Revealed: how two Bristol men lifted the lid on their union’s failures to tackle racism
Wayne Headley (L) and Mike Morrison (credit: Julian Preece)
“It blows my mind,” says Wayne Headley, over a coffee in central Bristol in late 2024. “Just sitting there, hearing what was said – and I’m thinking, this is helpful for no one.”
Wayne is recalling an online union meeting he attended in February 2022, just before he resigned from his job as a security guard at Bath Spa University.
He and his colleague, Mike Morrison, would go on to win a claim of unfair constructive dismissal – essentially, being forced to resign because of an employer’s behaviour – against the university in April 2024. An employment tribunal found Bath Spa had failed to properly investigate grievances they brought around alleged race discrimination (see box), or to take steps to gain Black staff members’ trust after “failures to deal with previous complaints” of discrimination.
Back in 2022 though, he was attending the Unison Black members AGM to try to get support to progress that case against his employer.
Senior reps there offered to help. But an exchange between the union’s Black members’ committee chair, Kebba Manneh, and a representative of Thompsons Solicitors (the law firm Unison partners with) over how race discrimination claims were being handled, rattled his confidence.
Almost unbelievably, to Wayne’s ears, the chair accused the lawyers of steering members towards taking settlements rather than pursuing their claims to court – offering employers a “get out of jail card” and leaving some members to pursue their cases alone.
Manneh gave an example to the meeting of a member who had been left with no option but to represent herself after her case was deemed to lack merit, and added that this “carrot and stick” approach was widespread.
“I’ll call it what it is: Thompsons allowing itself to be a managerial tool in the workplace,” he said. “The evidence is swept under the carpet, and it never comes out.”
Later in 2022, Mike and Wayne’s relationship with their union and lawyers would break down, with the men ultimately representing themselves in court. When we met them, as that process was concluding, they were adamant they had been failed by both Thompsons and Unison – the UK’s biggest union, with 1.4 million members – and wanted the claims of wider failings investigated.
Emails, documents and audio recordings we have reviewed suggest the two men – whose faith in the system had already been badly shaken – were let down at crucial times during their claims.
And now, the Cable can reveal, the findings of an internal inquiry by senior Black Unison activists, also chaired by Manneh, agree with their fears about wider systemic failings across the UK.
Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry: ‘compelling evidence’ members being failed
The Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry report, which the Cable has obtained a copy of, is due to be discussed this weekend (9-11 May) at Unison’s National Black Members Conference. Its investigation began soon after the meeting Wayne attended, in September 2022, on the initiative of the union’s national Black members’ committee (NMBC). The group had received growing complaints about the support and representation being offered to members facing workplace discrimination.
Unison and Thompsons deal with hundreds of such cases every year. The inquiry, which drew on data, documents and direct testimony, heard “compelling evidence” that significant numbers of Black members, around the UK, have received inadequate support, representation and legal advice.
“In some cases, these difficulties had a serious and long-lasting impact on members’ mental health and wellbeing including, for some members, suicidal thoughts,” said the report, completed in late 2024.
It appeared to be a matter of pure luck as to whether the member would be represented effectively
Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry
The inquiry report said its panel had found “a lack of understanding, on the part of some activists and officers, of the complexities of race discrimination in the workplace”. It added there was a failure in some cases to appreciate the need to comply with strict time limits around bringing claims to the employment tribunal, which must be done within three months of the date of an employee’s dismissal, or of a discriminatory act.
“Some members provided evidence of a lack of support from their branch and regional representatives,” the Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry report said. “At times, members were left with no Unison representation and/or support at all.
“The evidence demonstrated considerable variations in the standard of representation and support provided to Black members with regard to race discrimination claims,” added the report, which praised the “tireless work” of many “dedicated” activists and officers. But, it said: “It appeared to the panel that it was a matter of pure luck as to whether the member would be represented effectively.”
Besides issues with union representation, the Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry also heard from members who had been told by Thompsons their cases lacked merit – yet went on to “win and/or settle their claim for a significant amount, having had to go through the tribunal process without legal or union support”.
