Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 21
1 A. He did contact me after that, and I have read his
2 statement. When he came back to me possibly 10 days, maybe
3 no more than 10 days later, he was in a different frame of
4 mind. He was a young man who had been taken aback by some
5 circumstances in his workplace; what was I going to do
6 about it?
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sorry, I cannot keep telling you. You
9 are an intelligent man. Just try to remember because it is
10 irritating for both of us if I have to keep reminding you.
11 A. I do apologise.
12
13 Q. I have got as far as he was a young man in a different
14 frame of mind, Mr. Pearson.
15 A. Yes. He was a young man in a different frame of mind.
16 He came to my office again.
17
18 Q. Yes.
19
20 MS. STEEL: I think you said he had been taken aback by some
21 circumstances in his workplace?
22 A. Yes. He had been taken aback. He told me his union
23 material had been stolen from his locker. He told me that
24 his locker had been broken into, and the trade union
25 leaflets and the poster I gave him had been removed and
26 other personal possessions. He was outraged actually.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes?
29 A. He felt threatened. He said: "I feel", he said,
30 "I feel I need your advice". What can I do? This is what
31 he wanted to know, what can he now do, and what would the
32 union do about this? What was I, a full-time official,
33 going to do about it?
34
35 Now, I will tell you what I thought, if this will assist
36 the court, I thought to myself: This man has not been
37 dismissed but, in my opinion, his job was at risk. That
38 was my own assessment. If he had been dismissed, if he had
39 been dismissed, and he had got to me within five working
40 days, I would have done an interim relief application to an
41 industrial tribunal: Unfair dismissal, grounds, trade
42 union membership and activity; my locus, a duly authorised
43 representative of a trade union.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: Can I just ask? He was only there for nine months
46 or something?
47 A. Length of service is irrelevant.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That does not matter if it is for trade union
50 activity.
51 A. Length of service is irrelevant, my lord, as obviously
52 you are very, very much more aware than I would be.
53
54 Q. Let me make sure I have understood. Length of service is
55 irrelevant in the circumstances you are proposing, if the
56 dismissal is for trade union activity, is that the
57 distinction?
58 A. It is. He asked me the question: "What can I do?"
59 I thought, so interim relief is not an option -----
60
