A LEADING BNP activist has claimed he was provoked into assaulting a man who was picking on him because of his far right views outside a Gwendraeth Valley workingmen’s club.
Kenneth Roger Phillips, of 52 Cae Glas in Cross Hands, admitted attacking Adam Margetts outside the village club on December 20 but said he was not a racist, a fascist or a Nazi.
Phillips, the south Wales co-ordinator of the BNP, claimed he was repeatedly abused by Mr Margetts because of his political views.
Llanelli Magistrates were told that Phillips, aged 43, had gone to the Cross Hands Workingmen’s Club in the afternoon and drank two pints and a glass of brandy.
Gerald Neave, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Margetts was already at the club with friends and even though there was a long-standing animosity between the two men, Phillips sat next to Mr Margetts.
A row erupted and Phillips was asked to leave, but as he did so he pushed Mr Margetts.
Later that evening, Phillips returned to the club to find Mr Margetts smoking a cigarette outside.
Phillips punched Mr Margetts in the face, knocking him to the ground.
He was then said to have kicked his victim as he lay helpless on the floor.
In interview, Phillips claimed he returned to the club to discuss the earlier incident with the steward but that when he saw Mr Margetts he "lost his cool and hit him once or twice".
He denied kicking Mr Margetts on the ground.
He claimed that Mr Margetts had regularly subjected him to abuse because his BNP membership.
Andrew Isaacs, defending, told the court that Phillips had not expected Mr Margetts to be at the club when he returned and that Mr Margetts had blocked his way.
"He admits he lost his cool," said Mr Isaacs.
"He does wish to apologise but he did receive a significant amount of abuse throughout the day.
"He has political affiliations, but is not racist, not fascist and not a Nazi."
Magistrates gave Phillips a 12-month conditional discharge and made to pay £85 costs.
He was also ordered to pay Mr Margetts £50 compensation.
South Wales Guardian
Showing posts with label LLanelli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LLanelli. Show all posts
January 19, 2011
July 01, 2009
BNP takes advantage of Llanelli's tensions
The vast supermarket meat packing factory near the Welsh town of Llanelli is convenient for lorries if not people. Owned by the Irish group Dawn Meats, it processes burgers and other mince products for the big retailers with Tesco and M&S among its customers. As the orders roll in for barbeque season, the finished goods can be on their way from the semi-rural industrial food park near the end of the M4 to the motorway network in minutes. For the town a few miles away, the location of the factory has been more of a mixed blessing. Hundreds of workers are needed for round-the-clock shifts packing burgers and steaks, but low pay, changing demand, and an isolated site have resulted in thousands of agency workers from Poland being shipped in since EU enlargement in 2004. The agency workers are said to make up 30% of the factory workforce, and to be paid less than local permanent staff, employed on poorer terms with no guarantee of work, even though some of them are semi-permanent.
It is this divide in the meat industry, that Unite the Union says is creating growing tension in factories and is threatening race relations in the communities around them.
Some 2,000 Polish people now live in Llanelli, according to estimates from local community leaders, and while many in the town praise their efforts to help the Poles integrate, the area has become fertile territory for the British National Party. The BNP acquired its first community councillor in south Wales when Kevin Edwards won 25% of the vote in a ward near the meat factory. He was joined by a second when a Plaid Cymru community councillor from the area defected to the nationalists in protest at migration in April 2009.
Residents of the rows of modest grey peddle-dashed houses whose traditional employment has been in the declining tin, steel and coal works, have been leafleted by BNP activists in recent months. The BNP's Llanelli Patriot complained of the "massive influx of cheap labour that has taken the jobs and houses of true local people". Although few people on the streets of the town want to talk about it, posts on Llanelli websites echo these fears.
The details of terms and conditions and any tension they cause are disputed. Tesco told us that it took only 4% of the produce the factory made, that the union had not raised any concerns with it in regard to the factory or tensions over it and that it had been reassured by Dawn that allegations of unequal treatment were unfounded.
M&S indicated that it had audited the site intensively in the last year and worked with the company to introduce several improvements including a confidential hotline and confidential surgery for agency and local staff to air problems. The union has recently won recognition at the factory. Unite's deputy general secretary Jack Dromey told us that "progress is now being made tackling real problems of a divided workpalce at Dawn Llaenlli over migrant workers being paid less than local Welsh workers."
Workers and their support groups in town contacted by the Guardian talked of significant recent problems, however.
"Of course people are angry," Agata, one of the Polish workers employed at the meat factory by CSA Recruitment, the agency that supplies it with labour, told us through an interpreter last week. "I feel angry to be doing the same job as everyone else and being paid less."
Agata says that as a middle aged mother who lives quietly she has been welcomed by locals; her argument is not with them. "Llanelli is wonderful". Agency workers are on so called "zero hours contracts" which means they can be required to work from 5pm to 3am and, they allege, be made to stay on for overtime until 6am at the same basic minimum wage rate one day, but laid off without notice the next. Permanent workers have guaranteed work and are paid a premium for overtime.
