Union considers action after whistleblower`s sacking is confirmed

Union leaders in Cardiff have angrily attacked the council’s
decision to reject an appeal against dismissal by senior social
worker, Charles Faber.

His sacking could now lead to strike action. Unison has backed
Faber since his suspension last year, just hours after he appeared
on a TV documentary where he voiced his concerns that a child might
die unless services for children in Cardiff were improved.

Cardiff council has always maintained that Faber was suspended
because of concerns over financial management, but union leaders
say that the decision to uphold the dismissal makes a mockery of
the council’s whistle-blowing policy.

Peter King, Cardiff Unison branch secretary, said: “This sacking
had nothing to do with Charles’s management, and everything to do
with him exposing the inherent weaknesses in the authority’s
running of children’s services. The fact that Charles was suspended
from his post a matter of hours after bravely relaying his concerns
on TV – says it all.”

Earlier this week, union members voted to take industrial action
in support of Faber who had led the council’s emergency duty team
for the past twenty years and who has been a social worker since
1976.

“This was not about me, but about the issue of whistle-blowing,”
he said adding that he would be prepared do the same thing
again.

The council’s Unison branch is holding an emergency meeting to
discuss what action to take.