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| ‘Racism denied me promotion’ |
Security guard claims racism to
blame for lack of promotion
A SECURITY guard at one of the most prestigious galleries in
London was denied promotion because of racism and anti-unionism,
an industrial tribunal was told this week.
Guy Sagi, 34, has accused management at the Wallace Collection,
Manchester Square, of overlooking him despite beating other candidates
on a comprehensive written marking system, in favour of another
candidate they claimed exuded “more spark”.
On Tuesday Mr Sagi told the tribunal at Victory House in Kingsway,
Covent Garden that he had been “naturally interested in promotion”.
He applied for the post of senior guard in February 2004 but he
was passed over for a colleague. Mr Sagi told the tribunal: “I
was at a loss to understand why Catherine (Smith) was appointed
to the post. I concluded it was either because I was a union officer
or because I was foreign.
“On any objective basis I performed better than my colleague.”
Mr Sagi, who was born in Israel and has duel nationality, became
the trade union representative in November 2003, the main reason
he believes he was overlooked. He also claimed the attitude of his
line manager, the head of security John Power, had changed after
he became involved with the union. Mr Sagi said Mr Power had “previously
told me he liked people like me with initiative but after I became
the union representative he became more negative in his reaction
to me.”
Prompted by the tribunal chairwoman Ms Leslie, the lawyer for the
Wallace Collection Christina Beddows told the court it was “not
disputed that he was the best on paper” but said the panel
had a “gut feeling” during the interviews that Ms Smith
was the better candidate for promotion. Ms Beddows added the successful
candidate had “showed signs of promise that the claimant did
not”, “signs of authority” and “a general spark”.
Mr Sagi told the tribunal: “Had I not been the union representative
I would have written to my union rep.”
On Thursday the claimant’s lawyer James Carmody accused the
assistant director of the Wallace Collection, Mr Pink, of bullying
his client, using emotive language in written correspondence and
failing to offer Mr Sagi access to a formal grievance process. He
said: “You claim you bent over backwards to listen to Mr Sagi’s
grievances but did not offer the formal grievance process.”
He added that Mr Pink had told his client to retract his accusations
“or else” and threatened him with disciplinary action.
On questioning by Ms Leslie as to why Mr Sagi’s grievance had
not gone through a formal process, he defended himself and said
he saw fit to keep the matter informal adding a formal
grievance process was considered.
He accused Mr Sagi of conducting a “whispering campaign”
against management and having a “disregard for protocol”.
“The way he approached me was unprofessional and he showed
an inability to work with management,” Mr Pink told the tribunal.
Mr Sagi claimed in court Mr Pink sought to put him off pursuing
his claim rather than dealing it though the normal processes.
Mr Sagi said he was urged to withdraw his “extremely dangerous”
allegations of anti-unionism and racism by Mr Pink who also told
him to stop “sniping” at his line manager Mr Power. He
accused Mr Pink of intimidation and told the court that during a
meeting with Mr Pink and Mr Power, the former had suggested a “one
way ticket” when he informed them he was going to visit family
in Israel.
The tribunal also heard on Thursday that Mr Sagi was accused of
exchanging pornographic material with his girlfriend after he allowed
a colleague to log onto the internet system using Mr Sagi’s
log in details.
Mr Sagi claimed that he had received
intimate photographs to his personal email account but that he had
not accessed them and accused colleagues of accessing his emails
without his knowledge. The tribunal
continues. |
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