UP TO 1,200 workers at the UK Border Agency in Liverpool were set to be balloted for strike action today in support of a colleague they claim was sacked because of his activities as a union representative.
Kevin Smith, 26, from Wallasey, was dismissed last October. His union the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said the Home Office had claimed he had made “vexatious complaints” about four of his senior managers.
But the union said his appeal to go through a form of mediation over his complaints about the other staff were rejected, leaving him with no choice but to instigate a formal grievance.
The complaints were then deemed to be vexatious by the Border Agency (UKBA), the PCS north west regional secretary Peter Middleman claimed, although the UKBA has as yet failed to confirm or deny the union’s claims.
Upwards of 1,2000 staff who work in Liverpool at sites including the Passport Office in Old Hall could be out on strike as early as mid-February if no resolution can be reached over the case.
A UKBA spokesman said it had followed all procedures correctly and industrial action would not change its decision.