The Welsh Polish Mutual Association of Llanelli was set up because Polish workers were having so many problems with their agency employment, national insurance numbers, car insurance and housing when they first came. Its chairman is Llanelli born Jeff Hopkins, a former councillor, who now devotes himself to providing grass-roots support. "It happened in 2004 quite suddenly with EU expansion. They flooded in from Poland thanks to the agency and hit the town when no one knew it was going to happen. The truth is local people have difficulty working in factories like these."
At the Polish Centre, an advice bureau in town, 800-900 enquiries about problems presented by Polish workers have been logged on average in recent months. The centre and workers report that more than 200 Polish workers were laid off in the spring without notice, but a few weeks later a further 200-plus new Polish migrants were brought in by the agency.
"It's the problem with today's fresh food production. They want people on command, on standby. It's all market forces but it's putting the clock back," she said.
The Llanelli-based agency CSA Recruitment declined to comment. The Dawn group said that it had been a large employer operating in Carmarthenshire for over 15 years. "As well as employing a large number of permanent staff our business in common with others also engages labour via agencies to assist with seasonal fluctuations in demand." "
"We have a very strong Works Council which represents all our staff and management and is made up of British and non national staff. We also have a recognition agreement in place with Unite and they have not raised any of these issues with us," it said in a statement.
"Our weekly confidential staff surgery system, our multi-lingual induction process, our approach to occupational health and our independent confidential 24 hour manned hotline are, we believe, clear examples of the pro-active and best practice approach we take to the ethical treatment of all staff on site''
M&S told us that currently about 5% of Dawn Llanelli orders were for its shelves.
"We fully understand that the use of agency workers is a real challenge for meat and poultry suppliers, which is why we have been working closely with our whole supply base, including Dawnpac, over the last year to help them work towards this.
M&S told us it was also pioneering an 'ethical model factory' with one of its UK poultry suppliers. The aim is to help suppliers manage temporary and migrant workers in a way that gives all workers access to benefits, equal wages and more secure work and has involved the retailer reviewing its ordering practices to reduce last minute changes.
The Guardian
It is this divide in the meat industry, that Unite the Union says is creating growing tension in factories and is threatening race relations in the communities around them.
Some 2,000 Polish people now live in Llanelli, according to estimates from local community leaders, and while many in the town praise their efforts to help the Poles integrate, the area has become fertile territory for the British National Party. The BNP acquired its first community councillor in south Wales when Kevin Edwards won 25% of the vote in a ward near the meat factory. He was joined by a second when a Plaid Cymru community councillor from the area defected to the nationalists in protest at migration in April 2009.
Residents of the rows of modest grey peddle-dashed houses whose traditional employment has been in the declining tin, steel and coal works, have been leafleted by BNP activists in recent months. The BNP's Llanelli Patriot complained of the "massive influx of cheap labour that has taken the jobs and houses of true local people". Although few people on the streets of the town want to talk about it, posts on Llanelli websites echo these fears.
The details of terms and conditions and any tension they cause are disputed. Tesco told us that it took only 4% of the produce the factory made, that the union had not raised any concerns with it in regard to the factory or tensions over it and that it had been reassured by Dawn that allegations of unequal treatment were unfounded.
M&S indicated that it had audited the site intensively in the last year and worked with the company to introduce several improvements including a confidential hotline and confidential surgery for agency and local staff to air problems. The union has recently won recognition at the factory. Unite's deputy general secretary Jack Dromey told us that "progress is now being made tackling real problems of a divided workpalce at Dawn Llaenlli over migrant workers being paid less than local Welsh workers."
Workers and their support groups in town contacted by the Guardian talked of significant recent problems, however.
"Of course people are angry," Agata, one of the Polish workers employed at the meat factory by CSA Recruitment, the agency that supplies it with labour, told us through an interpreter last week. "I feel angry to be doing the same job as everyone else and being paid less."
Agata says that as a middle aged mother who lives quietly she has been welcomed by locals; her argument is not with them. "Llanelli is wonderful". Agency workers are on so called "zero hours contracts" which means they can be required to work from 5pm to 3am and, they allege, be made to stay on for overtime until 6am at the same basic minimum wage rate one day, but laid off without notice the next. Permanent workers have guaranteed work and are paid a premium for overtime.
The Welsh Polish Mutual Association of Llanelli was set up because Polish workers were having so many problems with their agency employment, national insurance numbers, car insurance and housing when they first came. Its chairman is Llanelli born Jeff Hopkins, a former councillor, who now devotes himself to providing grass-roots support. "It happened in 2004 quite suddenly with EU expansion. They flooded in from Poland thanks to the agency and hit the town when no one knew it was going to happen. The truth is local people have difficulty working in factories like these."
At the Polish Centre, an advice bureau in town, 800-900 enquiries about problems presented by Polish workers have been logged on average in recent months. The centre and workers report that more than 200 Polish workers were laid off in the spring without notice, but a few weeks later a further 200-plus new Polish migrants were brought in by the agency.
"It's the problem with today's fresh food production. They want people on command, on standby. It's all market forces but it's putting the clock back," she said.
