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Norwich SPCK sackings e-mail is revealed
 More details have emerged of the sacking by e-mail of the staff of Norwich Christian bookshop SPCK last week.
The SPCK Resource Centre’s five staff were all fired via an e-mail from owner Mark Brewer from the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, which bought the 25-strong SPCK bookshop business in October 2006, along with brother Phil Brewer.
In the e-mail dated late on February 4, which Network Norwich has been given a copy of, SSG chairman Mark Brewer writes to all Norwich bookshop staff and says: “your employment is terminated due to your rejection of the contracts tendered to you. Your termination is effective immediately upon the conclusion of the trading day on 5 February 2008.”
He goes on to offer to re-hire one member of staff only for “a period not to exceed 4 weeks. This offer will automatically expire without further notice or action of any kind at the end of the trading day on 5 February 2008.”
The Mark Brewer e-mail is in response to an e-mail just eight hours earlier from all bookshop and Forget Me Not Café staff in Norwich which states: “Having acknowledged receipt of staff contract version 4 and given it our careful consideration, we the staff at Norwich do not wish to sign the contract. Neither do we wish to sign the previous contract. We will however continue to present ourselves for work under our existing contract.”
An American-based lawyer, Mr Brewer goes on in his e-mail to tell staff to put a notice in the shop door saying the shop will reopen on February 18 and then tells the staff to: “Lock the door and call for instructions on where to put the keys.”
Reacting to the sacking of the Norwich staff, an ex-employee of the Norwich shop said: “Some people think that SSG have acted harshly but within the law. This is not the case. The staff were given no notice but were fired as of 5.30pm that day by email. There is no mention of monies owed to them neither have they had any communication from SSG.
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| | | (Guest) | 15/02/2008 10:08 | As a Human Resources professional I would urge everyone to appraise themselves of the facts before leaping to conclusions. It is quite possible that the staff have been treated unfairly or outside the law but it is equally possible that they have not.
Employers are perfectly entitled to change contracts in certain circumstances - such as bringing them in line with new legislation. Without knowing the full facts of the matter (extracts of emails selected by disgruntled employees are not the full story), one cannot make an informed decision.
I would ask: how and why were contracts changed; was there a consultation period; were the changes reasonable and lawful and so on. Let's not jump to conclusions based on hearsay and gossip.
| | | | gary (Guest) | 15/02/2008 14:46 | at last.....a brain in action....well done guest.
| | | | john (Guest) | 15/02/2008 16:27 | i agree with gary
i am very sorry for the staff and it sounds apalling
but everything starts with a rejection of 2 contracts about which we know nothing
nor do we get a sense of timescale prior to the email
i suggest we pray that some godly experts look into this and we await their findings before any more private details are hung on the washing line
|  | | Timothy V Reeves (Guest) | 16/02/2008 11:51 | Gary said… at last … a brain in action
Well met Gary! Long time no hear eh? Now isn’t that just typical of you Gary – always someone else’s brain in action rather than your own! Come on Gary crack open a can of neural elbow grease and let those rusty neurons come out to play!
This is a marketing issue for SSGT and the perception of their business amongst their likely market should be of great interest to them. In spite of the expressions of guilt about tattletaling we see above, it is now clear what that perception is, and the how’s and why’s of it should interest SSGT greatly.
A key player in this affair is SSGT’s perception of themselves, and an indication of this comes from the following statement which at one time appeared on their web site:
the only Church true to the Word of God, and therefore the only one that offers true salvation and eternal life
That sort of self-perception is nothing new, of course, and church groups who think of themselves in these terms are two-a-penny out there and we can see them even in Norwich. Usually they keep themselves to themselves, but when they appear on your doorstep wanting to door business that’s different. To do business requires reciprocity, complementarity, trust and mutual respect and cards held close to the chest are far from conducive to such a relationship. Given that Christianity has a long history of sectarian groups so easily enthralled by an exclusivist vision of themselves an explanation of the above statement by SSGT, and why they erased it, would do nicely, thank you very much.
