Background information regarding the Gordon McNeill case
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Our Union has deliberately stayed out of the publicity
surrounding the dispute between the Transport and General Workers
Union and Chris Bowyer – Madan Gupta and Gordon McNeill. We took
this decision because we wanted to concentrate all of our efforts
on having a genuine and sincere attempt at resolving this dispute,
a dispute which originated nearly seven years ago and is inherited
by this current leadership.
Since first taking up dealing with this
dispute the leadership of Tony Woodley as General Secretary and
Jimmy Kelly as Irish Regional Secretary has been totally committed
to bringing this issue to an honourable resolution. All of the time
working towards this goal with the invaluable support of our
General Executive Council and the Irish Regional Committee.
The publicity campaign against our Union has
at times been relentless through the use of widely circulated Anti
Union emails on the Internet. There has been a completely unhelpful
and at times sectarian involvement by socialist party members in
Belfast with disgraceful Anti Union behaviour, including lies and
personalised attacks on Tony Woodley and Jimmy Kelly. None of their
publicity has presented the fact that we are genuinely working
towards an acceptable and honourable resolution of this dispute.
They have achieved an undermining of our Union and are being
cheered on by local Employers who are only too happy to exploit
this opportunity. Unfortunately some genuine and well meaning trade
unionists have believed the lies that were spread on the
internet.
The Union has also been subjected to threats
of hunger strikes and the regional office in Belfast has been taken
over through various protests. Using the threat of a hunger strike
as a weapon or a tactic in a dispute like this against the Union is
just not acceptable. Banners denigrating the good name of our Union
have been erected on the front of the Union office. Our union
members particularly those of us living and working in Belfast have
been confronted with at times daily attacks on our Union. This is
made all the more unacceptable because of the support, including
financial support given to the three involved in this dispute by
our union members in Belfast.
LEGAL COSTS
We were asked by Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill to
consider covering their legal costs associated with the Tribunal
hearings in their case. We agreed to work towards doing this and as
an act of good faith on our part we paid £106,000 up front to their
Solicitors, Breslin McCormick in December 2007. We then entered
into the normal legal costs process with their Solicitors.
Throughout this costs process our Union has been subjected to
occupations of the Union offices, further claims by
Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill that they were on hunger strike and public
accusations that the Union had reneged on their promise to pay all
the costs, which was blatantly not true.
It has taken (through no fault of the Union)
up to May 22nd 2008 to finally reach an agreement on
legal costs. This has meant the Union paying a further £44,000 to
Solicitors Breslin McCormick. This has also meant the releasing of
£40,000 to
Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill, money that was being
withheld by their own Solicitors pending settlement of the costs
issue.
TRIBUNAL APPEAL COSTS
We were also asked to consider paying the
legal costs that will be incurred through the appeal process now
that the Employer has decided to appeal the tribunal decision. With
the support of our Finance and General Purposes Committee we have
agreed to pay the costs associated with the appeal instigated by
the Employer, even though this is an unquantifiable cost at this
point. Our Union will get behind this appeal process with our own
supportive campaign within the trade union movement in Northern
Ireland. It is in the interest of all Trade Unionists that this
Tribunal decision is not overturned, this is where anyone genuinely
interested in wanting to help in this dispute should be lending
their support and energy and not in attacking our Union.
TRIBUNAL AWARD – COMPENSATION
– HARDSHIP PAYMENTS AND GRANTS
Our Union has been helping financially from
the beginning of this dispute and is something we do in all
disputes anyway without making public statements. Because of all
the Anti Union statements in this case and in order to put the
truth on record we have established documented verification that
our hardship payments and grants in this dispute have amounted to
£130,728 – The only appeal to our Union following the Tribunal
result and Compensation awards to Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill was that we
would cover the legal costs. This was requested from the Union on
the basis that if their legal costs were met by the Union then the
Tribunal awards would not be affected for them as individuals by
having to meet the legal costs out of their Compensation
awards.
Therefore as can be seen from this
summary on their request for Legal Costs and on our Unions
initiative in covering Tribunal Appeal costs we have fully met our
promises and committments on this matter. These areas will not now
cost Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill a penny.
The third area which Bowyer /Gupta/McNeill
have raised is that they want the Union to award personal payments
to each of the three.
The Union has been advised that there is no
legal foundation on which to base this consideration. The Tribunal
has awarded compensation of varying levels totalling £750,000
attaching reasons and headings to each level of compensation. The
legal advice to us is that if our Union were to award repeat
payments under any of these headings it would result in the
Tribunal awards being lost in any subsequent appeal, thereby
rendering the three no better off financially and indeed only
rewarding the Employer.
Even with this legal advice the Union has
explored a possible area of financial assistance with a not
insubstantial amount in full and final settlement now being offered
to
Bowyer/Gupta/McNeill. We have done this so as
to clearly demonstrate that on all aspects of this case our Union
has now done everything possible in the interests of an honourable
resolution of the whole issue.
OUR FUTURE IS DEDICATED TO ORGANISING
NON UNION WORKPLACES ACROSS NORTHERN IRELAND AND FIGHTING BACK FOR
WORKERS.
Our Union now considers this dispute totally
resolved and the Union has no outstanding matters to answer. We
will not be accepting any further interference with our
responsibilities and duties as an independent Trade Union
organisation. Our Union offices will not be available as a place or
a space for Anti Union activity. We will not be held responsible
for the actions or consequences of anyone threatening or taking
part in hunger strikes. Those taking part in these activities must
now take responsibility for their own actions. We will now set
about undoing the damage done by those behind the Anti Union
activity. We will try to get our genuine efforts at resolving this
issue communicated as widely as possible.
