarity in the UK
On 4th January 1999, 12 concerned citizens reacted by occupying three key locations in Shellmex House, the headquarters of Shell UK, with a banner reading "Shell: Filthy, Thieving Murderers - It's Time to Go". Offices occupied included those of outgoing boss, Chris Fay, and his successor, Malcolm Brinded. The activists, who had decided against causing criminal damage, were surprised when the police knocked down office walls in order to eject them.
www.kemptown.org/shell received regular updates on the situation both inside the office, and, more importantly, in the Delta, where an oil-sponsored military crackdown was under way.
Though arrested, all 13 occupiers were back on the streets by 6pm, all charges dropped to avoid more bad publicity for Shell. But News of the actions had already reached the Niger Delta and with any luck it gave some hope to the extraordinary people of Ijaw.
For more info, contact Delta: details on p.42.
Examples of other anti-Shell actions which took place on the 10th of November, anniversary of the execution of nine Ogoni Activists in 1995 include:
Jarrow, South Tyneside: Shell depot was blocked off for 2 hours; Nottingham: around 40 activists blockaded a service station; Norwich: A scaffold pole tripod was erected to blockade a distribution depot; Leeds: A station forecourt was occupied by about 40 activists; Brighton: 25 people blockaded a service station; Manchester: A service station was closed off for the morning.
All petrol stations have fireman's switches that can be padlocked shut. They are distinguishable by a red sign which states "Switch pumps off here". At many actions protesters have simply padlocked shut the master fuel switch, then gone for a cup of tea. Of course, we wouldn't encourage such radical action but there is lots you can do in solidarity with the people of the Niger Delta.
ARMED ROBBERY - MULTINATIONAL STYLE
Arms Trade money is deeply embedded in the fabric of British society. The Church of England invests millions in GEC, the country's second largest arms manufacturer. According to recent Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) research, universities and colleges prop up the industry to the tune of millions of pounds. Such investments were the target of a new campaign launched by CAAT in November in Oxford, when a band of students attacked the University and Colleges investing in BAe, GEC, Lucas Varity and other companies with blood all over their bank -books. Students 'died' in pools of fake blood outside a prominent University building in Central Oxford, while others hung a banner reading "Oxford Colleges Share in Murder". Students also interrupted lectures chanting "People die for Oxford Profits"! The following week, the students held a candlelight vigil at the front of a BAe recruitment presentation, in memory of the protesters killed seven years ago that day in the Dili Massacre, East Timor.NO SHOP DAY!
Buy Nothing Day is an international one-day effort to curb consumption and expose its environmental impact. What began as a small action in the Pacific Northwest is now celebrated in 15 countries around the world. It is estimated that last year over a million people joined the 24-hour consumer fast. NO SHOP DAY is about taking back control of our own lives, and imagining a world not dominated by billboards and cheesy adverts for rubbish we don't need!
Friends of the Earth [FOE] UK 'launched' a spoof range of toys called the "TrashFormers" to draw attention to the impact of advertising on young children. Children in the UK see around 18,000 ads per year. Research suggests that children are three times more susceptible to advertising than adults. But regulation of advertising aimed at kids in the UK is very weak. In Norway and Sweden TV advertising aimed at kids under 12 is banned. FOE suggests a UK ban on TV advertising of children's products until after 9pm.
Past Buy Nothing Day actions have included credit card "cut ups", street theatre, and anti-consumer Christmas caroling.
Celebrate BUY NOTHING DAY 1999- PARTICIPATE BY NOT PARTICIPATING!
Contact Enough - details on p.42.
ROADS and RUNWAYS! STOP THE B.N.R.R
It's the same old story: 27 miles of tarmac - three times the size of the Newbury Bypass and up to 18 lanes wide- will pass by three schools, through an SSSI and affecting hundreds of sites of ecological interest, and enclose the only edge of Birmingham currently free from motorway. The Department of Transport's own figures show that this road will increase congestion on the M6, and they have plans to widen the M6 to cope with extra traffic generated. The new and ominous element is that it’s Britain’s first ever privately run toll road. Once completed it will be a profit-making venture for Midland Expressway Limited (MEL), a consortium led by Kvaerner.
The Alliance against the BNRR won the first stage in an important legal battle over the secrecy of a concession agreement drawn up between MEL and the Government. MEL had warned: “The outcome of this case will be of concern to all commercial organisations involved in public private partnership projects. The private sector must be able to rely on Government commitments on confidentiality...”
