Note: This article is redacted as well/best as possible to protect people’s identities. It’s important to properly report and inform the public of this. There might be laws being broken herein.

Just a month after we were forced to sign a new contract that we did not see!

Summary: Sirius ‘Open Source’ (Limited or Inc.) is a truly dodgy company; it has been exceedingly and increasingly dodgy every year since 2019 — a turning point for the worse

AS we noted here yesterday, one must go back to 2019 to properly understand what happened to my employer (since 2011). 4 years ago we were compelled to sign up for a minuscule and dodgy shell valued at one British pound (just a little more than a dollar), initially registered in some poor residential area, maybe the address of the registrar rather than the company’s real (physical) address. Sirius Corporation was “becoming” Sirius ‘Open Source’ Ltd. and nobody told us about it while Sirius ‘Open Source’ Inc. was being created in another continent for Gates Foundation as its “first client” (very shortly after formation).

We don’t know why the company was so secretive about the whole thing, but the CEO did openly admit (verbally, never in writing) that the Gates Foundation had signed some NDA. The Gates Foundation would never ever be mentioned after that; never ever in writing! So what the heck was going on? I’ve long had this theory that they know cannot bribe me for silence (and maybe not threaten the employer either; they tried this already). It’s just too convenient to use a fake ‘charity’ to gain greater control over my employer, getting the company to move to another country based on false promises, all for some work that thousands of American companies (not British) could trivially do. Why choose a Microsoft-hostile firm in another country and continent? It makes no sense.

Was this something to do with me? Impossible to prove? Sure, and moreover there’s an NDA. Why on Earth was an NDA signed?

For those who think Sirius is some ‘small potato’, bear in mind this wasn’t always the case (it is now). For instance, see this 2006 press release from Red Hat. To quote: “Red Hat (NASDAQ: RHAT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that UK based open source consulting firm, Sirius Corporation, has joined its Red Hat Advanced Partner Programme in Europe.”

Back then Sirius Corporation was also a sponsor of the Free Software Foundation. It was a good company.

Today, I’d like to show a chain of correspondence demonstrating what exactly happened in 2019, at least as far as we can tell from our side. The gist of the story is, a colleague was working early that morning (or night) and said he’d likely not attend a meeting. I said the same. The company then escalated the tone and forced us to travel to the meeting, without even once mentioning a contract with a new company would be signed. They use progressively menacing, threatening language to invited people.

While it seems a relative of management was invited^*, the CEO was absent entirely. Why? How curious.

In any event, in the correspondence below, do note there’s no mention of contract signing; the training was a bit of a joke too, as it was basically just a cover. The Office Manager initially wrote to the NOC team, with all the “cabal” CC’d^**.

Hi Support,

We will be holding a _compulsory_ [emphasis in original] Sirius Workshop to provide you all with the additional training required to carry out your role. During the specified day (list below) you will all be required to come into the office where xxxx will be able to help with any enquires.

xxxx – 24th June
Roy & Rianne – 26th June
xxxx – 28th June

I will organise travel for those of you that require it, I will send these details in a separate email. These dates cannot be changed due to requiring cover for your shifts whilst you are at the workshop.

Can you all confirm that you have read this email.

Thanks,

xxxx & xxxx

xxxx
Sirius – stress free technology

I politely responded half a day later:

I’ve just spoken with Rianne about this.

Would it please be possible to attend remotely (over Hangouts) for the sake of the environment and also to reduce travel costs? We’re very environmentally-conscientious and believe this can be done remotely in a way that is beneficial to all. We’d be very grateful.

One colleague said: “I’ve read it – but I’ll be on night shift then so would be sleeping during the day time” (same day).

Later we got sent some more:

Sirius Training Workshop – June 2019

Hi All,

Just to reiterate, this is a training workshop not only to help with gaining knowledge but also to collect feedback on what else you need in order to carry out your tasks to the best of your ability and for any concerns you may have. As you are all aware from the fortnightly meetings, Sirius is growing and we’re taking on more and more clients. We want to ensure that each of our clients are getting the same standard of service during the day shifts and overnight/weekend and xxxx will be providing the training to ensure this is the case. It will also be a great opportunity to meet up with the office team.

Please find attached the agenda for the day.

From the attached PDF:

Sirius Workshop Agenda:
W/C: 24th June 2019
Morning Meet-up: 09:00 – 10:00
Brief meeting to discuss what you would like to gain from the training workshop – We will then try to cover all these topics / help answer queries during the training session.
Training session with xxxx
Lunch Break: 13:00 – 14:00
Training session to continue – Task / Trouble shooting with xxxx
Feedback with management – this will give you the opportunity to give any further feedback for anything else that you may need to successfully carry out all tasks during your shifts and receive feedback.
Please feel free to write any notes/questions below that you would like to discuss on
the day.
Notes:
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

Notice there is NO mention of new contract signing for a new company.

A day or so later:

Dear All,

As previously discussed, a support workshop has been arranged for each of you between the 24/06/2019 – 28/06/2019 to assist with your role. I have made arrangements for your shifts to be covered and ensured that you will have appropriate rest before returning to your normal working pattern. The training is mandatory training the company are covering all of the costs including the travel and will be providing food. It is not possible for your attendance to be arranged remotely due to the nature of the training so your attendance is required. This shift is regarded as your normal working shift for the day you are attending and failure to attend could result in formal action.

This is direct management instruction and is intended to ensure that there is no issues and that everyone attends this training that the company has gone to expense to arrange.

Kind Regards,

xxxx

Read “It is not possible for your attendance to be arranged remotely due to the nature of the training so your attendance is required” as “we’re going to (en)trap you into signing a contract you never saw, probably illegally…”

Later came this:

Hi Roy,

To ensure I leave you enough rest period your shift on Tuesday 25th June will be covered by xxxx. Your next shift on the 26th June will also be covered by xxxx and you will need to arrive at the office around 12noon for your training.

You will still be paid your normal salary – no reductions will be made.

Please keep your receipts for your travel as I will need these to process your expenses and I will ensure you’re reimbursed on the day. Lunch will also be provided.

If you can please confirm that you understand this, hopefully it all makes senses. Incase I have missed anything please let me know and I will get any queries answered ASAP.

Kind Regards,

xxxx

Still no mention of contract. Next E-mail:

Hi Roy,

Please find attached a Self Assessment that I would like you to fill out before your training workshop. This will be used during the feedback meeting in the first part of the workshop in order to see what we can help with during your training with xxxx.

You can either print it off and fill it in OR fill it in online and email me a copy. Please just make sure its done by the day of your training workshop as it will be really useful for everyone taking part in the workshop that day.

Kind Regards,

xxxx

And to my wife:

Hi xxxx,

xxxx has already mentioned that we will be organising cover for shifts.

Roy – your shifts on the 25th June 2019 and 26th June 2019 will be covered – emails to follow with more details.

Due to the journey, we completely understand that you will not likely arrive by 10am – but we are aware and will be adjusting your agenda times.

Thanks,

xxxx

The person signing the above messages was likely an “instrument” in doing something illegal, having to “lie to Roy to protect the boss” (by denying the truth). Such spineless, blindly-obedient workers would not last long, as the company would collapse. So even this blind loyalty to reckless bosses would not save them. We will always remember.
_______
^* Probably another fine example of overt nepotism (unqualified relatives as staff).
^** They knew what they were really doing. They kept the staff in the dark all along.

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