GREENWICH AND BROMLEY: Activists banned from office for "racist" three monkeys leaflet (From News Shopper)

GREENWICH AND BROMLEY: Activists banned from office for "racist" three monkeys leaflet

4:30pm Sunday 26th July 2009 in Bromley

FOUR union activists have been banned from office for three years after distributing a leaflet featuring the three wise monkeys.

Public service union Unison took action against its members, including the Greenwich branch's Onay Kasab and Bromley’s Glenn Kelly, after they produced a leaflet showing the three wise monkeys from a Japanese proverb, with the caption "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

The leaflet criticised the union for a lack of debate at its national conference in 2007, but the four were told by union chiefs some people could find the image racially offensive.

At a disciplinary hearing on July 16, Unison’s claims were upheld and the activists were told of their sentence in writing on Friday (July 24).

Mr Kasab said: “It is outrageous and that is the same reaction we are getting from our members.

"We are having to work hard to persuade people to not leave the union at the moment.

"We are encoraging them to stay because that is what we intend to do."

The activists will appeal the union's decision and will stay in office until that appeal is heard.