Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 66
1 after this week off to find that my locker in
2 the crew room which contained all the union
3 membership forms and leaflets had been broken
4 into. The only other item that was in the
5 locker at the time was a pair of shoes, which
6 were still there, but all the literature and
7 forms had gone. The literature and forms were
8 of little value. They could easily have been
9 replaced. However, the shoes were certainly of
10 some value and yet they had not been removed.
11
12 I had my own lock on the locker, a padlock, and
13 this was gone. I was the only person who had a
14 key to the locker. So far as I was aware, this
15 had never happened in the store before. I went
16 to complain to management immediately. At no
17 time did he mention what was gone from the
18 locker."
19
20 I do not know whether that is supposed to be "I mentioned"
21 -- I just was wondering if that should be -----
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am going to put "I" instead of "he" because
24 that seems the obvious sense.
25
26 MS. STEEL: Unless it was, did he ask what was gone from the
27 locker, but it could be either.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will put "I" query.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: It must be "I", I think.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not going to decide the case.
34
35 MS. STEEL: No.
36
37 "I just complained that it had been broken
38 into. I spoke to the Manager of the store,
39 Tony, who said that it was he who had removed
40 the lock from my locker. He claimed that the
41 Company had a right to do this in accordance
42 with my employment contract and also in
43 accordance with the sign which was placed up in
44 the crew room. This sign pointed out that
45 lockers were only meant to be used by crew
46 members for the duration of their shift. No
47 employee was meant to keep a lock on the locker
48 beyond the time when they left the store. They
49 were meant to empty their locker at the end of
50 each shift.
51
52 The sign warned that in the event of an employee
53 leaving a lock on a locker beyond the end of
54 their shift management reserved the right to
55 place their own lock over the employee's lock
56 and to charge the employee a fee for the removal
57 of the management lock.
58
59 Whilst I accept that the sign was up in the crew
60 room, every single employee had his/her 'own'
