Getting a worker reinstated (well, trying to...)

Today has been a crazy day at work.

We've got a bunch of disputes ongoing, from individual cases to regrading dispute affecting a few (which I think will win because they are blatantly discriminating against a couple of workers, offering one worker a ring fenced interview in redeployment, and refusing the same to two others. This should be winnable without taking industrial action, because they're breaking the law and their own procedures)

So anyway on top of all that, this woman who has worked with us six months and it has just got to the end of her probation period got hold this morning that she was going to be terminated.

The excuse management gave for this was that there was some procedural stuff she didn't follow correctly. However this was not her fault. She was told stuff by her previous manager, a temp, who left after two months, which turns out to not be accurate. However her subsequent managers didn't notice anything awry for her initial supervisions. They only noticed there was anything wrong at her final probationary meeting, a couple of weeks ago.

So there they informed her that some procedures had not been followed properly, so she immediately began to follow them.

However, instead of extending her probation three months to enable them to check that she was able to follow procedures properly (which she is because she's an excellent worker with years of experience), they just decided to terminate her. This is clearly because if they didn't have her as a scapegoat management would be in the shit for not telling her what she was supposed to do for 5 1/2 months.

She's a union member, who I recruited a couple of months ago and joined us on strike last month, so Unison represented her at her final meeting. So when I heard about the termination, we went round telling everyone. We had a shop meeting anyway today, so we said that people should come to it to discuss it there - everyone was pretty shocked and pissed off.

Management came up and were going to escort her from the building, which just angered people more because it was so petty and spiteful. I got them to stop and let her come to the shop meeting.

There we discussed this stuff leading up to the termination, and then what we could do about it. I suggested a letter of confidence of him as a worker, which we could deliver en masse to her appeal hearing, which we could then picket.

People agreed with that, but added that the letter should be critical of management. I don't like going around being all militant and telling to go on strike all the time, so I didn't suggest anything else, but then people started asking what else we could do? So I said we could ballot for strike action, and to my surprise everyone enthusiastically agreed.

I was surprised because my department only got organised recently, we got a really good turnout in a pay strike, but before that there was nothing. I've posted before about a couple of small unofficial actions we've done: a boycott of a suspended workers work, a boycott of hot desking, but never something like a strike.

(It's the next day now)

I've got her colleagues in a different department who had been asked to cover her work to refuse it now, they're not very well organised and were unhappy doing it as a thing in support him, but are now doing it on the basis of technicalities - health and safety reasons etc. I'm trying to recruit them all to the union so that we can ballot them as well.

I'm approaching the National union to try to get an official ballot, I know it won't be easy. They are very reluctant to grant any ballots for industrial action, and even if they did grant it they would probably hold it up for so long that it would be too late. However we can use the ballot as a bargaining tool, and in the meantime ourselves run a consultative ballot to gauge what kind of action people would be willing to take.

Then I think the goal would be to, at her appeal hearing, walk out to picket it and say we won't go back to work unless she is reinstated. This could be a bit tricky in terms of who could say that we wouldn't go back unless she is reinstated, to avoid victimisation or someone looking like a ringleader. Anyone got any suggestions or similar experiences, or other ideas for what to do?

anonymous note shows them that your scared I think. If you can get everyone to walk out then maybe you could write a group statement and then give that as a group.
Also is there a legal/disciplinary risk with writing things down?
It's good that people are fighting back, good luck with this.

Good Luck!