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A couple of weeks ago we blogged that workers employed in care homes in
north London (UK) were told by their employer — a private company
called Fremantle — that their wages were being cut by 30%, their hours
increased, their sick pay become a thing of the past, and their
pensions reduced, triggering an online campaign from LabourStart
which was then taken offline following letters to LaborStart’s internet
service provider from Freemantle. The campaign continues. Read this
update from LabourStart.
A couple of weeks ago we blogged that workers employed in care homes in
north London (UK) were told by their employer — a private company
called Fremantle — that their wages were being cut by 30%, their hours
increased, their sick pay become a thing of the past, and their
pensions reduced, triggering an online campaign from LabourStart
which was then taken offline following letters to LaborStart’s internet
service provider from Freemantle. The campaign continues. Read this
update from LabourStart.
down LabourStart by threatening our internet service provider (ISP),
claiming that it was hosting "potentially libellous" material. We’re
pleased to report that after thinking about it for three or four days,
our ISP realized that our online campaign was not libellous and
informed us that it could be back online. (This was picked up by the media and labelled a "web campaign victory.")
Google for the term ‘Fremantle’ you’re likely to see our ad in the
upper right corner of the page. (Or not — Google won’t show it every
time.) Our ad has now been shown nearly 152,000 times — that’s tens of thousands of people who have seen a loud and clear message which reads "Fremantle – Stop bullying, start talking. Barnet care workers deserve more."
4,000 of you have sent off messages to its chief executive, Carole
Sawyers. With over 12,000 messages now in her inbox, we’ve broken all
records for a LabourStart online campaign.
"I can honestly say that we have not bullied or intimidated Labourstart
into removing the content about Fremantle. I sent a polite email
request to Mr Lee asking that he remove it; informing him that the
information was inaccurate, misleading and potentially libellous. I copied this information to Labourstart’s ISP, who requested them to remove the information pending further investigation."
this information" (which was untrue) to our ISP, knowing what English
libel laws are like, knowing full well that the ISP would almost
certainly order us to take down the campaign rather than risk facing a
legal action. This was not an attempt to persuade LabourStart, politely or otherwise. It was a blatant attempt to stifle dissent, to shut down criticism of an employer so used to bullying its workers that it doesn’t realize what it is up against here.
again, and will be coming to the company headquarters to protest. They
are not alone. They go there knowing that they have the backing not
only of their union, Unison, and of the British trade union movement,
but of tens of thousands of organized workers around the world.
