Previous Stories

PCS Executive Elections Victory
The left has made stunning gains in elections to the leadership of Britain's 4th biggest union, the PCS (ex CPSA Civil Service union).

For years the union HQ has been under the vice-like grip of the right wing "Moderate Group". While the General Secretary position was won twice by the Left last year, once in elections and then again in the High Court, many on the left feared that GS Mark Serwotka would be frustrated by a hostile Executive. However, all that has changed. Hopefully, the Left will use its position of dominance not just to release the pent-up demands of the membership for a more combative union, but also to purge the officers of the union associated with the ancien régime.

The Left Unity/PCS Democrat candidates held the Presidency and took all 4 vice-president posts. The NEC has 38 places, the Left Unity/PCS Democrat candidates took 6 of the 10 Inland Revenue reserved seats and 24 of the 28 General seats (the 4 moderates elected came last of the 28). The Right have been humiliated.

Amicus AEEU have followed a remarkably similar history so far and our Executive elections are yet to come, this autumn. Already the Right in MSF and AEEU sections are falling out with each other and not just along sectional lines.
[PCS] Official Election Results
[PFLCPSA] Peoples Front for the Liberation of the CPSA
New! [PCS Left Unity] A stunning victory for Union Democracy
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 3rd July 2003, updated 6th July 2003

Union goes to war with Labour
Tony Blair and his cabinet are branded war criminals as an organisation that gave birth to the Labour party faces expulsion in an historic split with the government. Blair's relationship with unions sinks to a new low as RMT slashes financial support for the Labour Party...
[Guardian] Union goes to war with Labour
[Mirror] Why do we pay for Tory Blair?
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 2nd July 2003

Simpson calls for a 50% tax rate
"If the government were truly in touch with our members there would be a debate about raising the top rate of tax in order to reduce the tax paid by nurses, teachers and manufacturing workers,"- Derek Simpson. There is widespread support for raising present 40p in the pound top rate to 50p in the £1 for those on £100,000 upwards.
[Guardian] Union issues tax rise challenge
[amicus AEEU] UK manufacturing faces extinction within 25 years - Derek Simpson (follow our link - it works, unlike the official site)
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 30th June 2003

Big Fat Story Coming Soon
Watch this website. Meanwhile the conference report is complete and as a bonus we have the secret Right wing (MSFfL)'s conference report too.
[amicus.cc] Full Conference Report
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 25th June 2003

Rulebook accepted
By about a 3 to 1 majority, after only three speakers. News broken first (and only so far - no wonder no one visits the official union web sites!) on amicus.cc.
[amicus.cc] Conference Daily Updates
New! [amicus AEEU] The official web sites finally break the news Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 24th June 2003, updated 30th June 2003

Derek Simpson prepares for Centre Stage
News story from the Independent. "Taking on an all-powerful right-wing faction that ran the [AEEU]union as though it were a one-party state - brooking no opposition from the few active radicals who ignored routine intimidation or avoided dismissal". Sounds familiar to MSF members.
[Independent] Derek Simpson prepares for Centre Stage
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 24th June 2003

Conference Daily Updates
Read the latest from amicus MSF annual conference...
[amicus.cc] Conference Daily Updates
[amicus-m.org] Official MSF Conference Daily Updates
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st June 2003

'Straight and Narrow' Lyons
Read what the bosses think of amicus Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons. Amazingly, considering of Lyons' well documented expense claims, 'Personnel Today' see him as

"the main hope of keeping Amicus on the straight and narrow'.

A different meaning to the phrase we assume. They also profile, less glowingly, Bob Crow, Mark Serwotka, Andy Gilchrist, John Edmunds, Bill Morris, Dave Prentis etc... On Derek Simpson and Lyons, they refer to them as

"the Punch and Judy of the trade union movement".

