Workers at Lewisham Council could strike over the victimisation of union reps by council managers. UNISON’s Lewisham branch committee voted unanimously to move towards balloting members on Wednesday.

The move came as Christina McAnea, the general secretary of UNISON, issued a statement calling on the council not to victimise the reps.

Managers issued a six week redundancy notice to Lewisham UNISON’s joint branch secretary, Justine Canady, earlier this week. Canady’s co-branch secretary, Jay Kidd-Morton, is also in line for dismissal.

Campaigners say that the council is engaging in “transparent union-busting”, and that the sackings are designed to hamstring the union as the Council prepares to make £25m of cuts. Children’s services and adult social care are expected to take the worst hit.

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. This contravenes common practice at many other councils.

Kidd-Morton is facing dismissal alongside the rest of her (overwhelmingly Black and Asian) team in the legal services department, despite no allegation of wrongdoing. She was previously Black Members’ Officer and had lodged a whistleblowing complaint about discriminatory practices.

In a statement sent to the branch, Christina McAnea, UNISON general secretary, said:
“It is disappointing that the council have failed to engage with the many arguments put forward about the nature of their actieons and they’ve failed to address UNISON’s valid concerns.

“There is no place for any form of discrimination within our workplaces and everyone deserves an impartial and just process. No branch activists should ever be victimised by any employer for their participation in UNISON and we must always stand up for what is right and fair.”

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.”