Employer out to sack me with false accusations for trying establish a union presence

[mountain1985uk]

I might aswell start at the beginning. I work security for a well known tourist attraction in my city, which has been owned by the local transport authority since 2008. When they took over they promised that they would recognise us as their employees with all rights and priveleges involved, including public sector pay. This did not materialise. Instead they have severely cut staff hours, and not replaced people who have left, and drastically cut budgets. All this in spite of us seeing record number of customers through the door last financial year, and record high profits the one before. As people desperatly trying to make ends meet, a few of us joined a union, and followed their advice and appointed a rep. I was chosen by the other members to perform this duty. But we have been met with nothing but resistance since, with them trying to claim they are a private company, in spite of being owned by a public sector authority (who do recognise the union), and that they dont recognise the union, owing to us having less than 50% membership A couple of months ago i was falsely accused of being aggresive towards cutomers, with false statements being given by upper managements "cronies". I recieved a written warning for this, having been told by another union rep that it wouldnt be worth appealing due to the volume of statements given against me (regardles of them being true or false). As they now only take on part time staff, I have had difficulty attaining the 50% needed for recognition, as part time staff are young people who are apathetic to our cause as they are moving on after graduation, or whatever, or cannot spare the union dues from their limited pay. So I explored the avenues of lobbying the transport authority, The Chairman of the authority (who is a publicly elected councilor), the head of the councils Employment committee, even the locally elected Mayor. All to no avail (I kept being told to refer any such enquireys to my management). Fast foreward to last week, I got unceremoniously pulled into the office, and suspended on full pay (which is quite ominous) for "Failing to lock up the building properly" (The date I am accused of this is exactly 1 week before i got suspended, when assumedly they would suspend me the next day after such a serious offence) and for "interfering in an ongoing investigation" (I was not involved in, nor knew of any investigations going on). I have yet to hear the full details of these accusations. These are Gross Misconduct offences and I am seriously scared for my job. I have a young son I need to provide for, and the current job market is on its arse (for want of a better term). This is disgraceful behaviour towards someone who merely wants to make the most basic of livings. (Our wage is far below living wage standard). My union hasnt been much help either as "They are in the process of moving the handling of our company to another office". Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Captain Haddock]

Re: Employer out to sack me with false accusations for trying establish a union prese

Sorry to hear this. Not my field, at all, but sure someone will pop up during the course of the day. Sounds a bit to me like constructive dismissal.