A full bench of the IRC has upheld a decision to reinstate sacked Port Botany delegate Phil Toby on July 31. The P&O subsidiary Container Terminals Australia Limited dismissed Toby after 18 years service with the company. Alleged grounds for dismissal were numerous warnings about leaving his post to speak to management about health and safety issues and other incidents.
The case first went before Deputy President David Duncan, who ordered P&O reinstate their long serving employee after he gave an undertaking that he would “forever” abandon his union and OH&S activism that had brought him into conflict with management.
In his decision Deputy President David Duncan noted that none of the transgressions “occurred as an ordinary worker”. But P&O took the decision to the full bench, arguing that the delegate’s undertaking didn’t provide a sufficient basis for reinstatement.
The bench - Justice Alan Boulton, Senior Deputy President Jan Marsh and Commissioner Ron Jones upheld the reinstatement, with Phil Toby back on the job at Port Botany the following day.
In a letter thanking the union and members for support (see Letters Forum, p16) Toby described the his ordeal as “tough – physically, mentally and financially”.
“Not only are you affected,” he said. “But your loved ones, too.”
