PCS MEMBERS CALL ON THEIR UNION TO SUPPORT UNFAIRLY DISMISSED PCS REP!

Rank and file union reps and members of the Public and Commercial Services Union have sent an open letter to General Secretary Mark Serwotka demanding greater support for reps and members in employment tribunals.

The letter, published online here, was initially motivated by the case of John Pearson. John was a PCS rep at Hewlett-Packard, who was sacked as a result of his trade union activities during a dispute over job cuts.
John was forced to pay the Employment Tribunal fees and engage a private solicitor to fight his automatically unfair dismissal claim, after union officials refused to support him, asserting that his claim had ‘no reasonable prospect of success’. The tribunal vindicated John and his supporters by finding that he had been unfairly dismissed and that the principal reason was his activities as part of an independent trade union.


Following on from the verdict, the open letter to Mark Serwotka demands: “Full support for John from PCS as he pursues reinstatement following his ET verdict, and full recompense for the legal costs he has paid at his own expense” as well as “A written guarantee that reps and activists victimised by their employer will receive full and unwavering support when fighting that victimisation, by all available means including ET, as a point of principle.”