As this affair plays itself out, residual guilt about gossiping may be admirable, but in the long term I don’t see it as one of the big players here. The affair now has life of its own, and the guilt trip is just a temporary distraction from the nub of the issue. In due time Christain choices will be impinged upon by the real issue.
And don’t pin your hope on Godly men (and what happened to Godly women?) Godly men don’t control information (not these days!) and least of all the entire Internet. Moreover, one Christian’s Godly man is another’s blinkered incompetent out-of-touch authoritarian patriarch. How about the Godly men of SSGT controlling Christian literature in Norwich? Fancy that?
|  | | gary (Guest) | 17/02/2008 08:57 | ah...the ever all-knwoing mr reeves!
if you care to read the writer beore me who is a professional PR type, then they know whats what. they mention about knowing the whole case before any judgement is made. thats why its good to have both sides of a story open and accessable.
as for pinning hopes on godly men??? i'm afraid i dont really know any.
you mention cards held close to the chest...i CAN think of some like that, mainly buying up things at the present!
| | | | Timothy V Reeves (Guest) | 17/02/2008 11:56 | “ ever all knowing…” I ‘m glad to see that you’re getting know my place in the great scheme of things Gary. Trouble is Gary unless you’re going to come out of the land of nod its not difficult to look all-knowing next you!
But you’ve got one thing right: I’m not all-knowing enough to presume to preempt any formal conclusion/judgment that might come out of the ‘human resources’ question here, although I have my opinion. That’s the short-term issue. The long-term issue concerns Christian media in Norwich and who controls it and their agenda; after the ex-SPCK get satisfaction (hopefully) it will loom large.
You don’t know of any Godly men? Snap, neither do I. But there’s plenty out there who will try and convince that they do and attempt to foist them on you. All the more reason to end the sleeping beauty impersonation.
| | | | Heather (Guest) | 18/02/2008 08:17 | Perhaps people should express their feelings about the situation by "voting with their feet". Do not give the SSG shops your custom. Shop elsewhere.
| | | | Keith Morris | 18/02/2008 09:00 | This article is published as part of a series which covers this unfolding news story. The information is accurate and comes direct from source and we believe it informs debate. It also gives both sides of the argument and carries several quotes from SSG chairman Mark Brewer (see linked stories).
We believe that the information carried is in the public interest and deserves coverage as a matter of importance to the Norwich Christian community. We will continue to endeavour to put all sides of this matter.
Network Norwich holds no opinion as to the rights and wrongs of each side of this or any other news story, we leave that to our readers. We strive to remain impartial, providing an informative and accurate news service.
While warmly welcoming comments from our readers on the issues covered, we would ask them to refrain from personal comments about other users and we would prefer people to stand by their convictions and comments by putting their full name next to them.
The web editor retains the right to take off comments which do not conform to these reasonable rules.
Keith Morris, website editor
| | | | David Robinson (Guest) | 18/02/2008 14:05 | It is a sad state of affairs that we currently have no Christian bookshop in the centre of a city the size of Norwich. I am aware that the takeover of SPCK has not just affected our branch, but others in the country have had issues with the new management - I know of one manager who has bought out the store he runs to make it an independent shop.
Whether the staff were treated badly or not, the issue is that the new owners implemented a policy which meant the stock held at the shop was getting worse and worse over the months prior to the closure and it was getting difficult to source material. With CLC currently out of the picture there is a real need for someone to take on the role in Norwich before we all give up and use the internet.
| | | | Bishop Peter Fox (Guest) | 06/03/2008 14:16 | It is so sad to see the SPCK Bookshop closed in this way. I have valued the courtesy and efficiency of the staff there and I think it is despicable that they have been treated so badly. Someone else will have to sell us our sanctuary supplies and books now; we won't be getting them from St. Stephen Charitable Trust until they redress their ill treatment of the SPCK Bookshop Staff. It's all very sad. I lament especially the damage being done to the reputation of the Orthodox Church. This is not serving the Faith honourably at all.
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