According to London Underground management, NO DIFFERENCE!
But Tube Workers are the best bunch of people I have ever worked with. They are dedicated to serving the travelling public. They are highly trained in what can be a hostile environment. They cope with infrastructure inadequacies, overcrowding and violent passengers.
How are they treated by management in response to this professionalism? Sometimes like Dog Shit! I was first alerted to this travesty of justice when reading the BBC news web site. It reported that staff at three LU stations are staging a 24 hour walk out over the sacking of a colleague.
What did he do? Defended himself from attack by a member of the public on New Year’s Eve. The quite justified response to this sacking was for the RMT to call a strike.
Here’s the full report from the RMT web site:
AROUND 100 RMT Tube station staff at Elephant and Castle, Charing Cross and Lambeth North and are to strike for 24 hours from 19:00 tonight to demand the re-instatement of a colleague dismissed after defending himself against a violent assault on New Year’s Eve.
Station assistant Jerome Bowes was sacked for defending himself against the assault from a member of the public who had already been involved in a fight on Elephant and Castle station, even though neither the Metropolitan Police nor the British Transport Police deemed that there was anything to arrest him for.
RMT members at the three Bakerloo Line stations, who voted by a margin of nine to one to strike to demand Jerome’s re-instatement, will not book on for shifts that commence after 19:00 tonight.
“Jerome Bowes was sacked for defending himself against an attack from behind from someone who had already been involved in a fight on the most volatile night of the year, and that is unacceptable,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“Neither the Met nor the BTP found any cause to arrest Jerome, who was walking away towards a place of safety when he was assaulted, and it beggars belief that LUL has seen fit to dismiss him.
“The message London Underground seems to be sending out is that defending yourself against violent assault is to be regarded as a disciplinary offence, and it is no wonder that our members are angry and disgusted.
“Rather than train up inexperienced office staff in an attempt to undermine our members’ strike, LUL should be asking itself why they voted so overwhelmingly to take action and re-instate Jerome Bowes,” Bob Crow said.
Probably for ‘legal reasons’ nobody mentions ‘drunk member of the public’ but it isn’t rocket science to arrive at that conclusion is it? It was New Year’s Eve for god’s sake.
As a now retired Tube worker I have experienced the way LU management treat their staff, particularly RMT members, and I hope that all staff from all stations will support Jerome Bowes. It wouldn’t take an all out strike either just an overtime ban and refusing to work on the grounds of safety.
These two actions could bring the whole Tube to a halt within days, so come on comrades TAKE ACTION!
Sources used in this report:
http://www.rmt.org.uk/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7527779.stm
