There sat the master, someone from HR and the trustee.
Peter Uno Andersen asked what it was all about.
– We have to fire you. Due to restructuring of production flow, it said.
After 43 years in the same workplace, it was suddenly over for the 64-year-old social democratic city council member in the municipality.
From one moment to the next.
Followed out to the gate
Peter Uno Andersen let them understand that they “couldn’t be aware of that”.
But that was just the way it was, and then he was told that they had been told by the factory manager that they should go down with him and empty his cupboard. And afterwards they were to follow him all the way to the gate.
– And then I was released. I wasn’t supposed to come anymore. It is probably the biggest shock I have experienced in my working life. I have to say that, says Peter Uno Andersen.
He understands well that it can start thinking when an employee has to be escorted all the way out into the car park. Therefore, it is important for him to emphasize that he has taken care of his work at the slaughterhouse.
– I have not done anything illegal or done anything wrong or anything, he says.
Peter Uno Andersen has been a joint trustee at the company for 22 years. A year and a half ago he lost the election, but in the meantime he has been elected as a reserve, and it was common knowledge that it was his plan to stand for the election of joint trustee again in February.
Exempt – but only with basic salary
During the layoff period, he receives the basic salary of DKK 154 per hour instead of the part-time salary of DKK 234, which he normally earns.
– I don’t think it’s fair when it’s their decision that I’m not allowed to work during the unemployment period, says Peter Uno Andersen.
Nordjyske has asked factory manager Kim Fog Jensen why the dismissal of Peter Uno Andersen had to take place so suddenly and decisively. But he won’t answer that.
– Here in the company, only the managing director speaks out.
But you were directly involved in the firing of Peter Uno Andersen?
– Yes, but I still relate to the fact that here in the company it is the managing director who speaks, says Kim Fog Jensen.
According to the managing director of Tican Steen Sønnichsen, it is “always sad to say goodbye to employees”, but that it is “normal to adapt the capacity in a company like ours”.
Steen Sønnichsen, CEO of Tican. The firing has been carried out according to “fixed parameters”. PR-photo
In the specific situation, the layoff that Nordjyske is asking about is just one out of three layoffs, says the director.
Don’t you have a tradition of finding other positions for people?
– I don’t want to comment on individuals, but we have some fixed parameters for how we hire and fire people. And it is followed here. There is nothing abnormal in this, says Steen Sønnichsen.
Is it also normal that you follow people you fire right out into the parking lot?
– I don’t know. I don’t know the circumstances or how it happened. But one thing is certain. No one has been treated wrongly. We have behaved perfectly correctly. We comply with all regulations.
So it is also normal to be released from one moment to the next?
– It is individual. It is very different, but there can be conditions that do it – it can be human causes. But often it happens because you don’t have the need. And why should people be here?
When you now choose to put people directly on the street, it may seem strange that they have to settle for the low hourly wage during the notice period and not their piecework wage?
– There I have to tell you that we have a collective agreement and we have some termination rules, and regardless of which employees are involved, we follow those rules. And we have also done that in these cases.
Now we are talking about a former trustee who is now a reserve trustee, who will also stand for election in February to become a trustee again. Has it mattered?
– I can absolutely reject that. It runs according to the parameters set for all employees.
What do you really think about an employee for 43 years standing one moment working and the next moment standing out in the parking lot?
– In general, when you have to make people redundant in a company, it is always sad to do so. Unfortunately, this is just what is sometimes necessary in a company, says the Tican director.
– Unheard of and indecent
Branch chairman of the food association NNF Nordjylland Svend Erik Andersen calls the firing – and the way it took place – “unheard of and indecent beyond all limits”.
– It is certainly not something we experience every day. Fortunately then. In my view, it is a completely unfair dismissal, and we will of course follow up on it, says Svend Erik Andersen.
2024-09-25 14:55:40
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