Anti English Victimisation of a Trade Union Rep Leads to Employment Tribunal!

This is yesterday's press release for the Workers of England Union:-

"Eddie Bone, a highly qualified nurse and Trade Union shop steward / Representative of a new Trade Union The Workers of England Union is taking North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to the Bury St Edmunds, Employment Tribunal alleging that the Trust has failed to take any action to stop anti English bullying and harassment against him in their Colchester based mental health hospital. The Tribunal is set to take place at the Employment Tribunal Service, 100 Southgate Street, Bury St Edmonds, IP33 2AQ today and is scheduled to last to the 12th January 2012.

Eddie Bone is a joint founder of the Workers of England Trade Union, an independent Trade Union that does not financially support the Labour Party. Several members complained at the Lakes Mental Health Hospital in Colchester that serious clinical concerns were not being addressed. Eddie Bone raised the concerns and it is alleged he was then the victim of serious harassment from management at the Hospital and Labour supporting Unison Representatives who objected to the name of his Union containing the word England. These attacks caused Eddie Bone, a qualified nurse with an exemplary record of some 16 years, much distress. Once Eddie Bone’s witness statement has been put in the public domain when he starts to give evidence on the 5th January 2012, it will be available to any journalist who requests a copy. It details anti English racism and serious clinical deficiencies arising from NHS cuts.

Carleton Maflin, General Secretary of the Workers of England Trade Union, said :-“It is our case that this Union Representative has been subjected to more than two years of anti English bullying and harassment for raising serious clinical concerns. The Workers of England Union will always support and protect its members throughout England when highlighting legitimate issues. Racism in any form should not be tolerated in the workplace and the case will test whether North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust should not have engaged in it and should have protected Eddie Bone from this terrible abuse”.

Carleton Maflin
General Secretary
The Workers of England Union
Cannon House, 17 Nelson Road, Colchester, Essex CO3 9AP
Telephone 01206 766899"

Here is the link to the Union's BBC Newsnight appearence shortly after their launch >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSpjRwMgObk

The Workers of England Union now have a rapidly growing membership and, from the excellent work that I saw yesterday, I can fully understand why!

I attended the Hearing yesterday to support Eddie and to give evidence. Here is my witness statement:-


IN THE BURY ST EDMUNDS
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL
CASE NO: 1500119/2011 & Others
BETWEEN:

MR EDWARD BONE
Claimant
-and -

NORTH ESSEX PARTNERSHIP
NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Respondent

__________________________

WITNESS STATEMENT
__________________________


I, ROBIN CHARLES WILLIAM TILBROOK, of Quires Green, Willingale, Ongar, Essex, CM5 0QP, will say as follows:-

1. I am a Solicitor of over 20 years standing and the Principal of Tilbrook’s Solicitors whose practice address is as above. I am a past President of Mid-Essex Law Society, a former Church Warden and Chairman of St Margaret’s, Stanford Rivers, Ongar, Parochial Church Council. I am also a Liveryman and Freeman of the City of London and I am the Chairman and one of the founder members of the English Democrats Party.

2. The purpose of mentioning the status related items in the previous paragraph is to emphasise that the English Democrats Party is a respectable political party, properly registered with the Electoral Commission, which has stood in many elections and won hundreds of thousands of votes. We currently have 6 District/County Councillors and have won the Directly Elected Mayoralty of Doncaster, which is the largest metropolitan borough council in England. The Party constitution is expressly inclusive of all those who support our political aims from whatever background. Our manifesto position is firmly rooted in the modern ideal of the democratic nation state. Our key note policy is the establishment of an English Parliament with our First Minister and our Government with at least the same powers as the Scottish ones, within a federal United Kingdom.

3. I am however aware from my political involvement that there is quite a widespread, pervasive and quite frankly racist anti-Englishness in many official circles. As a solicitor I have taken a professional interest in these types of cases and have no doubt that the applicant herein has been subjected to a campaign of harassment at least part of the motivation for which is anti-English racism.

4. It is now well established in Race Relations law, as it always must have been as a matter of general principle, that discriminatory treatment of somebody based upon their assertion of English Nationality, National Identity and National Origin is contrary to law in exactly the same way it would be for any other racial, ethnic or national group.

5. On behalf of the English Democrats I have fought several such cases and on no occasion has a legal argument contrary to the above points been accepted by the court. As an example of the approach taken by the courts I quote this from the Judgment of His Honour Judge Patrick Maloney QC in one of my cases:-

“As I have already hinted….above, (any attempt to argue a) sharp distinction between one’s race and one’s beliefs may be an over-simplification, at least in an unusual case like the present one. A discriminator may say “I am not employing him because I believe he is a racist”. Fair enough; but if on further inquiry he goes on to say “I believe he is a racist because he is a white man with an English accent and a St George’s flag on his car” then the question of racial grounds is reopened. Put another way, it is as possible to make racist assumptions about other people’s opinions as about, for example, their honesty or intelligence, and discrimination on such a basis would appear to be unlawful. Where the opinions in question are or include nationalist ones, that is ones closely linked to the person’s own perceived national origins or affiliations, the risk of overlap is particularly great.”

6. Knowing this I recommended to the Workers of England Union, for whom I have done some professional work, that an allegation of racial discrimination should be made against the Respondent Trust.

7. Given the type of remarks and behaviour exhibited by management and employees of the Trust, I took the view that the threshold had been well and truly passed to put the onus of proof onto the Trust to prove that its behaviour and the unchecked behaviour of its employees was not discriminatory. Indeed I would say that the more I have read and the more that I have heard about what has happened to the Claimant, the more convinced I am of the institutionalised anti-English discrimination that seems to be inherent in the practice of the Trust displayed towards Mr Bone.

8. Despite my having had some involvement in helping to set up and do some work for the Workers of England Union, nevertheless the Workers of England Union are of course a separate organisation from the English Democrats and I am not personally an officer of the Workers of England Union.

9. I am willing to attend the Tribunal and give evidence and to tender myself for cross-examination.


Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts in this Witness Statement are true.


Signed………………………… ……… Dated ………………………
Robin Charles William Tilbrook