Kudos Pharmaceuticals to Close Down! Solidarity with ex-workers!

After having campaigned against these workers for so long, how can you expect them to show any "solidarity"? It is a fair question - perhaps not one you are comfortable answering, but it is fair. The entire effort comes across as a cynical trawling effort designed to obtain infromation about their former employer.

Before anybody begins shouting their outrage about this comment, consider the fact that - at some point - this question will be raised: "what are animal rights activists doing to ensure a future for scientists and technicians?" It does not seem to be a question that has a current answer but, if any sustainable change is to be made, it is a question that needs to be asked somewhere.

Also remember there is wikileaks which is a good way to anonymously get your own back at your pharmaceutical employer for putting you and your family in financial trouble:

 http://wikileaks.org/

I remember a few years ago, people held an alternative jobs fair type thing outside a weapons factory, showing all sorts of different and ethical jobs in the area.
I know there are barely any jobs around at the moment but something like that would be an awesome way to build up a communication between the activists and the ex workers.

Don't answer this!

AR activists seek the continuation of scientific research without the use of animals. Many of us directly fund such research via groups like the Dr Hadwen Trust. We do not want scientists unemployed, we want the to be employed in areas of research that don't use animals.

We understand that some ex-KuDOs employees may have reservations about talking to us but we think the cold hard facts of the matter are that it could be mutually beneficial for both parties. If they prefer not to speak to us there is  http://wikileaks.org/ of course.

@Kudos Solidarity

I appreciate that the Doctor Hadwen Trust provides non-animal testing research opportunities. But that response addresses a substantially different question to:

After having campaigned against these workers for so long, how can you expect them to show any "solidarity"? and "what are animal rights activists doing to ensure a future for scientists and technicians?"

After having been a Scientist, treated with contempt (substantially lower pay than people in the Arts, fewer opportunities, fewer MP's in parliament, Fewer Director Level Jobs and so on) for quite a number of years, that kind of response comes across like the BNP allowing black members: convincing to lawyers but not really that practical.

The Doctor Hadwen Trust is not primarily directed towards Scientist welfare. Petty though that point may seem, I am not being churlish. The situation as it stands would not allow all of the ex Kudos workers to take up equal employment opportunities with the Doctor Hadwen Trust so that kind of tokenism is really not adequate to the problem at hand.

The problem I was asking to be addressed is not the principles of the matter but the practicalities. How do animal rights activists expect scientists - who have been reviled, assaulted and attack as enemies - to respond "in solidarity"? It is not immediately plausible.

If the Doctor Hadwen Trust is the most outstanding opportunity then will all of the thousands of scientists in the UK be able to obtain equal employment opportunities to those they have now through that route? The question is rhetorical because the answer is likely to be no.

Realistically, unless animal rights activists also work towards broadening scientific opportunities then closing down labs will simply lead to labs opening up elsewhere. It is not a matter of morality but practicality: why and where should people work if you object to them working in this or that place?

What support would the scientific community like from us? The animal rights movement is a small and under resourced demographic and I would say a reasonable amount of our personal funds go towards non-animal research, it may only be a small amount but that's because we don't actually have much.

If there is something we should be doing let us know what it is.