Unite and Ineos

The Unite union is to fight the sacking last month of convenor Mark Lyon by Ineos, owner of the Grangemouth oil refinery and scene of a bitter industrial dispute last year.

The union says it will appeal the sacking and, if necessary, issue an employment tribunal claim for unfair dismissal and victimisation.

Unite said Mr Lyon was sacked amid “significant medical evidence that he is suffering from a serious stress-related illness as a result of the treatment he has endured at the hands of the company.”

He was dismissed in his absence “on trumped up charges”, it added.

The union accused the company of “hypocrisy” in sacking Lyon after it said it wanted to “draw a line under the [2013] dispute”.

That wish from Ineos followed the company’s withdrawal of a defamation claim against the union for whom it now has to pay the legal bill of £100,000.

It also followed news that the police had cleared Unite’s other Grangemouth convenor, Stevie Deans (now resigned from Ineos), of “criminality” over allegedly using his work computer for union business.

http://union-news.co.uk/2014/02/unite-launches-legal-action-sacking-grangemouth-convenor