Personnel Today will be read by the people determining your salary next year.
[Personnel Today] What the bosses think of Lyons (and Simpson)
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 19th June 2003

Fat Cat Lyons
The Right-wing press have started to dig for hypocrisy in amicus and they didn't have to shovel far. The Mail on Sunday have contrasted professional Fat Cat Hunter Roger Lyons' 30% pay application with fellow amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson's refusal of a pay rise. Interestingly the MoS maintain it was Derek Simpson who blocked Lyons' avarice. Read the article here. The other 30% applicants were Assistant Spare General Secretaries Lucy Anderson, Bill Walsh and Paul Talbot.
[Mail on Sunday] Union scourge of Fat Cats asked for 30% pay rise
[London Regional Council] The minutes of the meeting where the 30% was revealed
[amicus.cc] The original story
[amicus.cc] Lyons' £88,971 a year salary package
NEW [Personnel Today] What the bosses think of Lyons (and Simpson)
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 17th June 2003

Conference Special
amicus.cc is planning daily updates from conference, due to start this Saturday. Already the Right-wing MSF For Labour appear to have rigged the timetable and have prevented yet another Left delegate from attending.
[Full Story]
[amicus.cc] Conference motions and amendments
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 17th June 2003

Spot the Fat Cat
After putting himself in for a massive 30% pay rise in February, amicus Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons (above) is in the embarrassing position of having to condemn bosses' more modest percentage rises. "Our very public campaign to tackle fat cattery has made Amicus a household name" (Lyons this week in his 'General Secretary's Column'). He was also quoted in the Guardian:

Top directors' pay up 16.1%
Greed rife in boardrooms, says union chief
"Greed is rife in boardrooms. Fat cattery has to be tackled and, since city investors are failing to halt these huge increases, then the government must act."

Lyons' embarrassing quotes highlight the inevitable and well documented contradiction between personal greed and trade union leadership. This sort of thing provides ample material to the employers and right-wing newspapers, it hampers members' own pay claims and it brings our union into disrepute. We believe Lyons should go.
[Full Story]
[amicus.cc] Lyons' £88,971 a year salary package
[Guardian] Greed rife in boardrooms, says union chief
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th June 2003

New Victim of Right's Witch hunt in 'amicus' MSF
Vince Butler, former senior MSF representative of the Rolls Royce Ansty site, has become the latest victim of the Right's long running series of witch hunts in MSF. He was suspended from holding any office within Amicus by a recorded delivery letter sent to his home.
[Full Story]
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 5th June 2003

Nominations for Directors of Amicus
As part of the new rulebook the funds and assets of amicus will be invested in a limited company. Only three directors of this company will be lay members of the union. If you are a delegate to the rules conference you can nominate them, this is important. Here are the agreed MSF and AEEU left candidates, please nominate them:

Helen McFarlane. Membership number: OE289533 (MSF Section) Branch: Glasgow Health Service.
John Maclntyre. Membership number: 0427415 (MSF Section) Branch: Glasgow Central.
Jim McCauley. Membership number: A1403529 (AEEU Section) Branch: Dundee 1.

Lets try and prevent the blatant corruption that has dogged both unions in the past.
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 5th June 2003

Lyons in Private Eye
As well as being Tony Blair's favourite trade union leader, spare amicus General Secretary Roger Lyons is very popular with Private Eye too. The latest edition covers Lyons' enforced retirement, first reported on this site. The Certification Officer public hearing referred to is to take place on 18th July.
[Private Eye] 12th June 2003
[amicus.cc] Original Story
[Certification Office] CO website
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 1st June 2003

Inside 'MSF for Labour'
An amazing document has come into the possession of amicus.cc. It is an inside account of a joint meeting between the shadowy right-wing groups that run both sections of amicus, namely 'AEEU United' and 'MSF for Labour (MSFfL)'

The meeting was a significant one, attended by 2 Lords, 2 MPS, the chair of the Labour Party and 3 union leaders/ex leaders, including Roger Lyons. The document is an hilarious account of what is probably the most important Right meeting for a decade, amongst other things it reveals they spent 25 minutes trying to decide their own name, and failed.

