London Underground RMT union rep Mark Harding was found not guilty of charges brought against him under the Tory anti-union laws on Monday of this week.
He challenged a strike breaker to respect the picket line during the 48-hour Tube strike in February. For that Mark was dragged through the courts for four months after being arrested and detained for 13 hours.
H
e told Socialist Worker, “It’s frightening that one person can make an allegation and without any evidence at all they can do this to us.”
Mark spoke out against the “scandalous waste of public money” prosecuting him. “This was a politically-motivated charge. I’m appalled at the way I was treated.”
The judge described Mark’s arrest as “appropriate”. Mark said they were desperate to justify the actions of the police that day.
He told Socialist Worker, “It was important that I got off. More importantly this was an attack on the whole trade union movement and the right to picket that they never got away with.”
Mark thanked everyone who gave support and stood with him over the last four months.
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