‘Institutional racism and union bashing’ accusations fly after redundancy call

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Lewisham council has rejected claims that its plans to make two roles redundant that are currently held by Unison representatives amount to ‘union busting’.

The local authority has told both of Unison’s branch secretaries in the borough that it intends to scrap their jobs.

Justine Canady and Jay Kidd-Morton will both lose their jobs at the council under the planned redundancies.

Members of Ms Kidd-Morton’s team in the local authority’s legal services department, all of whom are black or Asian, have also been told their jobs could be deleted, sparking claims of institutional racism, which the council strongly refutes.

Ed Whitby, a member of Unison’s local government group, said Lewisham’s Labour councillors had a ‘moral duty’ to stop the redundancies. He added: “Everyone knows what this is – disgraceful, blatant union busting, coupled with institutional racism.

“Unison will not let its activists be victimised in this way, and the whole trade union movement must unite and mobilise to see these moves defeated.”

The council said its decision to make roles redundant had no relation to the union, and it was working with Unison to make sure its workers still had a representative.

In an email to members earlier this month, Lewisham Unison described the redundancies as “a shocking and blatant attempt at union-busting”.

The email continued: “The council has now moved to dismiss both of your union’s joint branch secretaries in exceptional circumstances, with five people in total likely to lose their jobs very soon. There is now a case not only of anti-trade union victimisations, but also of racism.”

It comes as the council prepares to make around £20 million of cuts.

Protesters rallied outside the council’s town hall in Catford last week in support of the two women. Union officials have warned that Unison could take strike action if the redundancies are not called off.

Justine Canady has worked at the council since 2021. The 27-year-old was first elected as the council’s Unison rep in 2023. She was re-elected in a shared role with Ms Kidd-Morton in March.

A Lewisham council spokesman said: “We strongly deny these allegations. The ongoing, confidential issues are related to two representatives’ employment with the council, not to their union roles.

“As a council we have strong and valued relationships with our unions and work constructively with them to ensure our staff have access to union representation.

“In both cases we are following our normal HR processes, as we would for any member of staff in similar circumstances. We cannot give union representatives preferential treatment, which would be unfair to the rest of our staff. In the meantime, we are in active dialogue and discussions with Unison to ensure members will continue to be represented, whatever the outcome.”

Pictured top: Protests outside the town hall in Lewisham (Picture: LDRS)