We here at FCCL advocate being in a trades union, for many reasons.
Firstly, if you ever need support at work it's there and of course the more you become involved in a unions activities the more benefits you gain. Education and qualifications are available for members in everything from basic skills to specialist diplomas in many subjects including employment law and equality. But the main benefit without a doubt is
if you are up a creek without one, a union can provide a damn fine paddle!
But sometimes as well as a belt - you need braces!
or in the instance we are going to divulge below
a mobile phone with a recording function.
On the 22nd May 2013, Anthea Orchard signed a compromise agreement with West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, which in part was an acknowledgement that they (on behalf of the tax payers of West Yorkshire !!!!) had vicariously breached her human rights by hiring a private investigation company to provide "directed surveillance" for a period of up to three months, (which included tracking her family car). This Regulation of Investigative Powers form was signed by Assistant Chief Fire Officer
Martyn Redfearn within HOURS of Anthea saying she was not fit for duty on 31st October 2012. Without a shadow of a doubt she was ill and was absent for several weeks - even WYFRS cannot ignore a Fit Note from a GP!
So, an employee who was already acknowledged as suffering from depression, hypothyroidism and work place stress was placed under (very incompetent) surveillance by ACO Redfearn.
(who is probably sighing a huge sigh of relief that he retired in early 2013 or perhaps he is getting ready to be a SCAB and add strike breaking to his list of misdemeanours)
Anyway fast forward to an office at WYFRS headquarters at Birkenshaw earlier this year...... present in the room are a newly appointed Assistant Chief Fire Officer (and HR director) , an area manager and an HR representative, an FBU representative and Anthea (the employee whose car was tracked ) All there to negotiate her compromise agreement. And we have to say we don't blame her for recording the meeting, on balance we would have done it too. It's also fair to say that nobody could have envisaged what would have been picked up by the mobile when the meeting was played back.
If you listen to the recording you can clearly hear Anthea and her union representative leaving the room. And after a discussion about the negotiations we believe the HR person saying " is that her handbag" some rustling in the bag and her mobile phone being handled and then dropped back into the bag. We therefore think the person who actually went in the bag was the area manager!
They all knew that they had done wrong by the stress reaction of silence and the nervous clicking of biro's afterwards .......which in first listening to we thought a bit funny. But by far the worst part is the saying "That's a bit naughty we should have asked her" which can of course be interpreted in so many ways.
"That's a bit naughty" (a mild reprimand for going in her bag)
"We should have asked her" (for permission to rifle through her bag)
OR
"That's a bit naughty" (recording the conversation)
"We should have asked her" (if she was recording the conversation)
Either way the ACO allowed his staff to go in somebodys handbag
when the owner was out of the room!!!!
We expect all three to be suspended, investigated and disciplined for gross misconduct!
We have sent a copy of the recording and other names we believe to be involved to CFO Pilling and Cllr Mahboob Khan, Chair of the Authority, which will give them an opportunity to invoke their new independent senior officer complaints process. We do not believe CFO Pilling is an appropriate person to comment on his ACOs integrity, its going to take an independent person to do that. ( if independent they hopefully are ???)
If our allegations are upheld we cannot help but wonder what the sanctions will be?
We were told recently an FBU member was demoted for tweeting - the sanction should surely be demotion or indeed dismissal for the ACO for allowing the tampering with of very private property by his subordinate staff.
Its not a very good start for the new Director of HR is it?
Having read a significant number of the papers involved with this case we will say just one thing, there is one little ray of hope in that dank immoral pit that is West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Senior Management and it comes from Mick Smith dated 16th November 2012
"Always there are two sides to a story" he writes.
Yes Mick, and having given our side of events we are keen to hear the story that WYFRS come up with for going into a woman's handbag (seemingly condoned by both an assistant chief officer AND a Human Resources representative who very kindly identified the handbag on the recording for us "is that her bag" she clearly states) at a meeting to discuss the financial settlement she was to receive for being illegally watched.
Ironic or what!
What made them rifle her handbag in the first place - does it happen often that senior officers go through their staffs personal possessions?
Perhaps all meetings going forward at WYFRS should be conducted with hands placed clearly on a table, which may cause problems if the need to scratch ones balls is required, (but saying that we are not sure anybody in WYFRS senior management have any anyway).
Heads should roll for this but we suspect all concerned will be getting a pat on the back despite red faces all round.
We hear more and more of employees of WYFRS being supported and encouraged to report their colleagues who use social media to challenge the working practices of WYFRS. FCCL itself has been cited in the pension review of one of its supporters - although the person concerned has requested via Freedom of Information the actual passages in facebook and on this blog which render the pensioner fit to work (after being retired on ill health grounds ) they have never received a satisfactory answer. But we eagerly await the next instalment in that particular long running story........ and look forward to the day when we can blog the lot.
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