The Llanelli-based agency CSA Recruitment declined to comment. The Dawn group said that it had been a large employer operating in Carmarthenshire for over 15 years. "As well as employing a large number of permanent staff our business in common with others also engages labour via agencies to assist with seasonal fluctuations in demand." "
"We have a very strong Works Council which represents all our staff and management and is made up of British and non national staff. We also have a recognition agreement in place with Unite and they have not raised any of these issues with us," it said in a statement.
"Our weekly confidential staff surgery system, our multi-lingual induction process, our approach to occupational health and our independent confidential 24 hour manned hotline are, we believe, clear examples of the pro-active and best practice approach we take to the ethical treatment of all staff on site''
M&S told us that currently about 5% of Dawn Llanelli orders were for its shelves.
"We fully understand that the use of agency workers is a real challenge for meat and poultry suppliers, which is why we have been working closely with our whole supply base, including Dawnpac, over the last year to help them work towards this.
M&S told us it was also pioneering an 'ethical model factory' with one of its UK poultry suppliers. The aim is to help suppliers manage temporary and migrant workers in a way that gives all workers access to benefits, equal wages and more secure work and has involved the retailer reviewing its ordering practices to reduce last minute changes.
The Guardian
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January 05, 2009
Politicians round on 'irrelevant' BNP drive
A war of words has broken out between the British National Party and other political parties after a membership drive by the BNP in Llanelli.
The BNP accused the major parties of "puerile and pathetic name-calling" and blasted them as "the failed gang of political parties, who are directly responsible for the state of Wales and Llanelli today". And the BNP denied being racist.
"We are quite simply realists, not racists," said councillor Kevin Edwards, organiser of the West Wales British National Party. He added: "It is in the public domain that 30 per cent of Welsh children are being brought up in homes with incomes below the poverty level."
He was speaking after BNP leaflets circulated in the town, which declared "billions given away to foreigners, while child poverty eats at the heart of Britain", were roundly condemned.
But Llanelli's Plaid AM Helen Mary Jones hit back at the BNP. She said: "We all know that the economy is in a difficult state, but we can't solve the economic problems of our country by blaming migrant workers from other countries poorer than our own. We have known for a long time the British National Party is trying to dress up its message of division and racism in respectable clothes. The people of Llanelli and Wales are not going to fall for this."
Independent councillor John Jenkins said: "The BNP are playing politics with people's fears and are only making it harder to have a sensible debate about the problems they inflame in their literature. However, they have no relevance in Llanelli. They have made fun of our town with some of their awful sites. Their rent-a-mob of activists sent to the town ahead of the European elections are completely irrelevant and should be ignored."
Llanelli's Labour MP Nia Griffith accused the BNP of stirring up "discontent and strife in our communities".
"I think we have to take a very strong stand against any parties which are seen to be using racist tactics," she said. "What we are not hearing from them is anything about a constructive way forward. We know these are very difficult economic times, which is why there have been a number of significant steps taken by the government over the past couple of months to try to give support to those who might be unlucky enough to be losing their jobs."
She said the Treasury was putting pressure on the banks to pass on rate cuts, and help was being given to smaller businesses, those who might be losing their jobs or who fear repossession of their homes, as well as those worried about their savings.
Ms Griffith said: "What we need at the moment is concerted action and not stirring up trouble with ill-founded nonsense."
South Wales Evening Post
The BNP accused the major parties of "puerile and pathetic name-calling" and blasted them as "the failed gang of political parties, who are directly responsible for the state of Wales and Llanelli today". And the BNP denied being racist.
"We are quite simply realists, not racists," said councillor Kevin Edwards, organiser of the West Wales British National Party. He added: "It is in the public domain that 30 per cent of Welsh children are being brought up in homes with incomes below the poverty level."
He was speaking after BNP leaflets circulated in the town, which declared "billions given away to foreigners, while child poverty eats at the heart of Britain", were roundly condemned.
But Llanelli's Plaid AM Helen Mary Jones hit back at the BNP. She said: "We all know that the economy is in a difficult state, but we can't solve the economic problems of our country by blaming migrant workers from other countries poorer than our own. We have known for a long time the British National Party is trying to dress up its message of division and racism in respectable clothes. The people of Llanelli and Wales are not going to fall for this."
Independent councillor John Jenkins said: "The BNP are playing politics with people's fears and are only making it harder to have a sensible debate about the problems they inflame in their literature. However, they have no relevance in Llanelli. They have made fun of our town with some of their awful sites. Their rent-a-mob of activists sent to the town ahead of the European elections are completely irrelevant and should be ignored."
Llanelli's Labour MP Nia Griffith accused the BNP of stirring up "discontent and strife in our communities".
"I think we have to take a very strong stand against any parties which are seen to be using racist tactics," she said. "What we are not hearing from them is anything about a constructive way forward. We know these are very difficult economic times, which is why there have been a number of significant steps taken by the government over the past couple of months to try to give support to those who might be unlucky enough to be losing their jobs."
She said the Treasury was putting pressure on the banks to pass on rate cuts, and help was being given to smaller businesses, those who might be losing their jobs or who fear repossession of their homes, as well as those worried about their savings.
Ms Griffith said: "What we need at the moment is concerted action and not stirring up trouble with ill-founded nonsense."
South Wales Evening Post
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