locker search procedures

rage against the machine

A colleague of mine had their locker opened by a manager in work recently. Basically the chairman of the board unbeknownst to people below him hired a firm of consultants to come in and do time and motion studies etc staff were also asked to fill out anonymous satisfaction surveys. There was no system in place for people to hand them over anonymously but to physically hand them to mgt. As a lot of questions were about departmental managers the shop steward was asked by some people to hand them over directly to the consultants in bulk in a few days time when they were supposed to be in. The surveys were only handed out a few hours at that stage but when the shop steward had gone home the manager got a master key from security (who refused to sign it out as it was against security protocol) and went through a few lockers until he found the one with the surveys which were then taken back by mgt. My colleague has come under heavy pressure from senior mgt over this and has been told if he goes ahead with a grievance he will be accused of interfering in the process and misappropriation of company property(they said it was their property) and as such could be sacked. I must add that these surveys had no company logo or credentials on it but that of a 3rd party and that these surveys were not ment to be seen by anyone in mgt. im really angry about all of this and feel terrible for my union rep who was only doing what we asked of him. What is the legality surrounding locker searches like this if not covered in handbook and what are the proper procedures for this sort of thing? Could this be considered interference in the process or misappropriation of company property? What route should this guy go about in this? is it legally company property or that of the staff considering they were under no obligation to fill them out?
I want to help this guy as our union are rubbish!
Any help and advice most welcome.

hullaballoo

Moderator: Trade unions have their own legal advisers and legal advice cannot be given here as per the Charter.

Thread closed.