Sacked by PCS Union - the truth

Interesting decision. A very different approach to that taken at our ET, although very similar issues were raised.

AstraZeneca wrongfully dismissed senior scientist, tribunal finds James Muir was discriminated against on the basis of his mental health disability

Lots of interest in our page, new post imminent. Watch this space.....

Wishing all followers and supporters the compliments of the season. Rest assured we'll be back in the new year speaking truth to power, and holding those in positions of power to account as we have always done. Stay strong.
Alan and Cheryl

The PCS Union ballot for GS and AGS closes tomorrow. Members will have chosen who they want to lead PCS for the next 5 years.

Whatever the outcome, we are reiterating our call for the incoming GS and AGS to demonstrate their commitment to democracy and accountability by initiating an urgent, independent investigation of PCS employment practices.

Yours in solidarity, lifelong trade unionists and socialists

Alan Brown and Cheryl Gedling

By Alan Brown.

40 years ago today I joined the civil service. I joined the CPSA ( later PCS) that day.

When I went home that day my mother asked how my day had gone.
When I told her that I was asked to join the union and that I had joined she said, " good, because you would have been been sent back to join tomorrow ".

My mother had been a TGWU steward in the Olivetti typewriter factory in Glasgow.

She told the story of how, at a members meeting, a full time official was run out of the factory for trying to sell out a strike by the workers.

That official was George Robertson, later involved with NATO and then a lord.

Sell outs still exist, some people use trade unions to feather their own nest while members suffer. Read our story. Clean up unions. Fight for workers.

Very interesting article about how employment tribunals are enormously balanced in favour of bosses and about the restriction of workers' access to justice.

In our case PCS, who previously campaigned against workers having to pay fees to take their case to an employment tribunal, flew up a barrister from Old Square Chambers in London.

Every day of our tribunal hearing PCS threatened that they would pursue us for costs (northwards of £40,000), if we did not withdraw our claim.

PCS had previously offered us a similar amount of cash to go quietly. We refused because we didn't want to be silenced. We thought then and think now that there is a light that needs to be shone on PCS and how they treat their own workers.

We call for an independent investigation into our case and into PCS as an employer.

'The Power Imbalance is Enormous': Inside the Ordeal of Employment Tribunals – Byline Times Alicia Clegg reports on how Britain’s employment tribunals are not providing fair and equal access to justice

Alan's story part 3. The choice before PCS members.

As the vitally important ballot for General Secretary (GS) and Assistant General Secretary (AGS) has begun I feel I must point out a few things about the Left Unity choice for AGS.
Paul O’Connor claims he will “Stand up for your rights no matter where you work”. Unless you work for PCS it seems.
Paul O’Connor was appointed as decision-maker in mine and Cheryl’s dignity at work grievances.

We were forced to attend meetings at which we requested, and were refused, GMB representation. So PCS claims to be progressive but denied their own staff representation by the GMB, the recognised staff Union.
These meetings were not recorded or noted anywhere on our personnel files but nevertheless were later referred to by PCS in their manufactured version of events, and used as “evidence” to justify our dismissal.
There were a number of other contractual breaches. The most egregious of these was PCS failure to take forward serious allegations of bullying and victimisation against a member of the senior management team (SMT) we both named in our evidence. These allegations were never put to the person we named as required by the dignity at work and grievance policies. Instead the entire "investigation" consisted of one interview. The member of staff interviewed was not only directly involved in the disciplinary case against us, but was also directly line-managed by this SMT member.
The investigator's report can only be described as a tissue of lies. All of the written and oral evidence we provided in support of our case was ignored, whilst the testimony of that one single interviewee was accepted as the undisputed truth. No written evidence was provided to support the interviewee's version of events because none exists.
The investigator's report concluded that there was no merit in any aspect of our grievance. The investigator was happy to deny our allegation that the disciplinary investigation hadn’t been carried out in line with policy but he would say that wouldn't he as he carried out the investigation!
Paul O'Connor, ("(I will) stand up for your rights no matter where you work”),decision-maker, rubber-stamped this sham report in its entirety.
He decided it was acceptable to:
Breach contractual policies.
Deny us the most basic trade union right to be accompanied.
Deny us the right to a fair, impartial investigation.
Lie to protect a fellow member of the senior management team (SMT).
Ignore clear evidence that we had been victimised and bullied by this named SMT member.
Delay the outcome of our grievance for over 4 months to allow PCS to aggressively pursue their disciplinary case against us.
All that mattered was to get rid of us. It is hard to believe that somebody standing for election as a Left Unity candidate would participate in such a flawed process that denies workers access to justice. Paying lip service to democracy and accountability fails our members. How can you call yourself a socialist when you’ve actively participated in the sacking of fellow-socialists?
For these reasons i do not believe that Paul O'Connor is a fit person to be Assistant General Secretary of PCS

