The Ghost of Christmas PastThe GI hope all UNISON members had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year, but my thoughts remain with those who's Christmas was destroyed by the Farepak scandal
We should remember that the multimillionaire “fat cat” owners of the Farepak Christmas savings scheme wrote to their customers to reassure them their money was safe - even as millions of pounds were being passed on to the parent company. The collapse of Farepak and its Christmas scheme has left more than 150,000 families facing a bleak festive season.
A furious protest by victims of the Farepak collapse took place outside the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) head office as a champagne reception took place inside .
HBOS was targeted because, it financed Farepak’s parent company European Home Retail It grabbed £28 million from the ailing business and watched it go bust.
It should be remembered that the owner of Farepak, Sir Clive Thompson when CBI chairman not only opposed the minimum wage but referred to trade unions as “vermin to be eradicated”. I think we all know who the vermin is now.
UNISON for its part set up a UNISON Farepak fund to try and help members who lost out, in the scandal prior to Christmas.
