Dismissal ends UC threat of disruption
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• by Melanie Hammond
The man responsible for a controversial memo which detailed plans to get rid of employees at United Carriers (UC) "through the back door" has himself been sacked. The dismissal of UC security general manager Ian Martin brings an end to the dispute that threatened to disrupt the group's Christmas and millennium deliveries.
News of the memo's contents first broke after a copy was leaked to Commercial Motor two weeks ago and after complaints by the United Road Transport Union (URTU) that United Carriers was in breach of employment law, It prompted UC's human resources director Ron Smith to investigate.
Welcoming Martin's dismissal, URTU general-secretary David Higginbottom says: "This is good news for all those drivers who might have lost their jobs for no other reason than they came under suspicion by Martin. lie set out to become
prosecution counsel, judge and jury Now he has been judged and found wanting."
Higginbottom adds that despite 'one or two unresolved questions" about the conduct of other senior managers in the UC Group, for the moment he is prepared to accept the company's assurances.
United Carriers was unavailable for comment but is reported to be tightening up its disciplinary and grievance procedures following the incident.