Leverage teams from Unite:
One Grangemouth boss, who as asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, called the police after 25 Unite members working for the union’s Leverage team protested on his driveway with flags, banners and an inflatable rat for about 90 minutes on October 18.
The director was called by his wife, who was out with her children and had been phoned by a friend to say a mob had arrived on their doorstep. He rushed to the scene said he was overcome with ‘bloody anger’ when he saw they had targeted him.
‘It was a mob, a threatening mob,’ he said. Children as young as seven who were playing on the street were coaxed into joining the mob.
‘They were trying to humiliate me,’ the director said. ‘Trying to portray me as a nasty boss, a nasty capitalist. To portray me as someone evil. Their intent was to have my neighbours thinking, gosh, what sort of a guy do we have living there.
[…]
The daughter of another company boss had ‘Wanted’ posters denouncing her father posted through her front door hundreds of miles away in Hampshire.
Stephen Deans’ response to publication of details of his e-mail correspondence from Ineos work stations.
In a statement, Unite said: “The final straw was the decision of Ineos to leak details of private emails to the Sunday Times in an effort to further smear his reputation.
“As he told his colleagues today “the hurt to my family is unforgivable and I will not allow management to take away my dignity and self-respect any further.””
Update: in hat-tip to Alan Ji, Ian Bell writing for the Herald reports that a motion of no confidence is being prepared by members of the Falkirk West CLP against Deans’s current Chairmanship.
It has to be said that Bell, at least, seems to have realization of the popular feelings of utter disgust at the manner in which Unite – and Deans and McCluskey specifically – approached the Battle of Grangemouth as enunciated by BtL commenters (reading which also has reminded me of the continued existence of Cllr. Terry Kelly). Over at the Scotsman, however, the op-ed writer directs most ire at David Cameron for using the opportunity to target trades unionism.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Cameron, like Jim Ratcliffe, is exploiting the situation. But, boy, have Deans and McCluskey not half made it easy for them!
