Striking drivers' sacking OK
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TEN LORRY drivers who were dismissed because they were on strike lost their claims for unfair dismissal at a Birmingham Industrial Tribunal recently.
• They were told that under the 1978 Employment Protection Act a tribunal cannot decide if a dismissal was fair or unfair if it took place while an applicant was on strike.
• Another driver from the company — E. W. Watts Haulage Ltd, of Bassetts Pole Garage, 4-1.itton Coldfield, Birmingl= — won his claim and wa: warded £1170 because he was on a longdistance trip at the time his workmates joined the strike last January.
Eric Watts told the tribunal that he closed down his 50year-old company after the dismissals and sold his vehicles and property because he had "had enough.
In January, he said, before the strike was made official, he voluntarily paid his men an extra 15 per cent because he was sorry for them and felt they needed it.
The men joined the strike, but when an arbitration award was made at Bristol, they accepted the same offer of £64 for a 40-hour week plus £1 and an overnight allowance of £8.50. They agreed to return to work next day — but after being told by the union that they were strike-breaking, they again withdrew their labour.