‘Anti-union Law' Charges Against Sheffield Trees Protesters Dropped

Labour-run  Sheffield  coun-cil is almost five years into a 25-year, £2.2 billion, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with a multinational company called Amey, to maintain our streets and pavements.

 

- Calvin Payne

It soon became apparent that part of the deal was to lose lots of trees for Amey’s profit. A city-wide campaign soon organised itself to challenge the flimsy arguments put forward by the council.

However, it was impervious to expert opinion from across the world and more direct opposition began to be organised.

In June 2015 the first neighbourhood group organised itself to physically prevent contractors from felling healthy trees, attracting lots of media attention and successfully saving the trees on their street by forming a line of residents across the road. Since then parts of the Save Sheffield Trees campaign have adopted more militant tactics in standing up to the felling programme.

For several months the growing action was achieving success, until 2 November 2016 when Amey contractors, accompanied by South Yorkshire Police, arrived to fell a single tree. On this occasion they were both waving a copy of the 1992 Trade  Union  Act - Tory anti-union legislation used against pickets in industrial disputes, which threatens a six month prison sentence.