How safe is the bread you eat?

bristol | corporations | news report Monday February 19, 2007 23:46 by Bristol Citizens bristol_citizens at yahoo dot co dot uk

Just days after revelations of serious flaws at the site of the recent bird flu outbreak at the Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk, another giant of the crisis-ridden British food industry is to face tough questions at a Bristol Employment Tribunal.

British Bakeries Limited, one of the UK's largest bakery companies supplying around one third of the market for plant baked bread in the UK, owns some of Britain's best-loved brands and is a major supplier to British supermarkets.

The company will be defending a claim of unfair dismissal and claims under The Disability Discrimination Act and the Human Rights Act from David Norman, an employee at their Avonmouth, Bristol plant for over 24 years.

Mr Norman, who suffers from a skin condition, which causes his face at times to fill with pus filled blisters, was dismissed by the company in March 2006 after the introduction of a new 'Management Attendance Procedure' to manage employee absences at the plant.

Under these procedures the company recorded Mr Norman as having an unacceptable level of 'unauthorised absences' from work.

Mr Norman is defended by Jerry Hicks, the former Amicus convenor sacked by Rolls Royce in 2005 then reinstated by a Bristol Employment Tribunal and a Respect Party candidate in Bristol?s local elections.

Mr Hicks says: 'The introduction of procedures by employers that make genuine sickness absence a disciplinary matter for employees could have catastrophic consequences. Especially in the food industry.'

The Employment Tribunal is scheduled to take place from 10.00am on Tuesday 20 February 2007 at Ground Floor, The Crescent Centre, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6EZ

For further information:
Jerry Hicks - 07817 827912
Steve Norman - 07818 677188