Mr. Kevin Bakhurst:

Can I come in on that? As Ms Cusack said, more than 80% of the people agreed to the Eversheds outcome. A small number, around ten, in the organisation have not agreed. I have seen not all of them but I have probably seen seven or eight of them individually or in a small group. I have heard their individual stories. It is fair to say I have spent a long time talking to Ms Cusack and trying to get legal advice about whether there is anything we can do for those individuals.

When you hear their individual stories, I feel they have been badly treated by the organisation. They have ended up in the positions described. The issue is very much as Ms Cusack described it. It is a really tough one, which is that there is a collective agreement that was agreed with the unions. There was a process and mediation and the clear advice is that 80% of people agreed to that. If you start unpicking it with one, two or three people, the whole thing will unravel, you have to go back and do the whole thing again and the entire agreement falls. It is bad faith because you told everyone this was the deal and so on. I have spoken to Ms Cusack many times about what we could possibly do to resolve this. I have a sense of justice and fairness, particularly concerning some of the women described. I told them at one point exactly what I said here in the committee because I looked into it, they came back and we had another meeting. I said, "This is the issue". I said to them at that meeting that if they wanted to go to the WRC or down a legal route, the organisation would not hold that against them because, as far as I can see, that may be the only way they can get another way of redressing this. It is not about us trying to force them into that, it is about saying, "I cannot really do anything. My hands are tied. I would love to do something. If that is the route you want to take, the organisation will not hold it against you. Let us see what the WRC decides and then there may be a basis for doing something". I think that is how that has happened. That is the frank account of it.