From: Manfred Ecker, mecker@chello.at
Date: 1 November 2009, 11.55am
To: pennygower1@googlemail.com
Subject: MESSAGE OF PROTEST FROM VIENNA
Hello Professor McIntosh,
I am an Austrian veterinary surgeon living in Vienna. You will please forgive my English, but I was interested to read about what happens in Scotland regarding your actions.
I am astounded that you thought you could behave in this way, to sack a trade union safety representative when he carried out his legal functions. I sincerely hope that you will personally be prosecuted criminally for your actions, as the health and safety legislation we have in common across Europe, cannot be flouted in this regard.
If you are using public money to defend the indefencible, will you pay it back out of your own pockets? I have read about Andrew Carnegie as well as the new name for your College. It is clear that he has exploits as a trade union buster. Is that your ethos? You wish to be known for this, your brutality? If so, you have succeeded surely. Remember that Andrew Carnegie was not welcome in any places after what he did with his workers. You also have stepped over a line.
The world is watching you, not from admiration, but disgust. I will make it sure that details of your actions are circulated in Austria.
Yours faithfully,
Manfred Ecker
From: Punnett, Laura <Laura_Punnett@uml.edu>
Date: Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Subject: Protest unjust firing of Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Dear Professor McIntosh:
I am a professor of occupational health and safety and a member of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association. I am contacting you to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, last May after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting.
I urge you to move quickly to reinstate Penny Gower.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Punnett, Sc.D.
Professor, Department of Work Environment
Co-Director, Center to Promote Health in the New England Workplace (CPHNEW)
Senior Associate, Center for Women and Work (CWW)
University of Massachusetts Lowell
One University Avenue
Lowell, MA 01854 USA
Tel: 1-978-934-3269,-3250; Fax: 1-978-452-5711
———————————————————————————————————–From: Renata Musolino <RMusolino@vthc.org.au>
Date: Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Subject: Re-instate Penny Gower
To: “mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk” <mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk>
Cc: “rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk” <rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk>, “pennygower1@googlemail.com” <pennygower1@googlemail.com>
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you, all the way from Australia, to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 allegedly after she had completed a workplace health and safety inspection. In Britain, as it is in Australia, elected reps are entitiled to carry out workplace inspections in order to identify hazards, speak to workers, and so on. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative right and it is totally unacceptable that this action led to her dismissal.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and OHS activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting.
You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Yours sincerely,
Renata Musolino,OHS Information and Website Officer, VTHC OHS Unit, www.ohsrep.org.au
———————————————————————————————————-From: Tony Del Plato <tonydelplato@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 12:07 AM
Subject: Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Dear Professor McIntosh,
Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, was fired in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This seems hard to believe in this day and age especially since this is a core, legally protected, safety representative function. It is outrageous that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case has rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. I like to think that education, especially higher education, makes for a more thoughtful and compassionate society. Am I wrong?
You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Yours sincerely,
Anthony Del Plato
Health & Safety Trainer
Midstate Education & Service Foundation
123 South Cayuga Street, Suite 204
Ithaca, New York 14850
United States
—————————————————————————————————————From: Cody Potter <cpotter@afscme3299.org>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Subject: Regarding the sacking of Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@googlemail.com
Dear Professor McIntosh,
We are contacting you to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Respectfully,
Cody Duane Potter
Senior Organizer, AFSCME Local 3299
2201 Broadway Suite 315; Oakland, CA 94612 cpotter@local3299.org
916.717.5877 cell; 510.844.1170 fax
————————————————————————————————————From: Margot Hoyte <MHoyte@vthc.org.au>
Date: Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Subject: Seeking Penny Gower’s reinstatement
To: “mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk” <mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk>
Cc: “pennygower1@googlemail.com” <pennygower1@googlemail.com>, “rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk” <rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk>
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly becoming a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Yours sincerely,
Margot Hoyte
54 Victoria St, Carlton South,
Melbourne 3053,AUSTRALIA
————————————————————————————————————- From: Patricia Smith <pat@pjs.abelgratis.co.uk>
Date: Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Subject: Employment Tribunal
To: “rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk” <mailto:rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk>, penny gower <pennygower1@googlemail.com>
Professor McIntosh,
I was a teacher for many years and I would like to express my surprise at the way you thought you could ignore UK health and safety statute, as well as common decency, in summarily dismissing the EIS Safety Representative, Penny Gower.
Did you believe you could operate as a tin pot dictator, somehow above the law? I expect you shall be called to account for your actions towards Ms Gower in the forthcoming Employment Tribunal. You broke the law by denying a safety representative their statutory right to inspect and not be victimised for carrying out their trade union functions.
Lecturers at Carnegie College surely deserve better than to lose their Safety Representative while you remain in post. The Funding Council will wish to know what money you have committed to this project of yours. It is, after all, public money that you have devoted to your own private vendetta; you must have known from the start that your behaviour was legally reprehensible.
Your website states that you wish to be ‘globally known’. I think this is an example of a need to be careful about what you wish for. From the messages of protest that I have seen, the reputation of Carnegie College under your stewardship does seem to have achieved national prominence (or notoriety).