Alan's story part 2

I posted recently about my 30 years as a PCS lay representative. I served my union at every level - local, regional, Group (as DWP Group vice-president) and national (as NEC member for over 10 years).
My contribution was recognised when PCS conference in 2017 awarded me the highest possible honour, distinguished life membership.
Both myself and Cheryl still care deeply about our union. Despite the hell, the victimisation, the bullying and gaslighting that we have been subjected to by the ruling clique in PCS, we believe in our union.
We know that there are many dedicated PCS staff who work tirelessly to deliver for members. We know there are thousands of committed, hard working, honest reps, many of whom are really struggling currently and need PCS to start winning for them now.
To do that we need people at the top of the union that believe in trade union rights, justice, democracy and accountability; that will act with integrity.
I will continue to post about my time as a full time official. I will also name names and provide evidence that may shock many about the roles that some PCS officials played in the sacking of Cheryl Gedling and myself.
More tomorrow.

Alan's story, part one. My background

Virtually my whole working life has involved PCS and one of its predecessor unions CPSA.
I became a rep at 17 and a member of what is now the DWP Group Executive at the age of 20.

I spent my years as a lay activist fighting for democracy and a member-led union. In the "bad " old days the union was run by a bureaucracy that ignored democratic conference decisions. It was run by a clique of full time officers whose top priority was to silence any opposition. They bullied, disciplined and got rid of any one who dared to challenge them. They turned a deaf ear to calls for action from members who wanted to fight for better pay and conditions.

I was a member of the CPSA broad left and a founding member of PCS Left Unity. I recruited many activists to LU, Including current and former members of the PCS National Executive Committee. I recruited national president and General Secretary candidate Fran Heathcote to Left Unity.

I have always stood up for workers. I have always tried to be a voice for the voiceless. I led industrial action (some of which I called in defiance of anti-union legislation), represented members in disciplinary and grievance cases and negotiated for members which increased union membership, density and strength.

My first day as an elected member of the National Executive Committee in 2002 was the day of the attempted coup in PCS. Outgoing joint General Secretary, Barry Reamsbottom and the right wing majority on the NEC were trying to sack GS elect Mark Serwotka and ignore the democracy of PCS Before the meeting Mark Serwotka pleaded with Left Unity to do whatever was needed to have an illegally called NEC meeting unworkable. I was at the forefront of the battle to save the union that day.

I returned to Glasgow and called the first public meeting to defend PCS democracy. I opened the meeting up to requests to attend from activists outside the Left Unity group. This was a step that helped lead to the formation of the democracy alliance group that has had a majority on the NEC for some 20 years.

Sometimes when you do this you put yourself in the firing line, you leave yourself at risk of disciplinary action and even dismissal.

My former employer, the DWP, tried to discipline me many times, but they were unsuccessful in silencing me.

This weekend saw the PCS disabled workers seminar. PCS tweeted the following quote from an NEC member at the event. "Unfortunately, we still have many employers, to this day, with lots of prejudices against disabled people. Over my 30yrs in the workplace, I can say it has been absolutely dreadful, people couldn't even come out in the open about their disabilities"

We asked the following "Particularly pertinent in relation to mental health. Does PCS have any comment to make on how it behaves as an employer when staff declare a mental health condition clearly covered by the Equality Act 2010?"

It appears today that PCS have deleted their tweet. Is it because their record on this is something they want to
hide?

In our case we were certified as medically unfit to attend hearings to appeal.against PCS decision to dismiss us. The contractual policy is clear - the hearings should not have gone ahead until we were fit to attend. What happened instead is that HR advised the appeal officer that the policy only applied to "someone who had the flu or a broken ankle" i.e. physical illnesses you can see rather than mental health conditions that can't be seen. Proof here taken straight from the transcript of the appeal hearing:

The Sunday Post.

Trade Union Congress this week. We will be highlighting our case You can follow on twitter

So much more information about our treatment to be made public too.

