Disgruntled with the long hours and low rates of pay, not to mention what they saw as the dreadful exploitation of children’s fantasies for profit, an attempt was made more than 50 years ago by unemployed actors, part-time bar staff and others donning the red suit to create a "Brotherhood of Father Christmas and Santa Claus trade union" in Britain.
A group led by American community activist Ed Berman took matters into their own hands. The protests began in early December 1969 when activists dressed as Father Christmas and his helpers started giving away toys outside Whiteley’s in Bayswater, London.
But when the 1969 protest made little impact, Santa and his helpers took their campaign to Selfridge’s in Oxford Street, where they marched up and down outside the store with placards. A spokesman told a journalist that their picketing was against non-union labour and ‘any store that would charge admission for a child to see Santa’.
Not everyone took their fairly inoffensive public stand in the true Christmas spirit. Not convinced that their picket line had been mounted in pursuance of a trades dispute, the police arrested twelve-costumed protestors, nine men and three women, and charged them with obstruction.
There is no record of the trauma suffered by any small children who witnessed two uniformed officers from the Met leading Father Christmas off to a police cell. But the Santas did not give in easily. As new year dawned on the 1970s they formed a trade union. The Brotherhood of Father Christmas and Santa Claus submitted its application to register as a union to the Registrar of Friendly Societies (which then performed the role now carried out by the office of the Certification Officer) and began a lengthy correspondence over its proposed structure and objectives. The paperwork is in The National Archives.
The application suffered a number of rebuffs (the Registrar’s staff objecting to the word ‘blah’ in the union’s proposed objectives as ‘meaningless’), and it is not clear whether or not the application was eventually accepted. However, the rule book barred any member from claiming to be the sole and genuine Father Christmas, and created a general secretary role with the title ‘Super Santa’.
Alas, this did little to convince the legal system that theirs had been a legitimate industrial dispute. In April 1970, the Selfridge’s Twelve appeared before Marlborough Street magistrates, Berman in his Santa outfit, and were each fined £10 plus £2 costs. From the bench, magistrate Edward Robey declared that ‘what had really occurred was a demonstration in fancy dress for the entertainment of children and passers-by’.
Sadly, nothing more appears to have been heard of the Brotherhood of Father Christmas and Santa Claus. But interest in pay rates for this much put-upon group of workers continued. Twenty years later, pay researchers at Industrial Relations Services continued to conduct regular surveys of their employers – which equally regularly reported that Santas were able to command higher rates than their helpers. But even these surveys ended as department stores ceased to employ their own Santas, with most outsourcing recruitment to the same small group of employment agencies.

custom transformers Interesting blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustments would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your design. Many thanks
https://www.gevezeyeri.com/
https://www.grepmed.com/chat1
https://forum.amzgame.com/thread/detail?id=339183
http://www.limesucks.com/thread/sohbet-uygulamasi/
https://www.postfreeclassifiedads.com/thread-34675.htm
https://www.postfreeclassifiedads.com/thread-34675.htm
https://onne.link/sohbetodalari
https://globalabout.com/read-blog/19366
https://globalairgunner.com/read-blog/27558
https://letustalk.co.in/read-blog/13447
https://bundas24.com/read-blog/189274
https://buzzingabout.com/read-blog/11458
https://bestbizportal.com/read-blog/55917
https://blesssocial.com/read-blog/15378
https://420dc.xyz/read-blog/8272
http://4blabla.ru/read-blog/3881
http://cityescorts.co.uk/author/gabilechat/
https://www.active2030store.com/author/gabilechat/
https://lichess.org/@/sohbetchat
https://jobs.tdwi.org/employers/3457187-gabilesohbet
https://jobs.nefeshinternational.org/employers/3455005-gabilesohbet
https://jobs.thebridgework.com/employers/3455003-gabilesohbet