Today amicus.cc expose 'MSF for Labour', identifying their entire steering committee and key players.
[Full Story]
[The document] Inside MSFfL at their joint meeting with AEEUnited
[amicus.cc] Previous MSFfL exploits
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 22nd May 2003

Lyons' Judicial appointment - more details
Today's Guardian Diary contains more revelations on the 'Lyons appointed to Judiciary' story first published on amicus.cc
[Guardian] Wednesday's Diary
[amicus.cc] Original story
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st May 2003

Simpson - Modernisers killing Labour
A ruling elite of Labour modernisers are in danger of killing the party because they are not listening to the views of working class voters and activists, says amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson. NEW, Derek Simpson's piece on Clair Short and the rift between New Labour and the rank and file .
[BBC] Modernisers killing Labour
[NEW Derek Simpson] Clare Short's resignation
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st May 2003

Lyons Appointed to Judiciary
Spare amicus General Secretary Roger Lyons has finally succeeded in being appointed to sit on the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the employment world's highest judicial body. This is despite being rejected in the early stages of his application. The rejecting interview panel were first told by their boss Lord Irvine this was the 'wrong answer' and they had to re-interview all the applicants again.

Lyons is certainly in a lower league than Lord Irvine, apart from not yet having got his knighthood, Roger Lyons famously spent 25p of the union's money on a bun whilst Lord Irvine spent £650,000 of public money decorating his flat, £59,000 alone on wallpaper (sample here). Lyons has however spent over £700,000 of members' money covering up the MSF expenses scandal. Luckily the EAT pay members £261 per day plus expenses. As the DTI say

"These new appointments will bring a wealth of experience to the Employment Appeal Tribunal"

[amicus.cc] Original Story
[Guardian] Original Story
[Department of Trade and Industry] New Appointments
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 14th May 2003

Tribune Pins De-Merger Leak on AEEU Right
Confounding rumours that MSF Spare General Secretary Lyons personally leaked last week's de-merger story to the Sunday Times, Tribune maintains that it came from the AEEU Right. It is true that Lyons would normally leak to the Independent - part of his long running feud with the Guardian over their '25p bun' story. Lyons however is a regular contributor to Tribune.
[Full Story]
[Tribune] Split Story: AEEU Right Blamed
[Leaked] Final version of the New Rulebook (large)
[Leaked] MSF Rule book issues
[Leaked] MSF Rule book covering letter
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 8th May 2003

Right-wing fall-out threatens Amicus break-up
Having used every trick in the book to push through the merger of the AEEU and MSF, incredibly the Right-wing of MSF are trying to back out. Ever since the surprise election of Derek Simpson as General Secretary of the AEEU, replacing the corrupt regime under Sir Ken Jackson ('Blair's favourite union leader'), the MSF right have been looking for ways to de-merge.

The main beneficiary of the split would appear to be Tony Blair, re-gaining one pet trade union - MSF, and weakening the AEEU under Simpson. The AEEU Left might also lose their chance to ditch their anti-democratic rule book, although the latest version of the joint rule book looks little better. Lyons no doubt would retire with a peerage, probably passing control of MSF to AGS Paul Talbot. The cost to members of the merger so far is estimated at £1.5 million pounds in ballots, legal fees, Lyons' time etc....

The story has been leaked to Murdoch's Sunday Times Business section with a fast 'fears of militancy' spin.
[Sunday Times] Prospect of union split raises fears of militancy.
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 28th April 2003

The shooting of Tom Hurndall
Londoner Thomas Hurndall lies in a coma in Israel.
[Electronic Intifada] The shooting of Tom Hurndall
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 25th April 2003

So where are they, Mr Blair?
A month has passed since American and British troops entered Iraq, over 2,000 civilians dead, probably 30,000 dead including soldiers. But thus far not even a sniff. Not a drum of VX or mustard gas, not a phial of botulin or anthrax, not a shred of evidence that Iraq was assembling a nuclear weapons programme.