“In some cases it appeared solicitors assessing the merit of members’ cases did not have sufficient or appropriate expertise and/or an understanding of race discrimination claims and the issues facing Black members in the workplace,” the report said.
It added there was a “widely held view among Black members that Thompsons are reluctant to take on more difficult and nuanced cases”, such as those “that do not simply involve allegations of racist comments being made to the member”.
‘A toxic racist environment’
By the time Wayne and Mike’s final hearing came around, it was over two years since the two men had raised grievances against their employer. They were visibly exhausted and stressed by the process of taking their own case – which centred on Bath Spa managers’ handling of serious racism allegations – to court.
The two men say their relationship with Unison and Thompsons broke down after a series of incidents caused them to lose faith that their best interests were being represented.
Mike, who lives in south Bristol, originally submitted a grievance in June 2021, after warning managers at Bath Spa that the workplace had become a “toxic racist environment”. He filed the complaint to Unison, via an electronic case form, believing the union would take it forward and “step in to stop the racism”.
Emails show a regional organiser responded, in line with protocol, saying she would meet the university’s HR department and seek legal advice from Thompsons. But the union appears not to have sent on Mike’s grievance to Bath Spa or offered direct support around this, meaning it was not acted on. Frustrated by the apparent lack of progress, he resubmitted the grievance directly to Bath Spa five weeks later.
After the university’s investigation found “no clear evidence to support the claim of unequal treatment [by managers] based on race”, Mike felt he had no option but to resign having “lost all confidence and trust” in his employer. But he also claimed Unison had not supported him in line with its member representation guide, which he believed contributed to the grievance not being upheld, and submitted a complaint against the union in October 2021.
Unison’s procedures say it aims to complete a review of complaints within two months – but Mike was not interviewed until nine months later. A recording of the meeting captures Unison reps saying they are “shocked” the process has taken so long.
The Cable contacted union reps involved with the early stages of Mike’s case, but they did not reply, or declined to comment.
A missed deadline, and an interview that never was
By spring 2022, after the Unison Black members AGM attended by Wayne, senior regional managers from Unison had become involved in his and Mike’s claims against their employer, and they had been assigned a solicitor from Thompsons.
Over the previous few months, Wayne, a softly spoken and reserved man, had been increasingly outspoken at what he said was institutional racism on the university’s part. Wayne, who lived between Whitchurch and Warminster and whose wife was extremely ill with cancer – and has since died – also specifically complained about the excessive number of weekend shifts he was getting.
This complaint was the basis of Wayne’s grievance against Bath Spa, in which he said he had been targeted for speaking out against racism. As with Mike, the outcome of the grievance – which was not upheld – was key to his resignation, in March 2022. Wayne’s notice letter said Bath Spa had made “clear they would not be willing or able to ensure a safe working environment” for me.
“Many times I just want to crack,” Wayne says of his levels of stress during his last weeks of work there. “But I just hold it.” He adds that things then continued to go wrong, leaving him feeling let down by the parties he was relying on for support.
In May 2022, as Wayne’s deadline for submitting his tribunal claim form approached, a Unison manager told him via email that his case “will be lodged today” by the solicitors’ firm. But this was not done. In the end, Wayne says, his case was only filed by the deadline due to Mike urging him to do so himself, to ensure it was not timed out.
Later, in August 2022, a Thompsons solicitor told Wayne and Mike she had interviewed two suggested witnesses – a white supervisor and a South African guard of Indian heritage, whom she said had undermined their claims. She reinforced her points by saying the supervisor was “well-versed in racism as his daughter married a non-white from the Caribbean”, while the guard “who of course is non-white” had “nothing but praise” for one of the managers accused of race discrimination.
“I contacted her and said, ‘How can you write such an email?’” says Wayne. “And after that, I spoke to [the South African guard] and he said [Thompsons] haven’t even spoken to him.”
