Most of us don’t think we’ll ever be subject to disciplinary action at work. In fact, one of the things we hear most often from members is: “I just didn’t think it would happen to me”. And the more senior the people affected are, the bigger the shock!
Those very words were recently spoken by an ex-Halifax manager who we’re currently supporting in a claim at the Employment Tribunal. He was dismissed from employment on the most ludicrous, superficial charges and his long, previously unblemished career was brought to an abrupt and wholly unfair end. Given the circumstances of his case, it’s hard not to conclude that someone, somewhere, decided they wanted him out of the Bank and proceeded to remove him on concocted charges. It’s a familiar story.
But not only has our member lost his job unfairly, the Bank has reported him to the FCA for an alleged breach of the FCA’s Conduct Rules, which means he now has a virtually zero chance of finding a new job in the banking industry. His career has been destroyed.
Getting Justice
We’ll fight our member’s case tooth and nail and support him in any way we can so that he has a chance to clear his name and rebuild his career. Having been left in a difficult financial position by the Bank, without our support it would be very difficult to pay lawyers to fight his case at the Employment Tribunal. But he doesn’t have to worry – we only instruct the very best barristers to defend our members in court, so he’ll have the best chance possible of getting justice without a massive bill.
It’s not usual for our cases to end up in the Employment Tribunal; but that can be the only way to force a change in the Bank’s agenda. We’ve won all of the Lloyds Banking Group cases that have reached a hearing and we’ve settled many more cases, for significant amounts of money, out of court.
No trade union has a better track record.
Halifax
When Halifax set up Accord, before the Lloyds takeover, it knew exactly what it was doing. Halifax understood that if you set up and subsidise a sham union, you’re unlikely to get any nasty outbreaks of free thinking or independence, let alone opposition!
If you then second managers to act as its recruiters and give representatives plenty of time off work there will be no real prospect of them pushing the Accord hierarchy to take action – on anything!
Even better, under current UK employment law once an employer ‘recognises’ one union it doesn’t need to recognise another, irrespective of how many members that union has.
Looked at from the perspective of Halifax’s board of directors, setting up and subsidising Accord worked beautifully.
This is the context in which the case I’ve described above needs to be viewed.
We’ve long known that some Halifax senior managers don’t understand that they work under the same UK employment law as every other company and that although they can sack Accord members, confident that Accord will not take the cases to the Employment Tribunal, things will be very different when the Halifax employee is one of our members.
In this sort of environment no one is safe and arguably Halifax managers, particularly those in the branch network, are the most vulnerable of all.
Save Money This Christmas
Members can benefit from significant discounts on their Christmas shopping (and shopping throughout the year) using our Portfolio shopping scheme. It’s easy to use and administered entirely by the Union.
Here’s what two of our longstanding Portfolio scheme users had to say:
“For the last few years I’ve used Portfolio to buy gift cards for family members for Christmas. I never know what to buy them so this makes it easier. I then use the points from the vouchers towards my Christmas food shop. The savings help to pay for all those extra Christmas treats.”
“I have saved £1739.94 (clear of costs), by using this system to buy our food and other goods. A significant amount bearing in mind there are only two of us. I knew about the scheme for a number of years before starting and have kicked myself for being so slow to join!”
Here are some of the savings you could benefit from this Christmas:
- Theatre Tokens – 8%
- New Look – 8%
- Virgin Experience Days – 8%
- River Island – 7%
- Homesense – 7%
- Next – 6%
- The White Company – 5%
- Morrisons – 4%
- Sainsbury’s – 4%
- Marks & Spencer – 4%
- Ticketmaster – 4%
- Asda – 3%
- Tesco – 3%
Click here for a full list of our retailers and the savings.
How does it work?
When you place an order, we send you a reloadable payment card that you can use in store to pay for your shopping. The exception is Morrisons, which issues paper vouchers that can be used both in store and in petrol stations.
You can choose to have the discount applied when you place your order or you can save your discount as points to be redeemed at a later stage.
To place an order or to set up a monthly Direct Debit, simply call us on 01234 262868. Lines are open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.