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A trade union activist will appear in court today charged under Tory anti-union laws.
More than 20 MPs and trade union leaders have voiced fears that the arrest and charging of transport union RMT activist Mark Harding is “political.”
Mr Harding was arrested on the picket line during strike action by London Underground workers opposing ticket office closures and job losses.
He has been charged under the Tories’ Trade Union and Labour Relations Act of 1992 and will appear in City of London Magistrates Court.
He denies the charges of violence and intimidation but faces a potential six-month prison sentence.
Mr Harding, an RMT branch secretary, was arrested while picketing Hammersmith Tube station and was held in custody for 13 hours.
Draconian bail conditions that forbid him from going to work or undertaking trade union activities were later lifted after legal representations.
In a statement, 27 MPs and union leaders expressed “dismay” at the apparent “political connotations” of the arrest and charge.
“We are dismayed that the arrest appears to have political connotations in that Mr Harding was arrested by the use of trade union legislation and held in custody for 13 hours,” they said.
“We call for Mr Harding to receive a fair trial and for the abolition of anti-trade union legislation that can allow for trade unionists to be treated in such a draconian and unfair manner.”
RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said: “The entire membership of RMT stands alongside our comrade Mark Harding as he stands threatened with imprisonment under the UK’s draconian anti-trade union laws.
“The union welcomes the broader support from across the labour and trade union movement for Mark’s fight for justice as his trial approaches.
“Mark was on a picket line, carrying out his normal trade union duties in support of RMT’s campaign to stop job cuts and ticket office closures on London Underground but as a result of the highly politicised anti-union laws has been threatened with the loss of his liberty.
“His case and his fight for justice have severe implications for every single trade unionist in this country.”
