A TRIBUNAL will resume today to decide whether workers were unfairly dismissed from a North-East authority which axed 150 jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
Middlesbrough Council dismissed the workers from its economic development and transportation department in 1998, as part of measures designed to save £1.7m.
Union leaders attacked the Labour-run council for its handling of the job losses and more than 1,000 council workers protested outside Middlesbrough Town Hall.
John Chadwick, 56, of Stokesley, North Yorkshire, Harry Alderton, 53, of Eaglescliffe, Stockton, Chris Nestor, 54, of Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, and Kenneth Bland, of Guisborough, east Cleveland, were among those chosen for compulsory redundancy. Along with Edwin Purvis, 63, of Marton, Middlesbrough, they claim the selection method used for the redundancies was unfair and inadequate.
The tribunal, opened earlier this year at Thornaby, but was adjourned. It is expected to last until Thursday.
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