General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
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From GCHQ to minimum service levels, union power can win
PCS leader FRAN HEATHCOTE draws the parallels between a major trade union rights battle 40 years ago and the fight we have ahead of us today
GCHQ workers
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TODAY thousands of trade unionists from across the movement will come together in Cheltenham to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the longest trade union disputes in British history.
Fourteen civil servants working in GCHQ were sacked simply for being a member of a union. What followed was a 13-year campaign that ended in victory, when the ban was finally lifted. Forty years on, our movement once again faces an existential threat, with minimum service levels undermining the right to strike.
Back in 1984, Margaret Thatcher enforced a ban on trade union membership. Over 100 workers refused to give up this basic right and by 1988, there were 14 workers still holding out. Their defiance cost them their jobs and they were sacked.
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