31 May 2007. For immediate release

What’s in a campaign name? Union federation asks

Global union federation the ITF has politely declined to abandon the name of an internal union consultative network, following an invitation from transport operator FirstGroup – delivered by top international law firm Slaughter and May – to do so.

Through the law firm, FirstGroup have ‘required’ that the ITF cease using the name ‘FirstGroup Union Solidarity Network’ for the network set up to represent workers at FirstGroup. The company states that use of its name is an ‘unlawful’ misrepresentation and constitutes passing off (see extract from letter, below*). In response (also below) the ITF has stated that : ‘We believe that the use of which you complain is a descriptive use to properly identify your client as the employer of the workers concerned and, as such, is neither an infringement of the registered trade marks you refer to or conduct which amounts to passing off. You state however that your client fully supports the lawful activities of the solidarity network and we welcome this.’

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “FirstGroup can rest assured that there is no chance of us setting ourselves up as an international bus or rail operator, and we are also happy to make it clear that FirstGroup does not endorse or sponsor the solidarity network established by unions globally for its workers – although we don’t agree that supporting such a network would damage its goodwill or reputation. The name FirstGroup Union Solidarity Network was chosen because it describes the union solidarity network for FirstGroup workers.”

He concluded: “This does, though, raise some interesting questions about how employees do identify themselves if they’re prohibited from mentioning the enterprise for which they work.”

ENDS

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