A major British union Friday threatened a strike over the case of a hospital porter who refuses to tuck in his shirt in contravention of the dress code.
The GMB union, which claims 600 000 members and is the product of union mergers over recent years, characterised as ”pathetic” the action of the private company which employs the porter.
Daniel Ede, 26, says he suffers from ”profuse sweating” and has a doctor’s note to confirm that he should be allowed to work with his shirt out.
But ISS Mediclean says all employees have to tuck their polo shirts in while on duty to look ”smart and tidy”.
Union official Mick Molloy said Ede and another employee at a state-run hospital in south England were ”being bullied for no good reason”.
He said the union would ballot members not on the shirts but on the more general issue of victimisation, if the issue was not resolved to the men’s satisfaction.
ISS Mediclean said it could not understand why the union was ”wanting to make such a big deal of this”. – Sapa-DPA