But that wasn't what they told us. Remember Colin Powell at the Security Council two months ago (though today it seems another age on another planet): the charts, the grainy intelligence satellite pictures, the crackly tapes of the intercepted phone conversations among Iraqi officials? How plausible it all sounded, especially when propounded by the most plausible figure in the Bush administration.
[Independent] So where are they, Mr Blair?
[Third Oil War] Academic Paper - geology and geopolitics
[John Pilger] Do not forget the horror
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 23rd April 2003

Senior Officials Guilty in Election Rigging Scandal
The Trade Union Certification Officer (CO) has ruled that two senior officers of amicus MSF, including the personal assistant to Spare General Secretary Lyons, broke the rules of the union in campaigning for the right-wing candidate in the 2001 Women's NEC election, using union resources.

The history of election rigging in MSF runs in parallel with the corruption in the union, already documented in a previous CO decision.
[Full Story]
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 11th April 2003

NEC Deprive 7,500 NHS Members of a Vote
Over 7,500 amicus members have been dis-enfranchised from a crucial Health Sector National Advisory Committee meeting on 'Agenda for Change.' The delegate who was elected unopposed by London Region has been ousted in a coup by our National Executive Committee. All this because of a petty reaction by the right-wing to a recent outbreak of democracy in the amicus NHS section, and/or an attempt to push through 'Agenda for Change' against members' wishes.
[LRHSAC] Why is London not represented?
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 29th March 2003

Lyons Orders Branches Not to Support 'Stop The War'
At a time when the respected 'Stop the War' Coalition has specifically appealed for more Trade Union support, the outgoing Spare General Secretary of amicus has dispatched an extraordinary circular to Branches and Regional Councils.

Lyons' letter orders them to cancel affiliations to the Stop the War Coalition. Apart from this dictatorial abuse of power by the National Executive the most amazing aspect of Lyon's personally signed circular is that he (in our view) lies about the Trade Union Congress position on the Stop the War Coalition. Judge for yourself, in Lyons' letter he says

"TUC Congress in September 2002 firmly rejected support for, or affiliation to, the 'Stop the War' organisation."

You can read the decisions of the September 2002 TUC Congress here. There is no mention of the 'Stop the War' coalition. The following is the only reference to the war:

"Congress opposes the proposed military attack by the USA on Iraq. The situation is urgent and Congress urges the UK Government to withhold support for such an attack which it considers is contrary to international law and would inevitably destabilise the Middle East."

In fact the hard working Stop the War Coalition has clear support from the TUC for its aims and has the explicit support of the NUJ, FBU, RMT, Aslef, UNISON, PCS, TGWU, Natfhe, CWU and the NUM. It also represents the most significant expression of public feeling in living memory.

In addition Lyons attached to his circular a copy of the TUC statement which differs markedly from the official TUC version, available on its web site. Compare the two below.
[amicus] Lyons' letter to Branches, with our comments
[TUC] Spot the difference
[Stop the War] The 377 anti-war groups you can still affiliate to
[NEW Unison] See what Unison said on the war
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 27th March 2003, updated 11th April 2003

Attack on Civilians Coincides with Bombing of TV centre
At the same time as the US tries to take out Iraqi TV they have also killed at least 15 more civilians in a market place attack in residential Baghdad. According to Amnesty International the attack on the TV system is illegal:

"The bombing of a television station, simply because it is being used for the purposes of propaganda, cannot be condoned. It is a civilian object, and thus protected under international humanitarian law,"

Another one to add to the list.
[BBC] Many casualties in Baghdad market
[Amnesty International] Home Page
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 26th March 2003

Amicus MSF MP's voting record on Invasion of Iraq
We have listed all seventy nine members of the amicus MSF parliamentary group and how they voted on the anti-war amendments on 18th March. The list is sorted by constituency and you can email them directly.
[amicus.cc] How they voted
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 26th March 2003

