AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HYPOCRITE AND SUPPOSED CHAMPION OF FREE PRESS JOHN LEE, NEWSPAPER EDITOR
Hello John,
That was a great article in yesterday’s Daily Mail, 12/11/24 by Pat Hagan. What happened for you to allow this? Is it only Belfast dockers and people exposed to the dangers of Asbestos that you won’t allow to be reported in your paper? What has happened to circumvent your sycophantic toadying to those in the Irish Government who also refuse to expose this scandal? Is it just because there is no-one to blame - that you feel free to report on this deadly dust??
For the benefit of your readers, I’ll expose exactly what you - the Irish government, the Irish legal system and a multitude of TD’s are covering up. Just over 50 years ago the ITGWU Branch at Belfast Docks betrayed the entire working class of Ireland and besmirched the honorable names of the Union Founders, James Connolly and Jim Larkin – by ordering Belfast dockers to discharge Asbestos without protection. Obviously, this was done to save the employers money, as the dockers should've been dressed like spacemen.
The union at Belfast Docks was always in the pocket of the employers and to facilitate making the dockers comply with the murderous action of the union - the union chairman left the union and joined the employers as Labour Controller. This was only the start of his betrayal. The ex-union chairman with the full approval of Union Leaders in Dublin unbelievably formed a Union and Employers Court for persecuting and sacking Belfast dockers.
How I know it was with the Head Office approval, is, because I sent them many of the letters from the Court. It was named “Belfast and Northern Ireland Federation of Employers and Irish Transport & General Workers Union Joint Disciplinary Committee. This travesty of trade unionism started off small, just suspending Dockers for a few days at a time, without pay – but eventually when any Docker refused to work discharging bags of Asbestos without protection, the court sacked him. While this was never given as the ‘real reason’ everyone knew why they were being sacked and discharged it.
The three Browne Brothers have contracted Asbestosis. Two of them, Frank and Sean have died from it. UTV’s program, ‘Death Trap On The Docks’ paints a harrowing picture of how the Union abandoned Asbestos sufferers. Sean’s widow gives a heart-warming account of their lives together - and a heart-breaking account of his horrendous death - and how they were ignored by the Union. This was the very Union that ordered that it should be discharged - or they’d be sacked.
The people from North Belfast which is closest to the Docks were also placed in great danger. I personally watched as clouds of Asbestos Dust was blown across the Herdman Channel and enveloped the houses. How many Belfast people have died from cancer, not knowing it was caused by Asbestos? The least the Belfast Authorities can do, is check every lung cancer patient for the presence of Asbestos?
MICHAEL MARTIN knows about this, because I told him to his face about ten or 11 years ago in the Square Shopping Centre and his entourage took down every word I said, including my email address. His parting words to me were, “I will speak to Jack O’Connor whom I know personally and get back to you”. ?? I AM STILL WAITING.
No doubt many other Irish People have died a horrendous death – and never knowing the cause. In the quoted successful TV program, 'which was shut down, I can’t remember if solicitor Martin Hanna or the City Hospital Doctor Joe McMahon, who suggested that the employers were guilty of Corporate Manslaughter. I disagree. Because the people who ordered it to be discharged knew of the Dangers, it must be Corporate Murder.
This is a moot point as all are long dead however the families of the dead must be told the Truth. While the unsavory facts about joining with employers must be anathema to all right-minded members of any Trade Union, the fact that it was the Belfast Union Chairman who ordered Dockers to discharge Asbestos without protection, to save the employers money, must be mind-blowing.
However, after I was sacked for refusing to work at Asbestos the real reason for the Union and Employers Court became clear. It was to weed out and sack any Docker who objected to their corrupt amalgamation and the ordering of them to work at Asbestos. This was never given as the reason and like in my own case they were charged a myriad of ‘made up’ offences.
See the documentation relating to my Trial, by the Union and Employers Court in the attached file, DOC044 on linkedin. This proves that the Belfast Branch, like John Lee, Jack O’Connor, plus the multitude of TD’s I’ve contacted have been corrupted.?
I asked the ‘then’ general secretary, Michael Mullen, ‘how can you sleep at night knowing of this betrayal of Larkin and Connolly - and that Asbestos Dust is being blown all over Belfast’? In his reply he said: “Many things keep me awake at night but never the contents of your insulting letters”. See his letter.
The supposed watchdogs in this supposed Democracy are a sycophantic joke. Besides the multitude of Td’s I’ve written to, including SIPO, the C&AG, Seamus McCarthy, various Ombudsman and justice and media committees - none of these Paragons of Virtue would investigate or call to account the many TD’s and government ministers who cover up the Belfast Docks Scandal.
Note: The previous PAC chairman informed me that the C&AG told them - that it was not in their remit to investigate this scandal. Again, I must ask is this a Democracy – or a controlled Democracy. This is a prime example of the evil that infects the Irish Government and the law, North and South
I look forward to hearing from you, John, but know that I won’t. Given your sycophantic abject toadyism to wealth and power, you couldn’t make your excuses palatable. This suggests to me that you ‘and those who work with you’ are fully aware of your shortcomings. You lavish self-praise upon yourself in the Mail On Sunday to boost your own esteem - and it’s cringeworthy. Like a good little boy carrying out the wishes of the faceless corrupt who run Ireland, you claim to be: “Irreverent, Irrepressible, In the corridors of power”. Would some of your staff with a bit of cop on – tell you that self-praise is no recommendation. Especially with all the Asbestos and trade union corruption that you’re covering up.
Hugh Murphy
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Almost forgot. As a small but important aspect of your corruption – I have asked several times of Charles Legge, on your ‘Answers to correspondents’ page, “IS THERE ANOTHER TRADE UNION IN THE WORLD THAT JOINED WITH EMPLOYERS TO SUSPEND AND SACK ITS OWN MEMBERS”. As you well know John, I was ignored.