On Monday, June 11th, representatives from Cymdeithas yr Iaith will meet with the UK managers of the supermarket giant Morrisons at their headquarters in Manchester. They will discuss Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s calls for Morrisons to develop a nationwide strategy for Wales to provide goods and services through the medium of Welsh. This meeting is the result of 2 years of lobbying and campaigning by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, which culminated in a rally in January attended by over 200 people in Bangor. The Bangor branch was shut for a number of hours.

Dewi Snelson, Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Northern regional representative, said,“We are pleased that Morrisons have agreed to discuss our calls. It is obvious from the number of people who attended the rally that there is a definite need for Morrisons, and the private sector in general, to provide goods and services through the medium of Welsh. We hope that Morrisons will listen and implement our recommendations, thus becoming and example for similar companies by being proactive in their provision.”This lobbying work with companies in the private sector is part of the wider campaign for a New Welsh Language Act, and happens at a time when the disgraceful attitude of Thomas Cook towards the Welsh language has highlighted the need for new legislation to make Welsh an official language, to create the office of a language commissioner, and to give the people of Wales the right to use their language in all aspects of life clearer than ever.Following the decision of the company to ban its employees from speaking Welsh, Cymdeithas yr Iaith have repeatedly tried to discuss the situation with them over the past three working days. No reply was received. Hywel Griffiths, chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith said:“As the campaign for a New Welsh Language Act continues with the National Assembly, it is essential that we continue to lobby companies in the private sector and to make them realise that ignoring the Welsh language and providing tokenistic Welsh medium provision is not acceptable.”“As a company with a great many branches in Wales, they should realise that their customers and employees have linguistic rights. Thomas Cook’s disgraceful behaviour in banning their employees from speaking Welsh is a clear sign of the undeniable need for new legislation to ensure Welsh medium provision. It is impossible to discuss this with every company individually, - a new welsh language act is the only way forward.”