Court threat by strikers
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• Trailer manufacturer Craven lasker may have to defend the sacking of its striking Scottish workforce at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Unions representing the 43 sacked workers are taking their case to industrial tribunals to protest about unfair dismissal. If the tribunals do not rule in their favour the unions will appeal to the European Court, backed by Strathclyde West MEP Ken Collins.
The Cumbernauld production workers were sacked after striking over a wage freeze on 7 June (CM 1-7 Aug). They were given until 13 June to return to work, when they refused the company deemed them to have dismissed themselves.
Union bosses, including the AEU's Gavin Laird and John Edmonds of the GMB — who were attending the TUC conference in Glasgow last week, visited the picket line at Cumbernauld to give their support. More than 100 MPs recently signed a parliamentary motion protesting at the sackings.
The unions have alleged that the quality and output of work at Cumbernauld has suffered since the workforce was replaced by what union members regard as unskilled labour.
According to GMB plant representative Billy McEwan, production is badly hit with only one trailer leaving the plant each week instead of 32. "I received £45 when I was sacked, along with my P45," says McEwan, who has worked at Craven Tasker for 18 years.
"The sacked workers have more than 700 years' service between them," adds McEwan. He claims that some industrial trailer painters have been replaced with house painters.
However, Craven Tasker refutes the union allegations: "Our skill level is as good and sometimes better than before," says Dennis Kenyon, UK managing director. Kenyon says production targets are being met, and adds that fewer trailers are being built because the workforce is smaller than before.
Kenyon says the company is prepared to defend itself at industrial tribunals: "We believe we have acted properly."