Update... Marks & Spencer had access to the
private mobile phone records of
the whistleblower it sacked last week, union officials alleged
yesterday.
The UK food and clothing retailer sacked Tony Goode (pictured),
M&S's customer relationship database manager, for leaking
internal company documents on M&S plans to cut staff redundancy
payments, and for making "derogatory and speculative comments to
the media".
Goode told a press conference yesterday: "The information I
passed on was not marked confidential. I know about the Data
Protection Act - that's part of my role. And I would never have
sent out anything that was confidential or related to financial
matters."
Maria Ludkin, the GMB union lawyer who last week represented
Goode at a disciplinary hearing, said M&S officials referred
constantly to a heavily annotated notebook during the hearing. From
the questions asked by John Wareham, M&S's head of global HR,
it was clear he knew when Goode had called reporters, she said.
An M&S spokeman dismissed the allegation as "utter
nonsense". She said M&S had no way of monitoring employees'
private calls and would not do so.
Ludkin said it took M&S just 48 hours to track down Goode
from emails he sent to the media. M&S tracked every keystroke
on every terminal in the company and held it for six years, she
said. It also made extensive use of CCTV, voice recording and other
surveillance technology to monitor staff.
Greenwich-based Goode, 43, is a single parent of a daughter (20)
who is just starting university, and a son (14), who is stating his
GCSEs. He joined M&S's statistics department at 18 after
completing his A levels, and has risen steadily over the past 25
years.
Goode's payout would be have been cut in the event of being laid
off under M&S proposals. After learning of the plans Goode
wrote to Business Involvement Group (BIG), an internal staff
council of some 3,500 staff representatives, which was responsible
for co-ordinating feedback on the redundancy proposals, expressing
his dissaproval.
Goode said M&S had three routes for complaints: via line
managers, via a grievance procedure through the human resource
department, and via e-mail directly to M&S CEO Stuart Rose. He
said none of these routes appealed to him because of a climate of
distrust in the organisation.
The M&S spokesman said BIG had used Goode's comments in its
final report, which had led M&S to soften its proposal, raising
the proposed payout cap from 52 to 62 weeks' pay. "Goode had been
listened to," she said. "The whole episode is unfortunate." The
M&S spokesman said that as far as she was aware M&S did not
log keystrokes.
M&S countdown to whistleblowing
30 July
10.30am
Goode emails Malcolm Heaven, chairman of M&S Business
Involvement Group (BIG), an internal staff council of some 3,500
staff representatives, to note his disapproval of the redundancy
proposals. He expressed the hope that the proposals, along with the
results of an internal M&D survey, would not get leaked to the
press.
4.45pm
Goode emails The Times asking, "If I supply a story on M&S
will I receive anonymity?"
4.48pm
Dearbail Jordan, The Times' deputy online news editor, replies,
assuring anonymity and suggesting that Goode not use his work
email.
5.02pm
Goode asks Jordan for a fax number.
5.45pm
Goode emails a draft article from his work email to his home
email. The article allegedly airs "a number of grievances re
M&S's treatment of its staff spanning - revised redundancy
policy, minimal performance-related bonuses and annual pay
increases, poor staff survey results, revised pension policy,
revised catering arrangements plus general comments re the mood
amongst M&S staff".
6.01pm
Goode emails The Times' contact details to his home email
address.
1 August
Goode goes on annual leave.
4 August
The Times' retail correspondent, Steve Hawkes, emails Goode,
assuring him of anonymity and asking whether anyone else had been
in touch with him.
18 August
Good returns from leave.
12.10pm
Goode sends his draft plus the M&S redundancy proposal to
Hawkes.
12.42pm
Hawkes replies, asking for more information.
12.44pm
Goode emails his mobile number to Hawkes and asks him to call
him back.
3.35pm
Goode emails Hawkes saying he is "struggling to get the survey
figures as they have been removed from our company intranet site.
The highest figure related to bullying and discrimination being
tolerated in the workplace was 41% and covered our marketing and
customer insight area".