The Sunday post

"All Alan and Cheryl ever asked for was to be treated in the same way PCS expects all members to be treated."
Our lay rep, who represented us magnificently at Employment Tribunal, put this to the PCS Senior Management Team staff member who made the decision to sack us both.

His response, with some irritation, was "Well yes, but we have to act as the employer."

Judge for yourself what this means. More to follow this week.

Today we are publishing our letters to the PCS General Secretary and his response.

As you can see we were not in any way asking for special treatment but simply to be dealt with in the same way that PCS rightly expects their members to be treated by employers. We suggested a reasonable way forward.

For info. we're posting Cheryl's letter to the General Secretary and his reply to Alan. Our letters and his replies were the same. You will note that the GS is aware we submitted a grievance about a named member of the Senior Management Team.

Letter to GS:
Cheryl Gedling
Industrial Officer
PCS Union
Scotland and NI Hub

Sent via email: [email protected]

29 March 2021

Dear Mark

I am taking the unprecedented step of contacting you directly as I feel that I have no other option open to me.

I have received confirmation last week that a member of the PCS Senior Management Team (SMT) continues to play a central role in major decisions affecting me. This includes whether or not I will continue to be employed by PCS.

Five weeks ago during a Dignity at Work investigation interview with X I named this SMT member, and said that they had victimised me. I provided evidence to back up this claim. The decision not to withdraw this SMT member from any further involvement in my case fatally undermines the independence and integrity of the process. In addition, PCS has now reneged on an agreement that both Disciplinary and Dignity at Work issues are inextricably linked and will be dealt with jointly.

When considered alongside the many failings of good practice and duty of care I have experienced since I was suspended almost 12 months ago I can have no confidence whatsoever that my case will be progressed fairly and impartially. No reasonable person in my position would think any differently.

This experience has been by far the worst of my working life. It has had the most profound effect on my physical and mental health. Trade unions should be exemplar employers, and it saddens me greatly that my experience of PCS as an employer has been so negative.

I believe it is still possible for matters to be taken forward in a way that would be acceptable and beneficial to both you as my employer and to me as a member of staff. This fatally flawed internal investigation process should now be ended. I suggest that my case is now passed in its entirety to an investigator external to, and independent from, PCS.

I am ready and willing to provide evidence to substantiate everything I have said here.

Please contact me if you wish to discuss any aspect of this letter in more detail.

Yours sincerely

Cheryl Gedling
PCS Industrial Officer
Scotland and NI Hub

Reply from GS:
 by email 
31 March 2021

Dear Alan
Thank you for your letter dated 25 March 2021.
As General Secretary, I can only respond on procedural points as I am a potential appeals officer in the disciplinary process.
Following the complaints in your letter I have taken advice and reviewed the disciplinary procedure which is being followed. I am satisfied the procedures are being applied correctly.
I understand an independent investigating officer was appointed to carry out an
independent investigation of the allegations. An investigation report was compiled and the
conclusion and recommendations were to progress to a formal disciplinary hearing. This
was sent to the Director of Central Services who enacted the recommendations to proceed to a formal disciplinary hearing.
For the disciplinary hearing a member of the SMT, X, has been appointed as
the independent disciplinary hearing officer. A letter of invitation has been sent to you by the HR department. The letter is signed by the Director of Central Services. This is in line with our normal procedure. The fact that you have complained about the Director of Central
Services is no reason for him not to sign the formal letter of invitation. The hearing officer will be advised by X from HR. X will advise about procedure but will have no
influence over the decision and outcome of the hearing.
I understand you received a letter dated 26 January 2021 inviting you to attend two
separate meetings on the same day, one after the other. The disciplinary investigation meeting was held under Section 6 of the Formal Stage of the PCS Disciplinary Procedure 6.1
Investigation. This was followed by a meeting to hear a complaint raised by you under the section 10.3 of the PCS Dignity at Work Policy. The same investigating officer heard both procedures.
I do not consider there is any need to refer your case to an external investigator. The
disciplinary hearing should proceed on 13 April 2021.

Yours sincerely
MARK SERWOTKA
General Secretary

It is a matter of record that Alan was a founding member of PCS Left Unity. At his first NEC meeting the right wing attempted a coup to remove Mark Serwotka as elected General Secretary. Alan was at the forefront of the campaign to defend union democracy and organised the first meeting of activists and members that became the blueprint that ultimately won.

Cheryl will soon be posting her experience of how PCS as an employer deals with mental health issues

Judge for yourself.

The enemy within.

