The Communication Employees Union (CWU) of the UK has issued an announcement, following the large public response to the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Put up Workplace, which aired final week.
The four-part drama depicted the injustice suffered by tons of of harmless British postmasters, who have been convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting by their Put up Workplace employers when defective software program triggered accounting errors to look in native submit places of work across the nation. With many imprisoned for offences they didn’t commit, the debacle has been known as the best miscarriage of justice in British authorized historical past.
Alan Bates of the title was the postmaster who campaigned for years to have the convictions overturned. He’s performed within the drama by actor Toby Jones.
Within the days because the drama aired, 1000’s of British viewers have demanded that the Put up Workplace’s former CEO Paula Vennells – the boss who oversaw the operation – be stripped of her CBE.
Now the CWU’s Nationwide Officer Andy Furey has joined these voices saying:
“The CWU totally reiterates our demand that the federal government strips former Chief Govt Officer Paula Vennells of her CBE – this honour for Put up Workplace companies is an insult to each postmaster who have been handled so abhorrently below her management.
He added: “Mr Bates vs the Put up Workplace has been a tremendously shifting depiction of such a harrowing story that has rightly been described as the best miscarriage of justice ever seen within the UK.
“Alan Bates and the Justice For Sub-Postmaster Alliance have to be lauded for his or her tireless efforts to reveal the disgraceful actions of the Put up Workplace.
“The emotional response from throughout the nation has been a vindication for Alan Bates and people who fought a campaign to overturn the Put up Workplace institution, who closed ranks to defend the Horizon (IT) system – regardless that this meant Postmasters being imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit.
“It has additionally been vindicating for CWU members within the Put up Workplace, who’ve supported the efforts of the JFSA in preventing this injustice for nicely over a decade.
“Sadly, this struggle was crucial as tons of of Postmasters have been let down and deserted by the Nationwide Federation of Sub-Postmasters, who failed them each step of the way in which resulting from their blind and unquestionable help for the Put up Workplace Board.”
