By Amina Saddiq
Workers at the warehouse in Wigan supplying JJB Sports outlets across the UK, whose strike action last month forced their employer to make major concessions on pay and bonuses, are balloting again over the sacking of their GMB rep Chris Riley, who was interviewed in the last issue of Solidarity.
Their millionaire boss Dave Whelan called them "communist" for wanting a living and equal wage; he was forced to back down in less than three weeks. The workers won a basic rate of £6.40 an hour, now applying equally to all workers - many of whom were previously on the minimum wage. In addition, performance bonuses will now be much easier to access.
Solid union organisation and strike action brought real gains and forced JJB Sports onto the backfoot. Clearly aware of the dynamic that has been unleashed, however, managers have now sacked Chris in violation of the agreement they made when the strike ended.
In the run-up to the strikes, Chris was suspended because of comments he is alleged to have made to non-unionised workers. Naturally, non-union members who allegedly said similar to GMB members have not been suspended or faced any disciplinary action.
When the pay deal was agreed, management told Chris that all charges would be dropped, but they have now reneged on this in a clear attempt to break the power of the union. GMB convenor John Stewart is being threatened too.
Chris: "I called on you a short while ago to support JJB strikers in their fight for better pay and conditions and the response was overwhelming. "I am now calling on you again to help us fight to save our union recognition at JJB. As you may have been aware at the time, I was suspended - now I've been SACKED!
"We are treating this as a direct attack on the union, to undermine us after the victory we achieved. Under the back to work agreement, it was agreed that all grievances would be dropped and I was given a personal assurance by chief executive Tom Knight that I would be back in work pending a yes vote.
"The company and 'Mr Wigan' Dave Whelan have totally reneged on this. This could not be more the opposite of their pledge to improve industrial relations!
"In addition to my sacking, they have now filed a grievance against our convenor John Stewart with a charge that he made comments about a manager while he was representing a member. That they think they can go into the personal files of an employee and then use whatever they want to target a union official is beyond belief and goes to show the lengths they are prepared to go to undermine the union."
Don't let them get away with it!
• Urgent messages of support to chrisfluffriley@hotmail.co.uk
• For more information, visit www.jjbfightback.blogspot.com