Americans Claim Iraqi Breach of Law
The US, whose invasion of Iraq is undoubtedly illegal, who have paraded kneeling, wounded Iraqi POWs in front of western media, and who have invented a fictitious category of 'unlawful combatants' to detain - without trial - people on their illegal US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, surrounded by a US-placed minefield, the largest in the Western world, have complained about Iraqi TV interviews with captured Americans. Bush maintains this is a breach of the Geneva Convention and has threatened to prosecute any Iraqis responsible at the International Criminal Court, for war crimes. However the US itself refuses to allow the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over its own soldiers. It has secured agreements giving them immunity from the ICC's arrest warrants.

Furthermore the US record on POWs is very poor, ranging from at best use of sensory deprivation techniques in Guantanamo to at worst probable massacres in Mazar-e-Sarif.
[NEW NNS] How accurate are the bombs
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 24th March 2003

Anti War Demos
Best slogans from Saturday's march:
1) "Smoke Weed not Iraqis"
2) "Drop Fees not bombs"
3) "Support our troops - bring them home"
Best song:
"We all live in a terrorist regime" (Beatles)
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 24th March 2003

Iraq 'Shock and Awe' Plan
According to Michael Youlton, "shock and awe" is: 'The (Pentagon) plan for a sudden decimation of Baghdad by raining down on its people, in two days, some 800 Cruise missiles -- more than were used in the entire Gulf War. Harlan Ullman, the military strategist who apparently developed the plan, last week characterized the Baghdad assault thus: "You have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons of Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but minutes." It would be a firestorm, a Dresden with 60 years of new technology. It would be a war crime of quick and staggering proportions.

And the name of the plan is "Shock and Awe." Ostensibly, the name refers to the demoralizing effect such an attack would have on Iraqis, an effect, presumably, similar to the instant (although already planned) surrender of Japan after the gratuitous bombing of Hiroshima and even more gratuitous bombing of Nagasaki."'.

Also, according to George Monbiot's column in the Guardian today: "as the United States prepares to spend some $12,000,000,000 a month on bombing the Iraqis, it has so far offered only $65,000,000 to provide them with food, water, sanitation, shelter and treatment for the injuries they are likely to receive".
[Guardian] George Monbiot
[stopwar.org.uk] Demonstrate this Thursday 6pm and Saturday
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 19th March 2003

Fire Fat Cat has Three Chauffeurs
THE fat cat head of our biggest fire service has THREE chauffeurs - each paid more than a long-serving firefighter. Brian Robinson, £135,000-a-year Fire Commissioner for London, can call on them 24 hours a day to ferry him around in a £30,000 Lexus 4x4.
[Daily Mirror]
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 18th March 2003

LYONSweb EXCLUSIVE: Lyons on his way!
Roger Lyons' attempts to stay on as Spare General Secretary of amicus until 2007 may be illegal; were he to succeed, he will have gone for over 10 years without election. The National Executive Committee's right-wing majority were split in trying to head off the issue and one of the few left-wing NEC members has now submitted the matter to the Trade Union Certification Officer. It all begins to bear a remarkable similarity to the demise of Sir Ken Jackson from the AEEU.
[Full Story]
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 9th March 2003

LYONSweb is changing, Welcome to www.amicus.cc
We have registered the name amicus.cc to replace the various domain names this site can be accessed by. www.amicus.cc works now and replaces
lyonsweb.org.uk
msfweb.org
msfweb.org.uk
msfweb.com
However these domains will continue to work for at least 5 months. Please adjust your records. The original site www.rogerlyons.com is expected to continue indefinitely as a historical record. Sadly www.twojobsjackson.com has already expired although it can still be seen here.