The BNRR applicants have also launched an appeal against the High Court case which over-ruled the argument that the compulsory purchase orders for the road are illegal. This case could be potentially very costly and as such they are asking for people to pledge money.
On 8th December Police and Bailiffs moved to evict the camps and squatted buildings on route. Protesters held their ground under siege for over a week. The under sheriff screened off the site from public view, and denied media access. Eventually the tunnels were evicted.
Construction is expected to begin on the road early in 1999 and camps may yet spring up along the 27-mile route. For more information contact Birmingham FOE or browse their web site: http://ds.dial.pipex.com/beep or try the camp mobiles: (07970) 301 978 or (07970) 347 068
KEEP TARMAC OUT OF BESTWOOD
Construction company Tarmac have planning permission for two quarries on the boundaries of Bestwood Country Park, one of the last remnants of Sherwood Forest. The country park is visited by 500,000 people every year. Planning permission was given in 1963 when environmental regulations were almost non-existent. The council is unable to stop these quarries because of the huge levels of compensation that they would have to pay to Tarmac.
Local people and park users have formed an action group and held two public meetings, with one attracting over 200 people. The campaign has held awareness raising events, such as a Protest and Picnic in the Park, and has produced a video petition to send to the company directors, showing the concerns of the people of Nottingham. Over 180 people have signed a beat-the-bulldozer pledge and more are needed.
On Monday November 23rd, one group occupied a Tarmac construction site in Nottingham, dropping two banners from scaffolding, and sending a strong message to Tarmac to "leave Bestwood Country Park alone". Footage of the action was the final clip in a video sent to the company in opposition to their plans.
Contact the Rainbow Centre, 182 Mansfield Road, Nottingham. Tel: 0115 958 5666
URGENT- Urban Regeneration and Greenfield Environment NeTwork
On November 2nd, activists raided the offices of Bryant Country Homes in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, calling for "Homes for Need not Greed". They were protesting about the building of executive housing on greenfield sites, abuses of the planning system and lack of social housing.
The action was timed to coincide with the company's Annual General Meeting. On the same day residents of the Sandy Lane village near Bradford protested at a nearby greenfield site that Bryant Homes are in the process of 'developing'. Sandy Lane residents have taken direct action by moving their caravans onto the site, hooked up with Bingley Bypass road protestors to jump on bulldozers, and put up posters in their windows warning off potential buyers of the Bryant greenfield houses.
Campaigners in Hertfordshire are opposing Persimmon Homes’ plans to build 10,000 houses on greenbelt land to the west of Stevenage. While groups from the coalition CASE (Campaign Against Stevenage Expansion) are arguing through the planning system, some of them are organising a "beat the bulldozer" pledge.
You can also find out about campaigns in your area and elsewhere by contacting URGENT (see p.42). CASE (Campaign Against Stevenage Expansion) CASE c/o Dyes Farm, Langley, Hertfordshire, SG4 4PQ.
OTHER GENETIX ACTIONS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE UK
37 genetically modified crop test-sites destroyed by anonymous activists, as well as campaigners occupying University buildings where genetics research takes place.
"Toxic Planet" a three day squatted Genetix info. centre took place in Islington, with passers-by dropping in for a host of workshops, free cups of tea, and lots of GE free food. The Vegetarian Society announced that only GM-free foods can use its symbol.
The suppliers of Nottinghamshire's school dinners have joined the House of Commons Kitchens with a policy excluding Genetically Modified ingredients from their food.
Local groups have successfully demonstrated at many supermarkets raising the issues of genetic engineering locally and providing entertainment with the help of 'mutant vegetables'.
For details of local Genetix crop test sites, request a GMO public register and GMO
Grid Reference List from Joseph Pereira, DETR biotech unit, 0171 890 5277,
or check out S.H.A.G's website at http://host.envirolink.org/shag
You can now download the Nationwide Food Survey's guide 'How to Avoid Genetic Foods' from the web at http://wkweb4.cablenet.co.uk/pbrown/index.htm
More news on genetic engineering at the Greenpeace site:
<http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/main.html>
Rail and Tube Workers fight Privatisation
Railtrack makes £300 million a year in profit. Engineering contractors such as GEC Tarmac Railway Maintenance and Balfour Beatty make over £300 million between them. This profit comes from the taxpayer, who pays double the subsidy formerly given to British Rail. Rail workers are bearing the brunt of the drive for profits. Financially they are worse off than ever, and sometimes end up regularly working 72-hour weeks. Safety is compromised on a daily basis, and statistics show that rail work is the third most dangerous industry in Britain.