I hope my union, the EIS, will raise the issue of how you have misused public funding. This is an issue that I intend to raise with my MSP.
Pat Smith
—————————————————————————————————————From: miles barter <milesbarter@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Subject: Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@googlemail.com
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest against the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and I am shocked to hear that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out these duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. You should be aware that the damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. I hope you will move quickly to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the college.
I look forward to receiving your reply.
Yours sincerely
Miles Barter
National committee member, Labour Representative Committee
Committee member, Press and Public Relations branch, National Union of Journalists
London, SE15 2NL
From: Rory O’Neill <editor@hazards.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Subject: Reinstate trade union safety rep Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Dear Professor McIntosh
Reinstate trade union safety rep Penny Gower
I would like to register my concern at the sacking of Penny Gower. As you know Penny was elected by union members in your workplace as a union safety representative, to undertake a legally protected safety role. Her dismissal for executing core trade union safety duties is both immoral and illegal.
You may be aware that the Health and Safety Executive is currently stressing the importance of worker involvement in securing safe and healthy workplaces. Creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust by victimising a trade union safety rep is not going to encourage worker involvement and will be to the detriment of safety standards in your institution.
I would urge you to reinstate Penny Gower immediately, or risk jeopardising the reputation of the College as well as the health and safety of the workers you employ.
Yours sincerely
Rory O’Neill (Professor)
Health, safety and environment officer, International Federation of Journalists, Brussels, Belgium
Editor, Hazards magazine www.hazards.org
cc. EIS branch
From: Daley, Hope <h.daley@unison.co.uk>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Subject: Dismissal of Penny Gower
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@googlemail.com.
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest at the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. Carrying out health and safety inspections is an important legal right which safety representatives have been allowed to do since the inception of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulation in 1977.
I am amazed that you feel able to dismiss Penny for carrying out this core function.
You may not be aware that discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly becoming a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your Institution could prove to be profound and lasting.
I would be grateful if you would reconsider this dismissal and reinstate Penny Gower immediately before the College is called in front of an Employment Tribunal which will cause further damage to the reputation of the College.
Ms Hope Daley, Head of Health and Safety
UNISON, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ
Tel: 020 7551 1580,Fax; 020 7551 1766
Email: h.daley@unison.co.uk
Health and Safety – not a luxury, but a right!
From: Eduardo Siqueira <siqueira196@comcast.net>
Date: Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Subject: Reinstate Professor McIntosh
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case has rapidly become a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Yours sincerely,
Eduardo Siqueira
C. Eduardo Siqueira MD, ScD
Assistant Professor
Department of Community Health and Sustainability
UMass Lowell
3 Solomont Way Suite 3
Lowell, MA 01854-5127
Ph: (978) 934-3147
————————————————————————————————————From: <Patrice111@aol.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Subject: workplace health and safety
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@googlemail.com
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest the reported sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that she was reportedly summarily dismissed for carrying out her duties.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal . Ms. Gower’s case is rapidly becoming a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting.
Removing a safety representative for performing her/his duties with regard to workplace health and safety is hardly in the best interests of the reputation of the College.
Yours sincerely,
Patrice Woeppel, Ed.D
From: mike <mike.merritt@talktalk.net>
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@
Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:14:14 +0000
Subject: The dissmissal of Penny Gower
Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am writing to complain about Penny Gower being sacked. She is a elected union safety representative, a legal position, and she was discharging her responsibilities to the colleagues whom elected her when she carried out a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a legislated safety representative function and it is appalling that she was summarily dismissed.
I ask that you quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower and resolve this difficult and litigious position by sensible negotiation before more damage is done to the reputation of the College.
Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is already internationally known across the trade union movement and the wider labour movement.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Merritt
Safety Representative, Press and PR Branch, Nation Union of Journalists
From: Paul Mooney <paulmooney62@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Subject: Safety rep
To: mphilp@carnegiecollege.ac.uk
Cc: rfarmer@carnegiecollege.ac.uk, pennygower1@googlemail.com
| Dear Professor McIntosh,
I am contacting you to protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a core, legally protected, safety representative function and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties. Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and activity is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly becoming a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and lasting. You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College. Yours sincerely, Paul Mooney From: Blacklist Support Group <blacklistsg@googlemail.com> Dear Professor McIntosh, I am contacting you on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group (a network of construction workers affected by the recently exposed Consulting Association blacklist scandal). Many of our members were dismissed and then blacklisted for raising concerns about safety issues such as asbestos or poor welfare facilities. We would therefore like to formally protest the sacking of Penny Gower, an elected union safety representative, in May 2009 after she undertook a workplace health and safety inspection. This is a legally protected, safety representative function under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations and it is appalling that you summarily dismissed her for carrying out her duties. Discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership and for health & safety reasons is illegal and Penny’s case is rapidly becoming a cause celebre across the trade union movement. The damage to the reputation of your institution could prove to be profound and long lasting. You should quickly move to reinstate Penny Gower before more damage is done to the reputation of the College. Yours sincerely Sean Prophet |
December 16, 2009 at 4:23 am |
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