https://jobs.siliconflorist.com/employers/3455000-gabilesohbet
https://www.oureducation.in/answers/profile/gabilesohbet/
http://www.sunnetrehberi.com/forum/profile/gabilesohbet
https://jobs251.com/author/gabilesohbet/
https://www.empregosaude.pt/author/gabilesohbet/
https://truckymods.io/user/307079
https://www.jobscentraltexas.com/employers/3442424-gabilesohbet
https://empregospernambuco.com.br/author/gabilesohbet
https://www.canadavideocompanies.ca/author/gabilesohbet/
https://www.jobscoop.org/employers/3442346-gabilesohbet
https://jobs.employabilitydallas.org/employers/3437750-gabilesohbet
https://forum.profa.ne/user/yetiskinsohbet
http://jobs.emiogp.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://justpaste.it/45ocq
https://divisionmidway.org/jobs/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.guiafacillagos.com.br/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://utahsyardsale.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://allmynursejobs.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
http://jobboard.piasd.org/author/yetiskinsohbet/
http://www.annunciogratis.net/author/yetiskinsohbet
https://employbahamians.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://rnmanagers.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://rnstaffers.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.i-hire.ca/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://veterinarypracticetransition.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.lotusforsale.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://aboutnurseassistantjobs.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.montessorijobsuk.co.uk/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.sitiosecuador.com/author/yetiskinchat/
https://aboutsnfjobs.com/author/yetiskinchat/
https://www.ocjobs.com/employers/3420821-yetiskinsohbet
https://jobs.theeducatorsroom.com/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://cuchichi.es/author/yetiskinsohbet/
https://www.ziparticle.com/author/yetiskinchat/
https://praca.uxlabs.pl/author/yetiskinchat/
https://rnopportunities.com/author/gabilechat/
https://rnstaffers.com/author/yetiskinchat/
https://www.montessorijobsuk.co.uk/author/gabilechat/
https://www.allmyusjobs.com/author/gabilechat/
https://www.nursingportal.ca/author/cinselsohbett/
https://toirscript.com/user/goruntulusohbet
https://www.fmconsulting.net/gymsforsale/author/gabilechat/
https://www.animaljobsdirect.com/employers/3424370-yetiskinsohbet
https://www.gevezeyeri.com/
https://mylinks.ai/sohbetoadalari
https://zez.am/Sohbetodalari
https://linkpop.com/canlisohbet
https://onne.link/sohbetodalari
https://joy.link/sohbetedin
https://linkpop.com/canlisohbet
https://www.iglinks.io/sohbet-qgd?preview=true
https://flow.page/sohbetodalari
https://tr.pinterest.com/kameralisohbet0192/
https://www.pinterest.co.kr/chatodalari0357/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/mobilsohbetodalari/
https://mx.pinterest.com/sevyelisohbet/
https://www.pinterest.de/sohbetsohbet0719/
https://www.pinterest.fr/chatsohbet0342/
https://at.pinterest.com/istanbulsohbet/
https://findpenguins.com/8xdm0s9jkbsdl
https://www.stickermule.com/eu/0dc16abf3e74c89
https://huggingface.co/Gabilesohbet
https://www.linkedpt.com/employers/3481878-gabilechat
https://minecraftcommand.science/profile/gabilechat
https://www.vikrambedi.com/community/profile/441752/
https://cinderella.pro/user/194061/Kameralisohbet/
https://www.aprofitableday.com/directory-business_lis/listing/gabile-sohbet-uygulamasi/
https://toirscript.com/user/goruntulusohbet
This is such a fun concept! The idea of Santa Claus and Father Christmas forming a union is a creative and lighthearted way to explore the similarities and differences between these two holiday traditions. I'm curious, does the article delve into the specific working conditions of these jolly figures? It would be interesting to see how their unions might address things like elf breaks, reindeer welfare, and the ever-growing number of naughty children! article writing services usa
Nice to be visiting your blog once more, it has been months for me. Well this article that ive been waited for therefore long. i want this article to finish my assignment within the faculty, and it has same topic together with your article. Thanks, nice share transformer custom