Rather than dealing with the concerns we and colleagues raised about working practices we were targeted as trouble-makers. We were told by a GMB shop rep that the General Secretary was looking to identify "the ringleaders". We were warned via the GMB branch to "keep our heads down" as "they" [senior management] were "looking for someone to blame".

The concerns raised were closed down. We were both instructed to attend meetings with the Head of HR and our temporary line manager. We requested, and were refused, GMB representation at those meetings. Let that sink in - a Trade Union which prides itself on being progressive refused to allow their own staff to be represented by the GMB, the recognised staff Union.
These meetings were not recorded or noted anywhere on our personnel files but nevertheless were later referred to by PCS in their manufactured version of events, used as evidence to justify our dismissal.

There were a number of other contractual breaches. The most egregious of these was PCS failure to take forward serious allegations of bullying and victimisation against a member of the senior management team (SMT) we both named in our evidence. These allegations were never put to the person we named as required by the dignity at work and grievance policies. Instead the entire "investigation" consisted of one interview. The member of staff interviewed was not only directly involved in the disciplinary case against us, but was also directly line-managed by this SMT member.

The investigator's report can only be described as a tissue of lies. All of the written and oral evidence we provided in support of our case was ignored, whilst the testimony of that one single interviewee was accepted as the undisputed truth.

The investigator's report concluded that there was no merit in any aspect of our grievance. The investigator rejected our claim that the disciplinary investigation hadn't been conducted in line with the policy. He would say that wouldn't he as he carried out that investigation!

We were clear that the disciplinary and grievance cases were inextricably linked and PCS agreed - until they heard our testimony and were presented with our evidence. PCS then reneged on that agreement by taking the disciplinary case forward separately, stalling the grievance outcome for over 4 months. The decision-maker in our grievance, now standing as AGS candidate, accepted the investigation report in full, without question. It is hard to believe that somebody standing for election as a Left Unity candidate would participate in such a flawed process that denies workers access to justice.

Judge for yourself. More tomorrow.

The Sunday post
In the coming week we'll post about:
The many breaches of contractual policies in our case
The cover-up of a serious complaint against a member of the senior management team (SMT)
Our direct plea to the General Secretary for a fair hearing and his response
The involvement of someone aspiring for high elected office
How PCS dealt with declared mental health issues.

Many thanks to all those former colleagues and comrades who have been in touch since we launched this page. Most of whom were unaware that we had been sacked by PCS union. Keep following....the story of how were were treated is only beginning.....

Here is the beginning of our story. Concerns were raised by half of the staff in the Scotland and Northern Ireland hub.

This is a page set up by former senior lay activists and former full time industrial officers Alan Brown and Cheryl Gedling. We were sacked by PCS in October 2021. We took our case against PCS to employment tribunal where we lost our unfair dismissal claim. That said, as PCS themselves have recently stated, losing on technical points of law does not make a decision morally right or fair. This is especially true when, as PCS did, you employ a barrister at considerable cost to act against legally unsupported trade unionists.

We believe that those who work for Trade Unions should be treated in the same way that they expect their own members to be treated by employers. Many in the movement will know that this is not always the case in practice, and we believe will find the actions of PCS senior management absolutely astonishing. We believe that PCS members expect their union, which claims to be lay led and amongst the most progressive in the trade union movement, to have trade unionists in senior management positions. We have waited until now to tell our story because of the campaign PCS has been taking forward to win fair pay but as members will soon be asked to decide who they want as General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary of PCS for the next 5 years we feel the time is right to share our story. Anyway over the coming days, weeks and months we will tell that story. There is loads of information therefore it will be released in sections, but rest assured every thing we say is based on facts and backed up by evidence. We hold this evidence and it can be made available to those who need to see it.

We do not regard PCS as a good employer and have reason to believe that others agree but don't feel able to speak out. We're calling on GS and AGS candidates to show they believe in accountability and transparency by commiting to an independent investigation of PCS employment practices.
Anyway, we will publish our story and you can draw your own conclusions.....keep watching.

Yours in solidarity, lifelong trade unionists and socialists

Alan Brown and Cheryl Gedling

We believe as trade unionists that PCS senior management should treat their workers in the same way that PCS expects and demands all members to be treated by employers.

We believe that PCS union members expect senior full time officers both elected and appointed, to be trade unionists.
Being a trade unionist is not about holding a union membership card it's about how you act in practice.

In solidarity

Alan Brown and Cheryl Gedling

Lifelong trade unionists and socialists