Relationship breakdown
Thompsons admitted a few weeks later that the interview had not taken place as claimed. “I would like to apologise for [your solicitor] mistakenly attributing information,” a letter from the firm said. The solicitors’ views around “evidential gaps” would have been “better communicated at a case conference [rather than by email], to avoid giving the impression she was not acting in your best interest,” it added.
The letter concluded: “I am satisfied [your solicitor] was acting in your best interest at all times, and was not trying to undermine your case.”
By this point a third former Bath Spa security guard, who the solicitor privately messaged on WhatsApp to say the same witnesses were “not credible” and “do not support you”, had taken a payout of just over £3,000 and dropped his claim.
During autumn 2022, after an intervention by Unison South West’s regional manager, who had several long meetings with Mike and expressed “concerns” over how the case was being handled, Thompsons appointed a new solicitor. But recordings of meetings during this time, reviewed by the Cable, show Mike’s faith had completely broken down – and that his mental health was suffering.
The law firm withdrew representation from Mike in December 2022 saying it could not proceed where no relationship of trust existed. It pulled its support for Wayne five months later, after he refused to say he disagreed with his former colleague – leaving the men to fight their case themselves.
“It was hard, man,” says Wayne of his ordeal. “Sometimes I felt like speaking to my doctor about [how I was feeling], but I never did. You understand? It was hard – and justice needs to be done for what has happened.”
Since leaving Bath Spa, during which he lost both his father and his wife, and had to spend many long hours preparing his tribunal case, Wayne has continued to work. Mike, who has diabetes and has suffered both mental and physical ill-health, including trouble with his eyesight, has not, and at one point ended up cashing in a pension to get by.
“Doctors have told me, ‘you’ve been traumatised by the experience of what you’ve gone through’ – I do not feel safe, and I want to feel safe,” says Mike.
‘I felt abandoned’
Besides Mike and Wayne, we have spoken to other Unison members and activists elsewhere in the UK who said on background they feel let down by how the union, or its solicitors, have represented them in race discrimination claims.
One told us they believed the handling of cases was a “big, big issue” for Unison nationally that the union had “tried to keep a lid on”.
Another, a former council worker who gave evidence to the union’s inquiry, told the Cable his local Unison branch had dragged out investigating his case – that his job role was downgraded while white colleagues’ were not – for more than a year between 2018 and 2019.
The union member said his case file had been passed between Unison and Thompsons, with solicitors saying that his case “was not worth fighting”.
The employer subsequently admitted it had been guilty of discriminating against him, he adds. But by this time, the tribunal system deadlines meant he never got to take his case to a final hearing.
“I wanted to go to the employment tribunal – Unison were not helping me, they abandoned me – and it was only when I did [speak to the tribunal] that I found out the timeline to file a claim had run out,” he says.
The Cable also contacted Kebba Manneh directly to discuss the findings of the inquiry he chaired, but he was unavailable for comment.
In a statement, a Unison spokesperson said: “The union gave a great deal of support, advice and representation to Michael Morrison and Wayne Headley. Ultimately they chose to pursue their claims in their own way.
“Unison is committed to equality in the workplace to achieve fairness and justice for all – there is no place for racism in any university, hospital, school, college, town hall or any other workplace,” the spokesperson added.
“Quite separate to these cases, the union has been conducting a review into how it can best represent the interests of its Black members,” they said. The report of the Unison Race Discrimination Inquiry “is being published at the union’s annual black workers conference this weekend.”
A spokesperson from Thompsons Solicitors declined to comment on individual cases but said: “Our commitment to our clients remains unwavering. Thompsons has a proud and proven track record in employment law, particularly in cases involving discrimination.
“We are honoured to provide specialist legal services to Unison and its members, and we stand by our long history, dating back to 1921, of challenging racism and all forms of discrimination as part of our broader mission to advance social justice.”
Have you been affected by the issues in this story, either in the Bristol area or beyond? Get in touch: alex@thebristolcable.org / alex.turner@tutamail.com
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