Niall McCrae
[edited speech at Patriotic Alternative conference in Staffordshire, 19th October 2024)
The Workers of England Union is a generic trade union, covering any occupation. It’s independent union, and I mean that in two ways. First, we have no shop stewards in the workplace. Although it may seem an advantage of the established unions, such provision is problematic because the shop steward is under the same managers as the member, and will participate in joint consultation, thereby having tea and biscuits with the boss.
Secondly the WEU is not politically aligned. Unwittingly perhaps, members of large unions are paying for ‘refugees welcome’ and ‘drag queen story time’ protests or counter-protests, and they are funding Labour Party officers’ flights for helping Kamala Harris’ US presidential campaign.
Our reps are committed to freedom of speech. We are getting more and more cases of ‘cancel culture’ since the Covid-19 regime, which seems to have spurred an authoritarian turn in employment relations.
The ‘progressive’ establishment has inverted individual and collective aspects of society. The focus is on the ‘greater good’ through equality, diversity and inclusivity. The traditional collectives of faith, flag and family are marginalised to the individual domain. Christian worship must be kept private, and conservative opinions must be kept out of the workplace. By contrast, sexual orientation (surely a personal concern) is collectivised, with forced compliance to subversive identity politics.
There is no privacy for social media users. I’m representing someone who reposted forthright messages on a Facebook group for friends and family following the Southport killings. This was treated as gross misconduct. Another member was dismissed for remarks to a colleague, on his way home from the pub after midnight. He had merely stated that Albanian drug gangs were entering the country illegally across the English Channel. As Laura Towler mentioned earlier, the truth is no defence. The person who snitched was taking the side of criminals, but the company saw our member as harming its reputation.
You could be sacked, just for being here today.
From a management perspective, nothing is worse than ‘wrong-think’. It implies a reactionary or hateful attitude. Actually it is counter-revolutionary. Because whether people realise it or not, we are amidst a cultural revolution as shrill, puritanical and febrile as that unleashed by Mao in China in the 1960s.
If you get caught in the spider’s web, stay calm. Confide carefully, and continue as though nothing has changed. If suspended, you could be off sick.
I don’t recommend engaging the services of a lawyer, who cannot participate in disciplinary proceedings. Only a trade union rep can attend hearings with you. WEU members have access to legal advice from Robin Tilbrook, our legal director.
Members often seek help after they have attended an investigation meeting. That is too late. They may have admitted the allegations, and said much more to incriminate themselves. An investigation meeting will often be presented by a manager as a friendly chat. It is anything but a friendly chat. If you are called to a meeting with your manager, and find a HR officer when you enter the room, you should walk out. Although you have no legal right to a rep in an investigation meeting, it is good employment practice for management to allow this.
Our golden rule: no rep, no meeting.
For a disciplinary hearing, follow the advice of your WEU rep. In political cases, I suggest relevant articles for the member to submit panel prior to the hearing. The purpose is to present a clear argument in tune with whatever the member may have expressed in a less sophisticated manner. At the hearing I check that the panel has read these articles.
Social media policy is increasingly being used for disciplinary action. I ask the HR officer in such cases whether the policy is objectively or subjectively applied. This is difficult to answer, because of course there is nothing specific in the policy, and no line drawn on acceptability. Ideological judgment is made. Employees were not disciplined for supporting the divisive Black Lives Matter campaign. Employers themselves engage in racial politics; for example on the notion of ‘white privilege’.
There is indeed privilege in the room at a disciplinary hearing. It is apparent in the middle-class values and ‘luxury beliefs’ of the senior manager and HR officer. Some consolation for a doomed member is in watching the discomfort of such people when confronted by a WEU rep. They are not normally challenged in their outlook, which has served their career well. In a recent hearing a member remarked on the look of mental and physical exhaustion of the four panellists on leaving the room.
I don’t provoke unnecessarily. My goal is always the best (or rather the least worst) outcome for the member. A convivial exchange tends to get a more favourable outcome than a feisty exchange.
Sometimes, if a lost cause, I will seek a without-prejudice meeting, under Section 111A of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It may be possible to extricate a member from disciplinary process and likely dismissal, with a confidential settlement agreement.
A member who is unfairly dismissed should appeal. While submitting the appeal, the member may also begin the process leading to an employment tribunal. The ACAS early conciliation form should be submitted before the appeal hearing, so that the employer is aware that the dismissed worker is pursuing redress.
We use the Equality Act to fight for our members in political cases. Philosophical belief has as much statutory protection as religion. But the member should be able to present this lucidly. It doesn’t need big words or intellectual rigour. The WEU can help a member to prepare such a defence.
Workers are being punished for opposing radical and destructive ideology. Covid-19 showed that dissent against the official narrative is treated as heresy. Critical thinkers are at risk from a lynch-mob mentality. Soon employers will be taking action against so-called ‘climate deniers’ too.
If you are a Green or Woke ‘refusenik’, you need protection. Join the WEU today.
