Lewisham Council has issued formal notice that it is sacking its joint UNISON branch secretary, Justine Canady. Canady received notice at a meeting this morning.
Campaigners say that the move is “transparent union-busting” and comes as the council is preparing to make £25m of cuts. Canady’s co-branch secretary, Jay Kidd-Morton, is also in line for dismissal.
Canady, 27, is UNISON’s youngest branch secretary. Since she was elected in May last year, members say that Lewisham UNISON has been transformed from an inactive branch into a campaigning one, with a focus on equalities and fair treatment at work.
Because she is on full-time release for union activities, Canady does not even work in her post in the Children’s Social Services department. But the council has moved to delete her post, and is insisting that, without a substantive post, she will be removed as branch secretary as well.
UNISON branch secretaries at other councils regularly remain in their union role without a substantive post.
A protest is planned for 1pm on Wednesday 31 July outside Lewisham Town Hall.
Elaine Jones, a member of UNISON’s national executive, said:
“Lewisham Council is now engaged in transparent union-busting. Managers are preparing to make £25m of cuts – workers will need the union branch to stand up for them. So just before they go ahead, they sack both of their main union reps.
“This is a brutal way to treat workers. Someone senior evidently thinks that they can get away with treating a young woman like this, as well as sacking her black co-joint secretary.
“Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for rogue employers to engage in union-busting to get rid of effective union organisers. But for a Labour Council to engage in these practices is abhorrent.”
