VICTMISED British Gas activist Bernie Hynes won a partial victory at his Industrial Tribunal hearing on March 23. An order was made that he be reinstated as a Health and Safety Representative at British Gas's Leicester office.
This is not surprising as the law states that only trade unions have the right to nominate or withdraw health and safety nominees - though the legal team for the employer did not seem aware of this fact! The law on union recognition is however rather different as: it is perfectly legal to dere: cognise a union or its representatives and many employers have done so. Bernie made a further claim to the tribunal against his derecognition as a steward. He lost this claim as the tri of dismissal of a lay union officer did not count under a protection which applies to individual union members.
While they agreed that Bernie had been derecognised because of his union activity, they then applied the test of 'reasonableness' to the employer's action. They agreed with British Gas that their action was reasonable', as it was claimed that Bernie's criticism of managers had 'escalated' to what they viewed as an unreasonable extent.
While the implications of these judgements require studying they underline the fact that there is no legal protection for trade union activists. A campaign for positive rights is urgently needed.
At the same time it is necessary to fight trade union leaders who are more interested in fighting the left in the union than the employers. UNISON's leadership are prepared to spend vast sums of members' money on barristers to attack the CFDU, but resisted obtaining one in Bernie's case against British Gas.
It seems that Dave Johnson the Deputy Head of Energy had been involved in discussions with the employer leading to the derecognition. At the same time he is leading Gas members up the garden path on other issues such as a pay freeze and performance related pay. As well as fighting to maintain branch autonomy and for trade union rights, the left in UNISON needs to campaign for full time officers to be subject to the democratic control of the membership. clear. Branch autonomy and the right to campaign inside the union to change policy must be defended if UNISON is to be able to fight for its members and for public services.
The democratic principles of have slowly been eroded through the power given to the bureaucracy by the anti-union laws. They have also been under assault from the leadership - including general secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe. This unsavoury crew have used barristers to produce a report on the Campaign for a Fighting & Democratic UNISON (a Broad Left in the union) and to press disciplinary charges against individual union activists in a number of branches, Liverpool and Leeds in particular. The attack on individuals and the CFDU confirms that the bureaucracy have whole-heartedly taken up Blair's call at the TUC for the unions to "modernise their political structures as Labour has done". Getting rid of the left, if necessary by ditching union democracy, is now the priority for the general secretary and his 13 regional secretaries. The December NEC adopted a there was a welcome degree of agreement, in particular on the need to unite behind a single composite motion at national This conference has clearly worried the national leadership, who by co-incidence produced monthly newsletter for stewards that week, with a message claiming that the NEC and the General Secretary defend branch autonomy and the right to change union policy.
Regional secretaries were actively dissuading branches from attending the Newcastle conference, (which was not called by the CFDU, pointing out that it was unofficial and no funds could be used to pay travel expenses.
As the Conference agenda demonstrates, branches understand that internal union democracy is vital in order to have an active membership which knows that the union is theirs. This attack on democracy by barristers and unelected officials has to be defeated so that UNISON can organise on the other priorities; fighting in defence of the welfare state and public services, for trade union rights and for a decent minimum wage.
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