MEMORANDUM
General Secretary's Office
To All Amicus Officers & Staff
From Derek Simpson, General Secretary
Subject Press Comments -
Our Ref
Date 8th June 2004
I have over the past couple
of days been the subject of adverse press comment, discussing my arrangements
for travel to the Glastonbury Festival.
In order to set the record
straight and to provide you with answers to members' queries on this subject,
the facts of the issue are as follows.
Amicus had agreed to support
an event on one day of the festival, to debate the role of trade unions 20
years after the miners' strike. I accepted an invitation to speak at this
event. In addition, the Campaigns and Communications team is running a
programme of events throughout the summer to highlight our work to a younger
audience, which we cannot always reach out to, and I agreed to support this at
Glastonbury during the short time I shall be present.
However, this festival is
also taking place at the same time as our industrial sector conferences, where
I must also be present. In order to fulfil these commitments, my office has
looked at ways of transporting me from the North East of England to the South
West and back in one day. As this would have involved a 16-hour round trip by
road, other options were investigated, with the result that we looked at the
use of a helicopter. The cost of this is certainly not £4000 as has been
reported, and is considerably less.
Moreover, contrary to the
inaccurate press reports, I shall be returning from
I gave a commitment to the
organisers of the
Derek Simpson
General Secretary
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