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

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