Solidarity is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

formed in late 2005 by the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

(BNP). It is named after the Polish trade union ''

Solidarność Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

'', and its logo (which it has trademarked) is also inspired by that of the Polish union. Solidarity recruits from all industrial sectors and professions. Solidarity has already stated that it has no plans to apply for affiliation to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

(TUC) and will not be bound, therefore, by agreements not to poach members from other unions.

Leadership political profile

Executive composition

The first union president was

Adam Walker Adam Walker may refer to: * Adam Walker (American football, born 1963), American football running back * Adam Walker (American football, born 1968), American football running back * Adam Walker (Australian politician) (1829–1902), Australian polit ...

, a BNP member and three times a parliamentary candidate (in Bishop Auckland in 2010 and 2017 and in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

in 2015). Since 2015, he has been chairman of the BNP, following the departure of

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

as leader. Walker was subsequently replaced as union president by David Kerr. Kerr was replaced as president in November 2019 by Glen Nicklasson. The union's general secretary is Patrick Harrington.

Controversies

Funding for the BNP?

In a 2006 report in the newspaper ''

Wales on Sunday Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 20 ...

'', John Walker, then national treasurer of the BNP, claimed that the union was likely to contribute funds to the party: Solidarity's general secretary, Harrington, responded in a letter to the newspaper that this was Walker's "personal opinion", that the recipients of union grants would be decided directly by members, and that members could opt out of the political fund if one were to be established. Solidarity's annual returns to the Certification Office from 2006 to 2018 indicate that the union has not established a political fund.

Alleged front status

Allegations that Solidarity is a BNP

front organisation A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

were first made by ''

Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

'' magazine on the Stop the BNP website on 24 January 2006 and repeated by Barrie Clement in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' on 1 February 2006.

Membership numbers

In figures filed with the Certification Office for 31 December 2019, Solidarity said it had 173 members, up from 139 in the previous year.

References

External links

Solidarity websiteCertification Office annual returns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solidarity - The Union For British Workers Trade unions in the United Kingdom General unions Trade unions established in 2005 Fascist trade unions