Transformation Programme - Supporting your Colleagues

As initial proposals for jobs and services which will be the first to be impacted by North Somerset Council's Transformation Programme are announced, I thought it would be timely to ask UNISON members to remember the poem written by Martin Niemoller about the cowardice of those who stood by and did nothing during Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The reason I am asking you to remember this poem is to show you that all UNISON members working at North Somerset Council need to stand up for each other and stand together shoulder to shoulder in your union, because if you do not then the very last line of this poem will become a reality - there will be no one left to speak up for you.

"First they came for the Communists - and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists - and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists - and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews - and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me."