Capital date for protests; DISPUTE: Sacked poultry firmstaff head to London.Byline: Anna Blackaby FORMER 2 Sisters employees protesting against the dismissal of 59 staff at the poultry processing plant are travelling to London today to stage demonstrations outside a flagship branch of Marks & Spencer. Union Unite has chosen the Marble Arch Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument near Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, at the western end of Oxford Street in London, England, near the tube station of the same name. branch of the 2 Sisters client as the site for the protests, where they plan to call on M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose Stuart Rose (born March 17, 1949) is the Chief Executive of the British retailer Marks & Spencer. Background Stuart Rose’s grandparents were White Russian émigrés who fled to China after the 1917 revolution. to personally intervene in the dispute triggered by what unions describe as a racial incident at the firm. But 2 Sisters has branded the union's attempts to involve Marks & Spencer in the dispute as "ridiculous," pointing out the high street giant has never been a customer of its Black Country 2 Sisters' factory. The firm said its own investigations had found no evidence for racial abuse and has repeatedly asserted that Unite's claim that the workers were sacked for challenging racism in the workplace is false, saying the workers were instead dismissed for their involvement in unconstitutional unconstitutional adj. referring to a statute, governmental conduct, court decision or private contract (such as a covenant which purports to limit transfer of real property only to Caucasians) which violate one or more provisions of the U. S. Constitution. strike action. Unite has drafted a letter to Sir Stuart which it intends to deliver to M&S head offices after the protest. Jack Dromey Jack Dromey (born 21 September 1948) is a British trade unionist, Deputy General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union and Treasurer of the Labour Party. He was for some time the Secretary of the Brent Trades Council, including when it organised the Grunwick Dispute , deputy general secretary of Unite, said: "Today we are calling on Sir Stuart Rose to intervene and urge 2 Sisters, a major supplier to M&S, to reinstate To restore to a condition that has terminated or been lost; to reestablish. To reinstate a case, for example, means to restore it to the same position it had before dismissal. the sacked workers." But 2 Sisters chief executive Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (rŭn`jĭt sĭng), 1780–1839, Indian maharaja, ruler of the Sikhs. Seizing Lahore (1799) and Amritsar (1809), he established himself as the leading Sikh chieftain. said: "This isn't about racism or the actions of corporate businesses, this is a PR stunt by Unite to try and demonstrate its strength to its members. "This is typical of Unite's bullying tactics, which is completely out of touch with the current economic climate. "Unite's planned demonstration outside Marks & Spencer, a company that has nothing to do with this site, is disgraceful dis·grace·ful adj. Bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful. dis·grace  ful·ly adv. ."
An M&S spokeswoman said: "This 2 Sisters' factory does not supply any product to Marks & Spencer. We are at a loss to understand why Unite thinks it's appropriate to continue to try and involve M&S in this and are astounded a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, that it is demonstrating outside our Marble Arch store. "As 2 Sisters has made very clear and, as we have repeatedly said to Unite, M&S has no reason or obligation to intervene in this case." The London protests follow a series of demonstrations organised by Unite at the firm's plant in Smethwick and outside the M&S store in Birmingham. CAPTION(S): Demo: 2 Sisters workers in the city centre earlier this month. |
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