On 22 May 2017 the Assistant Certification Officer (ACO)
issued a 114 page report in response to a number of complaints.
Whilst the ACO did not rule in our favour on all of our
complaints she did uphold one complaint which is covered in paragraph 3 which
stated:
“Pursuant
to s.108B(2)(d) of the Act, I declare that the Union breached paragraph 51 of
the General Secretary 2015 Election Procedures (“the Election Procedures) in
that the Union’s funds, property and resources were impermissibly used to
campaign for a particular candidate (Mr Dave Prentis) by reason of the
following matters:”
Furthermore in Paragraph 258 the ACO states:
“In
conclusion, the Union is responsible for all actions of its Regional Secretary
that I have found were in breach of the Election Procedures and the Rules. The
Regional Secretary was a very senior employee of Union with considerable
authority and autonomy to organise meetings, and manage and direct her staff.
She and her RMT engaged in deliberate breaches, as set out above. The nature of
her job was to manage and direct her staff and she misused the position
entrusted to her, which has injured the members of UNISON in that there has
been unfairness in the General Secretary election as well as undermining the
standing of the Union in the eyes of the public. There was a very close
connection between her lawful activities and her improper campaigning activities
by directing her staff to campaign in breach of Election Procedures. She was
acting qua employee when she called the staff meeting and gave them campaigning
directions in breach of the Rules. In consideration of all circumstance, it is
right for her employer UNISON, to be held liable for the misuse of her
position, since it was UNISON that selected and employed and managed, or
purported to manage her.”
We can now confirm that Mr John Burgess, Ms Helen Davies,
Mr Patrick Hunter, Ms Hannah O’Reilly, Ms Margaret Myland, Ms Claire Dixon, Mr
Adam Tipple, Ms Elizabeth James, Mr Hugh Jordan, Mr Alan Wylie and Mr John
Harris (“Burgess & Ors”) submitted
an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
End.
#UNISONGATE
LINKS
1. You
can find the full report of the ACO here
2.
UNISON issued the following statement:
“Today the assistant
certification officer (ACO) has announced the decision in the case of Burgess and
Others; Rogers; Wakefield and Bannister v UNISON.
UNISON welcomes the decision
of the ACO to uphold the result of the 2015 general secretary election and
reject the call from the complainants for a rerun.”
3.
Extracts from ACO report.
Paragraph
138
“In summary, the meeting was used by the Regional
Secretary, openly during work time and with the support of her RMT to campaign
for Mr Prentis’ re-election. She instructed her staff also to campaign for Mr
Prentis in defiance of the election Procedures and directed them to report to
their line manager within her RMT.
Paragraph
143
“It is clear that leaflets in support of Mr Prentis were to
be covertly stored at the Greater London Regional office in breach of the
Election Procedures. Ms Perks repeatedly tells her staff not to leave an email
trail about using the Greater London Regional office as a distribution hub for
the leaflets: “Karen will get word around the region that they are in her
office even though she will not say what they are.” Ms Easton of the RMT then
reiterates the message “Just a quick one on emailing that also includes you
don’t email Karen to say you want more of those leaflets it’s any email and no
emails at all on this. Don’t email branches you want to see.” A code term of
the leaflets was set up of “special chocolate biscuits” to be used when more
Vote Dave leaflets were being requested, presumably to avoid detection from
breach Election Procedures.”
Paragraph
154:
“No matter how many times one re-reads the transcript the
shock does not diminish. It is flagrant: Ms Perks’ tone is not just confident
and swaggering in so openly breaking rules, but chilling in its brazenness and
demonstration of unchecked power. I appreciate that many of the staff present
were seasoned union officials, used to dealing with difficult situations and
being assertive, but even so, it is deeply shocking.”
Paragraph
296:
“The failure to address the involvement of the whole of the
London RMT which was explicit and apparent from the tape of the 21 October
meeting is very troubling. The collusion of the Greater London RMT was
deliberately ignored by the Union and no explanation for the failure to address
it has been given.”
4.
#Unisongate makes BBC Radio 4 Today Programme https://youtu.be/z-bIsf34e3A
5.
#Unisongate made Tribune http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2016/12/unison-faces-court-challenge/
6.
“UNISON: Union democracy on trial.”
Unison
election: Now Electoral Reform Services on trial
“Yesterday that image slipped when deputy chief executive Simon Hearn was cross
questioned about his role in supervising the
2015 election of general
secretary Dave Prentis to Britain’s biggest public sector union, Unison. The
union paid ERS almost £1m of member’s money to safeguard fair play.”
Read on here http://bit.ly/2ifGlwn
7.
Unison election: Now Electoral Reform Services on trial
“Why hadn’t he followed up the breaches in the Greater
London area – where he admitted the union tape had revealed there was a breach
of the rules at a meeting to discuss how to promote Dave Prentis to see if
there was ” systematic malpractice” elsewhere ? He said he hadn’t had enough
complaints to do this.”
Read on here http://bit.ly/2ifGlwn
7.
Unison election: Now Electoral Reform Services on trial
“Probably the most damning point was following the inquiry
by Unison official Roger McKenzie
into the breach of union rules at the
Greater London meeting which led to the suspension – now lifted – of one
official, Linda Perks, when he had been told that more officials were
involved.”
Read on here http://bit.ly/2ifGlwn
8.
Unison: A libel threat, a database and a “cut and paste” email – all to help
Dave Prentis win?
9.
Unison: Former senior official says “anti democratic practices” used to elect
Dave Prentis in three previous contests.
10.
Rerun Dave Prentis election urge candidates at Unison malpractice hearing
Posted on February 23, 2017 by davidhencke
11. Unison’s Special Chocolate Biscuits Scandal: An insight
into murky behaviour at the top of Britain’s biggest public sector union
Posted on June 4, 2017 by davidhencke
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