A BLONDE WAGES CLERK, SACKED FOR BRINGING A ‘RACIS

A BLONDE WAGES CLERK, SACKED FOR BRINGING A ‘RACIST BANANA’

INTO HER OFFICE, TOLD ON FRIDAY HOW SHE WAS SHOCKED AND UPSET AFTER

LOSING HER JOB.

MRS SHIRLEY SCOTT SAID SHE LOVED HER WORK AND ‘NEVER REFUSED

TO DO ANYTHING.

‘

MRS SCOTT, 39, IS ALLEGED TO HAVE TAUNTED AN ASIAN COLLEAGUE

BY CALLING HER ‘MONKEY’.

BUT TODAY SHE TOLD THE WOBURN PLACE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL SHE

HAD ‘NEVER MADE A RACIAL REMARK IN FRONT OF ANYONE IN MY LIFE’.

AND SHE DESCRIBED HER ‘SHOCK’ AT BEING TOLD THAT SHE WAS TO BE

FIRED FOR ALLEGEDLY CARRYING OUT A CAMPAIGN OF RACIAL HARASSMENT FOR

SEVEN MONTHS.

‘I WAS FACED WITH A RACIAL CHARGE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BLUE.

I

WAS SHOCKED AND UPSET,’ SAID MRS SCOTT, WHO LOST HER JOB WITH

HARINGEY COUNCIL IN OCTOBER LAST YEAR.

MF

CENTRAL/BLONDE.

.

.

2

THE LABOUR COUNCIL FIRED HER FROM HER #7,000 A YEAR POSITION

AFTER COLLEAGUE MRS VARSHA PATEL COMPLAINED ABOUT HER BRINGING IN

THE ‘RACIST TOY PEN’.

SHE ALLEGES THAT MRS SCOTT ‘KEPT USING THE WORD MONKEY AND

TAPPING THE PEN.

‘

AND THAT SHE OFTEN REFERRED TO BLACK AND ASIAN FELLOW WORKERS

AS ‘NIGGERS’.

BUT MRS SCOTT DENIED EVER MAKING DEROGATORY OR RACIST REMARKS.

‘I CERTAINLY HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN MY LIFE,’

SHE SAID

SPEAKING ABOUT MRS PATEL’S ALLEGATIONS SHE SAID: ‘IF I HAD

SAID ANYTHING WHICH HAD UPSET HER I WOULD HAVE APOLOGISED BUT THAT

NEVER HAPPENED BECAUSE I DID NOT SAY ANYTHING.

‘

THE BANANA-SHAPED PEN, SHE CLAIMED, WAS USED FOR A CARMEN

MIRANDA STYLE HAT SHE WAS MAKING FOR CHARITY.

MF

CENTRAL/BLONDE.

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3

SHE DENIED ALLEGATIONS THAT SHE USED THE PHRASE ‘PACK IT UP’

WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE FIRST TWO SYLLABLES TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE

‘PAKI’.

ANSWERING A SUGGESTION BY LAWYER MR HARVEY CHAPPLE THAT SHE

USED THE WORD PAKI AFTER MRS PATEL REVEALED THAT SHE WAS ‘SENSITIVE’

TO IT, MRS SCOTT SAID ‘I NEVER USED IT.

‘

MRS SCOTT, OF WHITE HART LANE, TOTTENHAM, NORTH LONDON, IS

CLAIMING WRONGFUL DISMISSAL.

ASKED WHERE SHE SHE WOULD RATE RACIAL HARASSMENT IN A LIST OF

SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS SHE REPLIED: ‘RIGHT AT THE TOP.

‘

THE TRIBUNAL HEARD HOW SHE AND A MALE COLLEAGUE WERE SENT TO

COVENTRY AFTER A UNION QUARREL ‘SPLIT THE WAGES OFFICE IN HALF.

‘

MF

CENTRAL/BLONDE.

.

.

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4

‘LIFE IN THE OFFICE WAS HELL.

I JUST KEPT MY HEAD DOWN AND GOT

ON WITH MY WORK,’ SAID MRS SCOTT.

MR KIRBY PORTER, A LIBRARIAN AND BRANCH PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL

GOVERNMENT UNION, NALGO, CLAIMED MRS SCOTT’S SUPERVISOR MRS JOAN

SMITH HAD DISCRIMINATED AGAINS HER AND HER SISTER BECAUSE THEY WERE

UNION REPS.

HE SAID: ‘ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE OFFICE BECAME A POINT

OF CONFLICT.

MRS SMITH CREATED AN ATMOSPHERE THAT MEANT THAT ANY

PROBLEMS COULD NOT BE DEALT WITH BY MANAGEMENT BUT BY CALLING IN THE

UNION.

AT ONE POINT, SAID MR PORTER, HE WAS BEING CALLED TO THE

WAGES OFFICE ‘PRACTICALLY EVERY WEEK.

‘

‘I WAS WAITING FOR THE NEXT INCIDENT TO ARRIVE.

THE SITUATION

WAS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE,’ HE SAID.

ENDS