Warrington’s Own Buses refutes Unite union claim in strike threat

Unite – the union whose refuse workers are engaging in crippling industrial action in the town – says workers at Warrington’s Own Buses are ‘on the verge’ of serious strike disruption.

It says this is due to the sacking of a union rep by the bus company ‘on trumped up charges’.

Conforming the intention to strike this morning, Tuesday, a Unite spokesman said: “Unite believes the sacking was a targeted attack related to the worker’s legitimate trade union activities.

“In response, a consultative ballot was carried out that resulted in an 83 per cent vote in favour of strike action at the Warrington Borough Council-owned company.

“The worker was sacked after his bus broke down because he took a picture of the vehicle's undercarriage to show the fault more clearly to the engineer who had been called out.

“The company dismissed the worker for breaching health and safety rules as the engine was still running when he bent down to take the picture.

“This is despite the company admitting other workers had done similar things and not been sacked for them.

“During the worker's appeal, the company then changed its reason for dismissing him.

“This time, the company claimed it was because it was believed that the worker, who had previously worked as a mechanic, would have tried to fix the fault himself if given the opportunity, although the worker did no such thing.”

Warrington’s Own Buses has now issued its own statement saying it welcomes further discussion with the union over the matter.

A spokesman said: “While we do not usually discuss staffing matters, we simply do not recognise the claims being made by Unite.

“A bus driver was suspended for clear breaches of our established mobile phone and safety policies, which have been previously agreed by the trade union.

“Our reasons for dismissal have been consistent and have not changed. To suggest otherwise is erroneous and there are other factual inconsistencies in Unite’s press release.

"It is important to note that Unite itself reported a very similar mobile phone breach against another employee a matter of weeks ago and demanded action be taken against the member of staff.

“This is an almost identical case, so it is unclear to us why, on this occasion, union representatives are taking such a different stance. We believe there may be a conflict of interest here.

“We have attempted to discuss this with Unite to resolve matters and would welcome further discussions.”

On the issue, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Warrington's Own Buses' trumped up charges are nonsensical and spurious.

“This is a barely disguised attempt to get rid of this worker for carrying out his legitimate trade union duties.

“Warrington's Own Buses needs to reinstate this worker immediately, otherwise this issue will be resolved through industrial and legal action.

“Unite never tolerates attacks on our workplace representatives, and this worker has the full force of the union behind him.”

Unite regional officer Colin Hayden added: “It is bad enough that Warrington Borough Council has caused the refuse strikes to escalate by failing to confirm a fair pay deal for its workers.

“Now, residents are also facing the very real prospect of bus strikes because of a bullying culture that has been allowed to develop at the council’s bus company.

“The completely unjustified and disgraceful sacking of a workplace rep was the last straw for Warrington’s Own Buses’ workforce.

“The council needs to show leadership by ensuring he is reinstated and taking steps to reform the company’s toxic work environment.”

Unite says it will begin formal industrial action proceedings at Warrington’s Own Buses in the coming weeks.