Phil Groom writes:
Christian Marketplace February 2009
A warm welcome to anyone who has arrived here after reading the latest report in Christian Marketplace mag:
SSG Tribunal date set for May
Ex-employees of the beleaguered SSG bookshop chain (formerly SPCK Bookshops) moved closer to getting their claims against their employer heard with the announcement of the date for a preliminary hearing in May (11-13), to be held in Bury St Edmunds.
Christine Peacock from shopworker’s union Usdaw, which is representing thirty one former staff at the Tribunal, said, “The preliminary hearing will decide who the employer was at the time.”
I’m not sure that my post New to the SPCK/SSG Story, or just feeling lost? really “gives an indepth history of the story” as generously described by that Christian Marketplace report, but it does provide some pointers that should help you find your way through the maze.
If you’re involved in the Christian book trade or are a church leader and you don’t receive your own copy of Christian Marketplace, head on over to the UKCBD Blog to find out how to pick up a FREE subscription: Keeping Up to Date, Getting Up to Speed.
Now, whatever is going on in Bountiful, Tucson?
SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info 
The Brewers didn’t provide the proper documentation again??
Anyone get the feeling that they just “make it up “as they go along….?
Could we club together to employ an administrator for the Brewers to help them get their paperwork together? It would speed up justice for the shop workers, and they might even find out what’s happened to all that cash.
All these oversights are definitely working in their favour, as anyone who regularly uses the courts will wearily recognise. It might eventually blow up in the face of someone – if they were being consistently contumacious – should the courts be helped to recognise that fact. But such a person would probably know the next move in the chess game and be ready to defend themself against a court’s threat of punitive action.
Such a person would probably also be well-advised to read the public comments of those seeking to argue against them in court, so they could anticipate and plan the next moves.
I’m sure none of this is news to you.
You ought to know Brothers Mistoffelees –
The original Conjouring Pratts
(of St Stephen the Great and all that …)
For there`s no other cats in the whole UK
who change names, like knickers, most every day!
And – what was that ommission
with the Charities Cimmission?
They defy examination
with their prestidigitation.
Let`s all hope it`s not in vain
when they`re took to court again.
For the greatest magicians have something to learn
from their jiggery-squiggle-forgetfulness turn.
Presto!
Away they go!
The bookshops` staff say OH!
(expletives deleted)
we`ve been badly treated!
by Magical Brothers Mistoffelees.
Wow!
Sorry should have been meeow.
David – would anyone work for the Brewers with their track record on employment, and if brave enough, would they really be able to sort out the mess and the lies? Andy, please explain your point – I’m not clear on your message.
VTF,
I think what Andy meant was something along the WWII motto of ‘loose lips sink ships’ .
Too much info and surmising on open forums can help give advance notice of what’s going on to those not otherwise seeming to keep up, and sometimes all that’s needed is a good argument available on the day to offset damage done – ‘just cause I act thick don’t mean I is thick!’ it’s an old trick and one Brewer M has already proven quite good at – just look at the small punitive measure he got in Houston against what he could have got and what was asked for – a good argument got him out of that one.
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t talk or report things – but it is to say that there does need to be a keen level of judicious thought applied to who says what, when and where.
Yep sorry, I got caught up in a thought that was a bit too complex for me before breakfast.
Squiggle successfully tranlsated the ‘careless talk costs court cases’ point.
I tried unsuccessfully to find Phil Groom’s email address to unpack the other point, which I hope has occurred to far finer legal brains than mine.
Hi Andy – you can always send me a message via the Contact page; and don’t worry: what gets posted here is just the tip of the iceberg. Think Brewers, think Titanic. The tragedy of both, sadly, is the loss of (and to) others as they go down…
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