A construction company in London dismissed our members on flimsy charges without following due process.

The company’s decision was based on advice from a union busting firm, plus they didn’t think recent migrants could fight back.

A comrade from the IWW and PAWA accepted to represent them in the matter.

We initially raised a grievance about the company’s failure to follow due process as well as their company policy. The company instructed a union busting firm to hear the grievance.

Although the chair of the hearing gave the impression of impartiality, he was in no way impartial because they were being paid by the company. Consequently, they dismissed our grievance, but the company offered our members the right to appeal.

Interestingly, the appeal was set to be heard by the same company that had dismissed our greivance. We advised our members to refuse to participate in the process unless the company appointed an impartial arbiter. The company dug in.

We immediately contacted ACAS for arbitration because our members believed that there was an element of discrimination in their dismissal.

ACAS set it train arbitration processes and the employer soon realised that we weren’t going to take their s..t lying down. The employer offered to pay cash in settlement of the dispute. Our members agreed because they had secured alternative employment.

Major victory and many lessons learnt. PAWA ✊🏽✊🏽