Support Sacked PCS Reps at Protest in London

Tuesday 2nd December
PCS HQ Clapham
12:30pm

Two sacked PCS representatives have been put into the appalling situation of needing to protest their own union after they were vicitmised by the employer and sacked for their trade union activities. John Pearson found himself sacked during a redundancy consultation period but instead of gaining the support of the union he was effectively hung out to dry while deals were done with the employer. He later discovered that he had been removed from the union when PCS decided not to help him with a tribunal case. He won that case. Now he’s seeking justice from PCS and asking that they support him with legal costs. The union’s National Disputes Committee has rejected the calls despite the tribunal win.

This has similarities to the case of Sofia Azam who was also sacked but in this instance received help towards a tribunal. The first tier of the tribunal was not successful but Sofia has grounds for appeal and yet the same committee has prevented the appeal being backed by the union. This from a union that claims to protect its representatives. You can read more about both cases here.

John and Sofia have provided this message on their ongoing cases:

We were both sacked for directly carrying out duties as union branch officers, on the instructions of our Branch Executive Committees. John sent to union members details of the information on proposed redundancies that his employer was statutorily obliged to supply to the union for the purposes of consultation. Sofia was sacked for sending details of the grading of posts following a staffing restructure. In both cases, the employers tried to block union involvement by improperly attaching a ‘confidential’ stamp to industrial relations data which the union members affected had a right and an interest in being presented to them by their elected union representatives

John and Sofia are protesting outside PCS HQ in Clapham (next to Clapham Junction) on Tuesday 2nd December from 12:30 to coincide with the union’s National Executive Committee meeting. These two activists deserve the support of the whole movement but especially the members, activists and staff of PCS. Join the protest and help PCS make a better decision.