years ago I fell out with the union I was in at the time (NGA), but they still helped me when I was made redundant so could be worth her contacting the union anyway.
And yeah NSC is amazing!
I think she can do something about this as employers aren't allowed to give a negative reference. Is she in a union? I'm at work atm, but I'll look into it over the weekend as I have a lot of reference books etc on employment law at home