CAC instructs Homebase at Swindon to recognise TGWU

Despite being instructed to recognise the TGWU Homebase is resisting implementing the instruction which is legally binding.

Homebase has been told by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the legal body that rules on trade union recognition disputes, that it must recognise the T&G after the majority of its Swindon staff joined the Union, and 80 per cent of the workforce signed a petition in favour of union recognition.The TGWU says that management has been using illegal tactics in Swindon to prevent its employees being represented by the TGWU after the company lost a legal bid to block recognition

“Homebase, a wholly owned subsidiary of Argos, has now broken the law by intimidating workers,” said T&G officer Hugh Kirkbride. “The company has now employed three union-busting consultants, who will not identify their organisation, to misinform fewer than 180 workers about their rights and their union.

“Assisted by local management, they are attempting to bully workers into signing letters prepared for them, opposing the legal decision of the CAC. Polish workers have been singled out for particular attention: this is shameful behaviour towards employees not always familiar with their rights in the UK, and we believe represents an attempt to create ethnic division among the workers.

“Workers are also being told by management that if the union succeeds in winning recognition, the company will close the Swindon depot with the loss of all 179 jobs. This threat is also a breach of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992.

“We have filed a formal complaint with the CAC, and we are demanding direct negotiations with Argos at group level to remove the illegal obstacles to recognition at the Swindon depot.”