Oxford trade unionist Martin Gregory is being prevented from attending the TUC conference in September. His employer, Oxford City Council, has been refused him unpaid leave. He was elected to public-service union UNISON's TUC delegation and OCC was informed by letter dated 12 March 2003. He also informed management again by letter dated 8 May and in several emails since then. He was informed that he would not be allowed leave only last week, just over 2 weeks before the TUC, when accommodation and all other arrangements have been made by UNISON and the TUC.

Martin says:
"This attack means that a trade union will not be able to have a full delegation at the parliament of the trade unions, the highest level meeting in the UK trade union movement.
Elected local government and free trade unions are hallmarks of democracies, yet an elected Labour council does this.

This is not an isolated attack by the council. Our UNISON branch secretary is currently off work with stress because her time off for union duties has been so severely restricted that she could not cope with the workload.

I am routinely refused both paid and unpaid leave for UNISON meetings that I have been elected to. For example I have been refused leave for UNISON's South East Weighting Campaign committee meeting on 2 September even though I am Chairperson of that body. Thus the city council is hampering a trade union's ability to organise."

Write to your councillor about this attack on union democracy. Raise the issue in your union branch or community group.