by Paul Donovan
at the Docklands tribunal

NHS whistleblower Charlotte Monro yesterday insisted she was sacked from her job in the stroke unit at Whipps Cross hospital due to her trade union activities.

And she warned the resumed employment tribunal at Anchorage House in London Docklands that failure to recognise this would give the thumbs up to employers and spell the end of trade union activity within the NHS.

Ms Monro was dismissed by Barts Trust after she addressed the Waltham Forest health overview and scrutiny committee in June 2013 in her capacity as a Unison rep about bed reduction at the stroke service.

She was also charged with prematurely disclosing information about job losses to her union members and later with failure to disclose criminal convictions that arose out of political activities in her 20s.

Ms Monro declared that “my attendance to speak at the scrutiny committee was the trigger for my suspension and the trust’s investigation.”

It was a matter of days after she made this address that Barts Trust acted, suspending her and launching its investigation.

“I have been dismissed for activities I undertook in my union capacity and demand the protection I am entitled to under the law,” Ms Monro said.

“If this (dismissal) is allowed to stand it will give a message not just to the trust but to other NHS employers that they can at will class union activity as personal conduct of an individual employee and take action against them where they may perceive a challenge to some agenda.”

She stressed that her case was really about the right of trade unions to operate in the NHS.

“It will reinforce an approach to unions that does not respect their independence and right to organise, free from interference by an employer and that union reps are equal partners to reach mutual agreement on how relations are conducted,” she said.

“In the prevailing conditions within the NHS and public services this has to be a matter of wider concern.”

On the question of the convictions, Ms Monro suggested that they were included in order that the trust could justify the decision to dismiss her.

“The real reason was my trade union activities,” she said.