Abyss
11-12-2004, 09:12 AM
My sacking racially biased – BNP man
Rob Waugh
A BRITISH National Party councillor yesterday launched a landmark legal action, claiming he had been racially discriminated against by being sacked for being a member of the far-Right party.
Arthur Redfearn, who is attempting to use the provisions of the Race Relations Act to prove discrimination, told an employment tribunal he was not a racist and that his dismissal was purely because of his political views.
His former employer, West Yorkshire Transport Services (WYTS), denied this was the reason for his sacking, arguing that once it became known Mr Redfearn was a BNP activist the company faced the risk of violent attacks because it would become publicly associated with the far-Right party. As a result Coun Redfearn, who won a seat on Bradford Council in June, was sacked to protect the health and safety of customers and staff – including the BNP councillor himself.
Coun Redfearn told the tribunal in Leeds that no-one knew about his political affiliations until a media report in May that he was standing for election. He insisted he got on well with Asian colleagues and the mainly Asian users of WYTS, which transports disabled children and adults as part of a contract administered by the company Serco for Bradford Council.
He pointed out that he was nominated for a first-class employee award by his Asian supervisor on June 2. But on June 30, two weeks after becoming one of four BNP councillors elected in Bradford, he was summarily dismissed by managing director Geoff Binnington.
Coun Redfearn said: "I have never brought my politics to work. I have never spoken about politics to any of the clients who I have transported. I have never given them any hint I was hostile to them or disliked them because of their racial origin nor have I ever held such feelings."
He said he was told he was being sacked because it was inappropriate for an active BNP member to work with a clientele which was 85 per cent Asian.
Cross-examined by Chris Quinn, for WYTS, Coun Redfearn said he joined the BNP because he feared Britain "was losing its identity" through "passive takeover".
Mr Binnington told the tribunal that public service union Unison wrote to Bradford Council chief executive Philip Robinson once it became known Mr Redfearn was standing for the council to raise concerns on behalf of staff at WYTS. He said several staff, including Asians, visited him personally to say they should not have "to work with someone who had such extreme and offensive political views".
There were fears that members of the public might attack WYTS buses, said Mr Binnington. He added that he had also been concerned that "in the light of the passion and depth of feeling being demonstrated by employees objecting to Mr Redfearn's political views…matters may escalate and that some harm may come to Mr Redfearn".
He said he had not come across a situation like it before and went to parent company Serco for advice.
John Whitefoot, Serco's head of employment relations, carried out a risk assessment which concluded the company had no option but to sack Coun Redfearn on health and safety grounds. He also acknowledged that Coun Redfearn's presence and potential disruption could damage the reputation of WYTS "and potentially place at risk the contract with Bradford Council".
Cross-examining, Philip Chapman – for Coun Redfearn – asked whether a risk assessment would be carried out if an employee were "a Muslim fundamentalist who approved of violence".
Mr Whitefoot said the same assessment would have been carried out if the company had become aware it had such a member of staff.
During closing arguments, Mr Quinn reaffirmed that the dismissal was on health and safety grounds – not racial.
But Mr Chapman appealed to the tribunal to "send out a message that this sort of behaviour cannot be dressed up as health and safety and that people have the right in this country to be democratically elected, to carry on their business and earn a livelihood".
He argued that having a large Asian clientele had influenced the company's decision and that the "whites only" membership of the BNP meant that if Coun Redfearn was dismissed for being a member that would also in effect constitute racial discrimination. The tribunal's judgment was reserved.
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=886966
Rob Waugh
A BRITISH National Party councillor yesterday launched a landmark legal action, claiming he had been racially discriminated against by being sacked for being a member of the far-Right party.
Arthur Redfearn, who is attempting to use the provisions of the Race Relations Act to prove discrimination, told an employment tribunal he was not a racist and that his dismissal was purely because of his political views.
His former employer, West Yorkshire Transport Services (WYTS), denied this was the reason for his sacking, arguing that once it became known Mr Redfearn was a BNP activist the company faced the risk of violent attacks because it would become publicly associated with the far-Right party. As a result Coun Redfearn, who won a seat on Bradford Council in June, was sacked to protect the health and safety of customers and staff – including the BNP councillor himself.
Coun Redfearn told the tribunal in Leeds that no-one knew about his political affiliations until a media report in May that he was standing for election. He insisted he got on well with Asian colleagues and the mainly Asian users of WYTS, which transports disabled children and adults as part of a contract administered by the company Serco for Bradford Council.
He pointed out that he was nominated for a first-class employee award by his Asian supervisor on June 2. But on June 30, two weeks after becoming one of four BNP councillors elected in Bradford, he was summarily dismissed by managing director Geoff Binnington.
Coun Redfearn said: "I have never brought my politics to work. I have never spoken about politics to any of the clients who I have transported. I have never given them any hint I was hostile to them or disliked them because of their racial origin nor have I ever held such feelings."
He said he was told he was being sacked because it was inappropriate for an active BNP member to work with a clientele which was 85 per cent Asian.
Cross-examined by Chris Quinn, for WYTS, Coun Redfearn said he joined the BNP because he feared Britain "was losing its identity" through "passive takeover".
Mr Binnington told the tribunal that public service union Unison wrote to Bradford Council chief executive Philip Robinson once it became known Mr Redfearn was standing for the council to raise concerns on behalf of staff at WYTS. He said several staff, including Asians, visited him personally to say they should not have "to work with someone who had such extreme and offensive political views".
There were fears that members of the public might attack WYTS buses, said Mr Binnington. He added that he had also been concerned that "in the light of the passion and depth of feeling being demonstrated by employees objecting to Mr Redfearn's political views…matters may escalate and that some harm may come to Mr Redfearn".
He said he had not come across a situation like it before and went to parent company Serco for advice.
John Whitefoot, Serco's head of employment relations, carried out a risk assessment which concluded the company had no option but to sack Coun Redfearn on health and safety grounds. He also acknowledged that Coun Redfearn's presence and potential disruption could damage the reputation of WYTS "and potentially place at risk the contract with Bradford Council".
Cross-examining, Philip Chapman – for Coun Redfearn – asked whether a risk assessment would be carried out if an employee were "a Muslim fundamentalist who approved of violence".
Mr Whitefoot said the same assessment would have been carried out if the company had become aware it had such a member of staff.
During closing arguments, Mr Quinn reaffirmed that the dismissal was on health and safety grounds – not racial.
But Mr Chapman appealed to the tribunal to "send out a message that this sort of behaviour cannot be dressed up as health and safety and that people have the right in this country to be democratically elected, to carry on their business and earn a livelihood".
He argued that having a large Asian clientele had influenced the company's decision and that the "whites only" membership of the BNP meant that if Coun Redfearn was dismissed for being a member that would also in effect constitute racial discrimination. The tribunal's judgment was reserved.
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=886966