".cc" of course stands for "carbon copy" (and officially the Cocos islands off Australia, unfortunately we are not re-locating). The format and heading of this site will be updated when we get round to it.
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 9th March 2003

NEW Independent News section
Fed up with filtered, pasteurised, homogonised news? LYONSweb has published a list of indy news on the net. Read China's view of Blix's Iraq report, or discover the sane US news sources. Find out who forged the Iraq-Niger uranium evidence given to the UN (we did). Click on 'NEW- Indy News' on the top left of this page.
[LYONSweb] Indy News
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th March 2003

Roger Lyons makes Private Eye again
The hapless Spare General Secretary of amicus has rapidly become Private Eye's favourite union leader. Sadly we predict Lyons will be no longer be in the post to embarrass Amicus next year.
[Private Eye] Tomorrow's edition, 'TUC News'
[rogerlyons.com] An historic web site?
[LYONSweb] Story as first revealed on LYONSweb
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 6th March 2003

Brown Offers War Blank Cheque
The the total cost of the war to the UK is estimated at £3.2 billion plus a contribution to the £48 billion-a-year re-construction costs. Brown has now said that he "will spend whatever it takes" to bomb and maim the people of Iraq. To put this huge amount into perspective, it amounts to 16 new NHS hospitals (at £200 million each, pre PFI costs) straight off and then the UK's share of 240 hospitals a year. And why are Blair and Brown not prepared to spend whatever it takes saving lives with the National Health Service?
[BBC] Brown offers war blank cheque
[Guardian] Cost of war put at $200bn, but that's nothing, says US adviser
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 4th March 2003

US plan to bug Security Council
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq. Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.
[Observer] Full Story
[Independent] US prepares to use chemical weapons on Iraqis, in breech of the Chemical Weapons Convention
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 2nd March 2003

New Amicus Draft Rule Book
Get your new draft rule book here. Not available anywhere else. As expected it's pretty awful, commentary soon.
[LYONSweb] Amicus draft rule book
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 28th February 2003

NEC confirms Lyons 30% pay rise application
At the amicus MSF London Regional Council meeting on Saturday, National Executive Committee member Colin Vane confirmed that Spare General Secretary Roger Lyons had put in for a 30% pay increase. He also revealed that Assistant Spare General Secretaries Paul Talbot, Lucy Anderson and Bill Walsh had put in for the same amount. This leak and the refusal of the rise exposes a division in the right of the union; it is possible they may at last be preparing to dump the embarrassing Lyons. Colin Vane, who once voted to introduce compulsory redundancies for the union's employees, is an established right-winger and sits on the General Purposes and Finance Committee. Vane denied that Lyons' pay request had gone to the TUC for arbitration.

Lyons pay in 2001, the last year for which figures were published, was £86,623 (source MSF Annual Return to the Certification Officer). Lyons does not declare his personal chauffeur as a benefit, which we have reported to the CO as a breach of the guidelines.
[LYONSweb] Original story, graph of Lyons' salary.
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 24th February 2003

US goes for fake UN resolution
Colin Powell last night revealed that the US and UK will propose a surrogate resolution at the UN which simply states Iraq has breached resolution 1441 but makes no mention of invasion or war. Then they will bomb, maim and kill Iraqis.

"It will be a resolution that summarises the situation... as it exists - shows that Iraq is not in compliance,"

Powell told the BBC's Newsnight programme that the resolution need not contain an explicit authorisation for military action. It remains to be seen if this new US deception will get fool those few people who remain undecided. Or if Blair and Bush even care about World opinion. The attack for oil is expected to begin on or just before the new moon of Tuesday 1st April.
[Newsnight] Tucked away in the BBC Middle East section
[www.stopwar.org.uk] What to do when war breaks out
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 21st February 2003

Lyons puts in for 30% pay rise!
Incredibly but in character, we hear amicus spare General Secretary Lyons has put in for a 30% salary increase. This would compensate him for the huge expenses he used to claim, accounting for a fifth of his salary, before the corruption scandal. It would also take his salary to £114,000, above the level Sir Ken Jackson used to pay himself in the AEEU and it would bring Lyons' pension to £60,000 per annum.