GEC Tarmac Railway Maintenance (GTRM) is attempting to smash union organisation by sacking Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMT) representatives. Steve Hedley, an RMT representative, was sacked by GTRM late last year over trumped up criminal damage and intimidation charges. These were later dropped, but the company refuses to reinstate him.
Meanwhile, in December last year John Prescott signed papers allowing private companies to start ‘shadowing’ London Transport management in anticipation of privatisation of the tube. It is estimated that the privatisation process will cost around £100 million.
Tube workers had voted to strike on January 4th 1999 but the RMT union called off their action after London Underground obtained a court order to prevent it. Reclaim the Streets (RTS) activists occupied the head office of London Underground in solidarity. One of the campaigners said: “Bus deregulation and the railway sell
COMPANIES GET ORDER TO QUIT NIGERIA
On 11 December 1998, Ijaw communities from Nigeria issued the Kaiama Declaration which ordered oil companies, including Shell, Chevron, Mobil and Texaco to get out of Ijaw land or face the wrath of local people. Needless to say, the companies failed to comply.
The response to these moves by the Ijaw people to regain control of their region from the multi-nationals has been brutal repression. A State of Emergency has been declared across the entire state and thousands of troops have been sent to smash occupations and disperse rallies. Killings of Niger Delta activists by soldiers are reported to have reached 240 in the first week of 1999.
In the words of Oronto Douglas, founder of the CHICOCO movement in the Niger Delta: “The multinationals, in collaboration with the military, have waged a vicious and relentless ecological war on our land.” Contact Liverpool Catholic Workers details on p.42.
BABY MILK ACTION
In October 1998 at the UK Food Group awards, Nestle was awarded the "Lot of Bottle" Award for their shameful violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes -especially for using nurses in the Philippines to promote Nestogen infant formula for new mothers and pregnant women.
Nestle certainly has a ‘Lot of Bottle’ says Baby Milk Action. The "Health Educators" were raised at Nestle’s shareholder AGM in 1996 and exposed on Philippino TV in 1997 (Nestle threatened to remove its advertising from the television station as a result). Ines Fernandez of ARUGAAN, the Philippine member of the International Baby Food Action Network, responded by drawing attention to a photograph of a Nestle "Health Educator" who had been spotted at a health centre and explained how the nurse, "...visited the homes of the breastfeeding mothers who were at the health centre in the morning. We followed her and saw her showing the mothers the brochure of Nestogen 1 - infant formula. She encouraged the mother to use the product for mixed feeding."
Contact details p.42
Supermarkets move on Ethical Trading
Following a two year campaign by Christian Aid, three supermarkets have joined the Ethical Trading Initiative. The Initiative brings together companies, campaigners and governments to look for ways of guaranteeing minimum working conditions for suppliers in the South. Campaigners collected over £15 million worth of supermarket till receipts and staged hand-ins to call publicly for a better deal for producers and workers.
For details, phone: 0171 523 2264 or email: mfarmaner@christianaid.org Postal address + website - p.42.
McLIBEL APPEAL begins 12th January
The McLibel appeal begins on 12th January, when Helen Steel and Dave Morris will once again challenge the use of libel laws as a form of censorship, and try to overturn parts of the verdict. Helen & Dave will submit that the verdict should have been in their favour based on the overwhelming evidence supporting their case.
The McLibel II case will also argue that in order to protect the public's right to scrutinise and criticise companies whose business practices may affect our lives, multinational corporations should no longer be able to sue for libel. McDonald's asked the Appeal Court to prevent Helen & Dave pursuing this submission unless they give an undertaking that they will pay all of McDonald's costs for the main trial if they succeed on this point!
The appeal takes place in Court 1, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, WC2. Leaflets will be handed out during a protest picket outside the court on Tuesday 12th January, 9.30 - 11am.
Women's Environment Network. Real Nappy Week, April 19-25 1999
Companies such as Proctor & Gamble spend millions every year promoting disposable nappies which contribute to over a million tonnes of household rubbish every year in the UK, and cost at least £340 million to collect and send for incineration.
Real Nappy Week aims to give parents a fair chance to avoid wasteful products. Many parents have great difficulty in tracking down nappy laundries and modern fitting real nappies. The Week is supported by local authorities and many other groups including Friends of the Earth, the Real Nappy Association and the Women's Institute.
Contact details - p.42. Please send a A4 sae with 31p in stamps for Real Nappy Week information.
