Workers in FOUR YEAR legal battle costing £200,000 finally cleared of racism over innocent Three Wise Monkeys leaflet

RSS Feed

Workers in FOUR YEAR legal battle costing £200,000 finally cleared of racism over innocent Three Wise Monkeys leaflet

March 5th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Neil Sears

Last updated at 12:49 AM on 5th March 2012

A trade union’s attempt to brand four members racist for copying a widely-known cartoon has ended in failure after a four-and-half-year dispute.

Unison could be left with a £200,000 bill for costs and damages after the four were declared innocent of any racism following a long battle through the employment tribunal system.

The saga began when four members of the public sector workers’ union produced a leaflet at its annual conference in June 2007 to claim they were being ignored by an important union committee.

The Unison branch members chose the picture of the 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil' monkeys to mock their leadership for failing to tackle issues.

The Unison branch members chose the picture (pictured) of the ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys to mock their leadership for failing to tackle issues

They illustrated it with a cartoon of
the ‘three wise monkeys’, who traditionally have their hands over their
eyes, ears and mouth, to portray the saying: ‘See no evil, hear no evil,
speak no evil.’

It has been used for centuries,
generally to lampoon those who ignore wrong-doing. And it has been
illustrated with an image of three monkeys because there is such a trio
on a 17th century temple in Japan.

Glenn Kelly, Onay Kasab, Suzanne Muna
and Brian Debus – all members of the hard-Left Socialist Party – had
urged the conference in Bournemouth to consider cutting funding for the
Labour Party, and other radical proposals.

But Unison’s standing orders committee rejected their requests for these issues to be discussed

Four union activists from left Brian Debus, Suzanne Muna, Glenn Kelly, and Onay Kasab who have been cleared of racism by the Employment Appeal Tribunal

Cleared: Four union activists from left Brian Debus, Suzanne Muna, Glenn Kelly, and Onay Kasab who have been cleared of racism by the Employment Appeal Tribunal

To make a satirical point about being
ignored, they produced 1,500 copies of a protest leaflet, with the
‘three wise monkeys’ cartoon. But Mr Kelly, 50, Mr Kasab, 44, Mr Debus,
64, and Miss Muna, 45, who were all chairmen or secretaries of union
branches, were accused of ‘insulting and offensive’ racism.

Clytus Williams, chairman of the
standing orders committee, is black – and he said he ‘did not expect to
be insulted in the literature distributed to delegates’.

Unison investigated and the four were
told they would face disciplinary charges for the ‘racial offence’ they
had caused. A Unison disciplinary panel ruled that they would be barred
from holding union office for between three and five years. The four
went to an employment tribunal. Last year the tribunal ruled in their
favour, but Unison appealed.

Now the Employment Appeal Tribunal has rejected Unison’s claim, and ruled in favour of the four.

The appeal tribunal said in its
judgment: ‘It never occurred to [the four] that anyone would take [the
image] out of context and consider it to be racially offensive because
one member of the SOC, the chairman, was a black man.’

Last night Mr Kelly said: ‘The whole
thing was a nonsense. The way we were targeted you would think that the
British National Party had produced the leaflet.’

The four, who paid their own costs,
believe Unison has wasted £100,000 of its members’ money on the case.
They all want to be reinstated to their posts, and could be awarded
damages of £25,000 each by the appeal tribunal, meaning the union’s
total bill could hit £200,000.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

Newest
Oldest
Best rated
Worst rated

Although usually unsympathetic to the Socialist Party, in this case the only slur seems to be in the minds of those who, seeing a drawing of monkeys, think in terms of black people,

– David Martin, Sheffield, 04/3/2012 15:44

You sad,sad,politically correct idiots,these are the dangerous people running the unions,and,also contributing to Labour party funds.Another good reason not to belong to a trade union.

– charlie, herts, 04/3/2012 15:40

Surely this exposes the racist minds of the union leaders who for some obscure reason chose to connect the picture of a monkey with a coloured member of their group. Had I been the coloured man concerned I would have been very offended, not by the cartoon but by the colleague in the leadership who thought, obscurely, that there was a connection between the two. The worst type of racisim is when it is used as a weapon, it undermines real racism and creates conflict and distrust in a country of free speach.

– Dunnfuzzin, Bristol, 04/3/2012 15:38

This episode clearly proves that the real racists are the Left-Wingers who will use any pretext to beat down those who oppose their stupid PC rantings especially when the opposition is winning (again). I hope the Unison members vote these fools out of office. And let us all quickly get to the stage where seperate racial groupings are to be banned as being racist and divisive. Let us fight the fools using their “weapons” at their own game.

– B J Deller, Malaga Spain, 04/3/2012 15:34

“… chairman of the Black Members’ Committee…”. Hmm… I think this same lot would be screaming racism if there was a “White Members Committee”. Race equality gone too far?

– Martyn, Bristol, 04/3/2012 15:31

What a sad and stupid world we live in, absolute Bonkers

– little plum, southport, 04/3/2012 15:29

and we all know that the left wing politicaly minded people would never accuse anyone of being “racist”, would they?

– xyz, uk, 04/3/2012 15:26

When depicting Unison they should have chosen jackasses not monkeys. That wouldn’t have allowed them to use “racism” as an excuse to stifle criticism as every-one else does in these sad, Orwellian times

– John Salkeld, Sheffield, England, 04/3/2012 15:25

Can someone explain to me why three monkeys are “racist” because I just don’t get it?

– Martin, Newmarket, Suffolk, 04/3/2012 15:22

Hang on just a tick, I call my grandchildren “little monkeys” and they are the same rather pinky white colour as myself. Are the whingers saying that whenever a picture or word depicting a monkey is used, thats racist ?
Surely it would be monkeyist !!
So the people complaining about this animal picture, and the “black members ” commitee , which has to be a racist group, (there is no white members commitee), are saying black people and monkeys are the same race ? How very confusing, next time I call the wife an old trout, will I be hauled up as a “fishist” ?
For goodness sake you bunch of blithering er, centipedes ? GET A GRIP

– mac, grays, essex, 04/3/2012 15:22

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.