Jan 29 - Unite The Union “Proudly Supports” ERG’s One Civil Marriage For All Campaign
Following the Equality Rights Group (ERG) approach, Unite the Union has participated in the circulation of a template letter in support of the ERG’s One Civil Marriage for All Campaign without Gender Bias.
Given the timeframes available to the union, Unite says it has managed to secure hundreds of signatures in support of the cause, with the possibility of securing hundreds more if the organisation had more time to organise and rally its membership.
A statement from the union continued: “To this end however, Unite would like to take the opportunity to reflect on the values which are universal to the trade union movement in support of the LGBT community and their continuing and constant fight against discrimination and acceptance. We welcome the support that the ERG campaign received from other local unions but regret how the GGCA have been pressured to backtrack on their initial commitments to the ERG. It is especially discouraging given that the GGCA’s initial direction was fully coherent with their constitution, which every GGCA member has to comply with, and only as a consequence of an approach by “several members” had the union backpedalled on their commitments to the ERG and wider trade unionist values. We would have supported them fully in taking their commitments to fruition.
“As far as Unite is concerned, there can be no impartiality on this matter. It is a core issue that rings with the trade union ethos and strikes deep into the personal lives of a minority collective which the wider community should tolerate given the absolutely zero impact this would have on their own personal lives.”
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