LOW LEVEL RADIATION CAMPAIGN
The Low Level Radiation Campaign continues to draw attention to the bad science underlying internationally accepted radiation protection standards. Campaigners recently met with UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher and warned him of the dangers of a new European Directive which deregulates some nuclear waste and has loopholes allowing use and disposal of unlimited amounts of radioactivity without reporting or authorisation.
The LLRC told the Minister "The scale of genetic damage from nuclear pollution has been covered up for years, but now the truth is coming out. BSE was just the same - the government's scientific advisers said 'no problem' but they were wrong." Contact details - p.42.
NEWBURY BYPASS OPEN
After a three-year campaign of resistance, the Newbury Bypass opened in the early hours of the 12th November. The campaign against the Newbury Bypass saw the arrests of over 1000 people, the eviction of over 30 camps, and the mobilisation of thousands of police and security guards. It is believed to have added well over £25 million to the cost of the road. Also on the opening day South Downs EF! 25 people occupied the Brighton offices of Mott McDonald, the civil engineering company which designed the bypass.
On January 10th , less than three months after it was opened, the bypass was closed again when 300 people walked onto the tarmac and reclaimed it as a public footpath for the day. Despite the best efforts of Thames Valley police, the protesters wandered at will, eventually closing the A34. Traffic jams as far as the M4 resulted. Contact: Third Battle of Newbury, PO Box 5642, Newbury RG14 5WG; 07000 785201 email: thirdbattle@hotmail.com
TOTNES COURT CASE UPDATE
Two women who were charged with £605,000 of criminal damage for removing the controversial trial of genetically engineered (GE) maize at Hood Barton in Devon have had their charges changed.
They have now been charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage, and have been bailed to appear before Plymouth Crown Court on December 29th. Previously harsh bail conditions, consisting of nightly curfew and daily signings were lessened. Instead, they will have to sign on twice a week at their local police stations. They are still banned from entering Devon apart from attending court appearances. In support of the women, 150 people gathered outside the court on the day and over 2,000 signatures were collected by the local campaign. Ten other people arrested in connection with the action have had DNA samples taken and are awaiting forensic results to see whether or not they will also be charged.Contact: GEN - details on p.42.
ARTHUR'S WOOD APPEAL
The residents of Arthur's Wood protest camp are appealing against an eviction order by Manchester Airport plc, on the grounds that the airport has no full title to the land. The title to the land lies with the National Trust, who are by law required to resist all encroachment on the land's security and health but instead have granted the airport a license to use it. Hundreds of trees are to be "reduced in height", to "aid visibility" for aircraft landing on the new second runway. It would obviously be a great embarrassment to them if they as the legal owners would have to evict the very people who defend the land they are meant to look after. Arthur’s Wood, Behind Moat House, Altrincham Rd, Cheshire; 01565 873 551; 07775 602 954
CITIZENS INSPECTORS ARRESTED AT BARROW
On Wednesday 18th November, seven peace activists and two accompanying journalists were arrested at the VSEL shipyard in Barrow, as the activists attempted a "Citizens' Inspection" of the Trident submarine, HMS Vengeance. The inspection was held in support of the "Bread not Bombs Ploughshares" group - currently in prison awaiting trial - who were arrested in the shipyard in September while attempting to disarm the Trident weapons system. The aim of the "Citizens' Inspection" was to "identify and inspect the development of weapons of mass destruction by VSEL and the British government". Those arrested have now been released without charge.
New Protection for Whistleblowers
For years whistleblowers have risked their careers by exposing malpractice in their workplace in the face of hostility from their employers. The UK’s new Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, which is expected to come into force early in 1999, has been described as ‘the most far-reaching whistleblower protection law in the world’.
The Act will apply to those who raise concerns about crime, negligence, breach of contract, miscarriage of justice, danger to health and safety or the environment. While the widest protection is afforded to informing the employer, the Act also protects people who inform prescribed regulators provided they have good evidence to back up the concern. The Act also protects wider disclosures to the media or pressure groups where these are justified and reasonable.
Much of the credit for the Act can be attributed to Public Concern at Work. They hope that the Act will bring about a change in organisational culture and make employers more open and accountable.
Public Concern at Work run a free legal helpline Tel: 0171 404 6609. Contact details: p.42.
-off are clear examples of the dire results of privatisation: more misery for the public, big profits for business. John Prescott talks of a private-public partnership, when in fact it’s going to be more like private profit at public expense.”