Your obituary of Michael Edwardes (19 September) refers to the sacking of union convener Derek Robinson and says he received only lukewarm backing from some national union officials. At that time I was working at the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers HQ in Peckham. In fact the rightwing leader of the union connived with the company in the sacking of the communist leader and was just as happy as Edwardes to see the back of him. The workers did back Derek and came out on strike in his support, and at the mass meeting showed hostility to the leadership best summed up with the banner that read “Save Meg, burn Duffy” – Meg Richardson being the character who was being written out of the from the Midlands soap Crossroads with a fire at her hotel and Terry Duffy being the rightwing president of the union.
Charlie Whelan
Skye of Curr, Inverness-shire
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