Meanwhile, the staff have suffered. Here’s a few examples of what the staff have had to put up with:

Constant harassment from management and Trustees: When we first got involved, a member of staff had just been suspended, and was facing an illegal restriction of pay. The incompetent manager accidentally leaked an email that showed how the Trustees were attempting to use a succession of disciplinaries, with little regard for ACAS guidelines, as a tool to force the worker out of his job. The IWW intervened and the worker was reinstated. Another worker who was told he was “on his final warning”, was later told (after queries from the IWW) that he had NO previous disciplinaries on his file and was under no threat of disciplinary action. A clear case of intimidation. Neither the manager or the Trustees faced any kind of sanction for their underhand practices, despite being repeatedly caught in the act by the IWW.

Now they are doing the same again to another member of staff who’s ‘face doesn’t fit’ – he is currently facing potential dismissal for the ‘gross misconduct’ of finishing his prayers before switching off a fire alarm that was set off by a smoke machine.

Shockingly poor Health & Safety practices. 8 months ago, the IWW helped ECC with a health & safety audit from IWW members who are qualified to carry them out. To date, little or no interest has been shown by the Trustees to sort many of the problems identified, despite potentially being in breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act. This includes a Lone Working Policy and repairs to safety equipment, despite two members of staff being assaulted by customers during the last 10 months. There has also been a racially motivated verbal assault on a worker by a volunteer, who had previously been identified by staff as a problem weeks before (the manager promised to draw up a Volunteer Policy and temporarily stop any volunteering inside the centre, then did nothing).

The Trustees response to these shocking instances of aggression towards the staff who they have put in an unsafe environment? To cut staffing so that now there is ALWAYS only one member of staff on duty at any one time, and yet STILL have not implemented a Lone Working Policy.

Most disturbingly, a manager “offered out” a member of staff for a fight after an argument in his office. When the member of staff complained, the manager refused to apologise, and the Trustees refused to sanction him, even urging the member of staff to drop his complaint as it was now ‘time to draw a line under the incident’.

An arrogant disregard for employment laws and practices. Staff who have worked at the centre for 3 years or more have had no contracts, or even a statement of particulars. Despite a clear custom and practice of regular hours over that period, the only contracts offered have been on a ‘zero hours’ basis, and the IWW has been barred from any negotiations over terms and conditions. Our members have made it clear they would not sign the unfair contracts, but the Trustees still refused to negotiate or discuss the issues.

Recognition in the workplace for the IWW was initially agreed by the Trustees after staff mobilised to force the issue, but then the Chair, Sophie Chester, unanimously decided that the agreement would be put on hold for 3 months as it was ‘not a priority’. 6 months later we are still waiting. When the staff who were IWW members objected, and wrote a joint letter in protest, they were ignored.

It gets worse. Despite being a Community Centre, saved by the Easton community from collapse in 2008, there is a culture of ‘cronyism’ at Easton Community Centre that excludes members of the Easton community. New staff, usually friends of Trustees or managers, are brought in with no interview or recruitment process, always as a ‘temporary measure’. 12 months later, one of these ‘temporary staff’ has just been given the role of Centre Manger (only ‘interim’ of course!). This new centre manager is now busy recruiting their cronies on ‘temporary cover’ for staff off work with stress, as usual with no interview or recruitment process having taken place. Support contracts have been given, with no tendering process, to friends of the (now ex) manager, also on a ‘temporary basis’. At every stage, existing staff who work part time at the same role have not been offered extra hours or retraining for the vacancies (presumably because they do not have the necessary Friends in High Places…)

The latest plan of the Trustees seems to be to give up on the Community part of the centre altogether, and relaunch it as a social venue similar to the nearby Trinity centre.

The staff (who have not already left) no longer have the strength to battle against this constant mismanagement and harassment by the Trustees. The IWW has given up on its hopes of collective representation in defence of the staff as a whole, and is now assisting its members in preparing grievances to try and put an end to their mistreatment.

The responsibility to save Easton Community Centre from chronic mismanagement has, once again, fallen on the Community of Easton, as it did in 2008.

We urge all users and supporters of Easton Community Centre to contact the Trustees to ask them what they intend to do about the issues we have raised, and to be open about their plans for the future. We also urge anyone interested in securing fair treatment of staff at ECC to become a member of the organisation, and begin to hold the Trustees to account for their actions. A form can be downloaded from the ECC website

Related Link: http://www.bristoliww.org.uk/easton-community-centre-are-bad-employers/