Seemingly Lyons' pay claim bypassed the union's tame National Executive Committee and went to the General Purposes and Finance Committee, staunch Lyons supporters. However it was too much even for them and they turned it down. Lyons has now put the claim before the TUC for arbitration. Lyons takes his turn this year as president of the TUC.

More soon.
[LYONSweb] Lyons' salary

Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 18th February 2003

Amicus Secret Payoff to be Disclosed
Some fours years after a secret payoff to the sacked Assistant General Secretary of amicus, the Trade Union Certification Officer has ordered that the accounting records of the payment, rumoured to be over a quarter of a million pounds, must be disclosed. The union has until 28th March to comply. The payoff was believed to have been made to cover up details of current 'joint' General Secretary Roger Lyons' huge expense claims.
[LYONSweb] Original story 'Books Inspectors seek CO resolution'
[Full Story] Including the entire CO decision
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 17th February 2003

UK War Dossier a sham
After more evidence of the lies being spun by the UK government, it's now clear that Blair and Bush plan to push for a second UN resolution and when it is vetoed, act as if it has been passed. This would make a mockery of the UN democratic process and mean that the veto possessed by Russia, China, France, the US and UK is meaningless. Seemingly Blair believes he can pass off a failed 2nd resolution to the British public as a mandate for war.
[Channel 4] No 10 admits plagiarism
[Guardian] A sham
[BBC] Audio: Glenda Jackson calls Blair a liar
NEW [BBC] Is it about oil?
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 7th February 2003, updated 9th February 2003

Intelligence Report Exposes Blair Lies on Iraq
In a rapidly disappearing news story, a British Intelligence assessment was leaked to the BBC today. The assessment, graded 'Top Secret', was written only three weeks ago and sent directly to Blair. It says there is no link between al-Qaeda and Iraq. According to the BBC, the report "directly contradicts what Blair said". Apparently there is growing disquiet amongst the intelligence services about the misuse of their work to support war.

The antagonism between Iraq and al-Qaeda is well known, with Osama bin Laden offering his then employer Bush senior 100,000 terrorist Mujahideen to oust Saddam from Kuwait in the last Gulf War.
[BBC] Top Secret
[BBC] Watch the streaming video
[AllAfrica.com] The hardest speech to find on the net - Nelson Mandela
[Channel 4] Tony Benn's interview with Saddam Hussein
[RADIO 4] Hear Tony Benn shred James Naughtie Today (be patient, large audio file, worth hearing)
[UN] Hans Blix's full report
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 5th February 2003

Books Inspectors seek CO resolution
On 26th March last year, two Inspectors knocked on the palace (head office) of amicus joint General Secretary Roger Lyons. Paul Murrell, treasurer of amicus MSF London region, and Jim Mortimer, ex General Secretary of the Labour Party, were there to look into accounting records regarding payoffs to ex-employees of the union amounting to over £1.6 million. Needless to say General Lyons blocked their visit, despite it being authorised in law and in in the union's own rule book. So last week Jim Mortimer took the case to the Independent Trade Union Certification Officer.
[Full Story] Union Payoffs About to be Exposed
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 5th February 2003

Mandela condemns Bush and Blair over Iraq
Nelson Mandela has criticised US President George W Bush over Iraq, saying the sole reason for a possible US-led attack would be to gain control of Iraqi oil.

"Their friend Israel has got weapons of mass destruction but because it's their ally they won't ask the United Nations to get rid of them. They just want the oil, We must expose this as much as possible."

[BBC] Nelson Mandela
[LYONSweb] War on Iraq
NEW[AllAfrica.com] The hardest speech to find on the net is here
NEW [RADIO 4] Hear Tony Benn shred James Naughtie Today (be patient, large audio file, worth it)
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 30th January 2003, updated 5th February 2003

Previous stories
Lyons' Spy Bugs Simpson, Employment Tribunal Re-Instates Member into Union, Jackpot for Jackson, Union Leaders Were Police Informers, Codger Lyons Cops £352,000, and more...
[previous stories]
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 11th April 2003