RMT WINS SETTLEMENT FOR ‘REDUNDANT’ RMT REP

RMTnews :: july/august 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 6 T he union has successfully won enhanced redundancy payments for RMT rep Peter Woods after his employer Transport for London claimed his job had been abolished despite advertising for his replacement. Pete Woods was ‘over the moon’ when he landed his dream job as a curator at London Transport Museum. However, following his election as the local union representative, Pete faced a barrage of homophobic abuse, malicious accusations and damage to his property, which his employer did little to investigate or prevent. Regional organiser Bobby Law and Executive Committee member John Leach successfully defended Pete on no less than five occasions against malicious charges initiated by TfL managers. Peter's case was amongst a number of issues that triggered two days of strike action by RMT members, closing offices across TfL. The final straw for Pete came when his desk was broken into where RMT members’ case files were stored. "Management refused to call the police when the break-in was discovered and they didn't properly investigate the homophobic and fascist graffiti scrawled on my desk and union posters," he said. Bobby Law said that it was one of the worst cases of anti-trade union and homophobic discrimination he had ever seen yet TfL's employee relations team were not interested. “TfL's shameful lack of response was all the more surprising as the company is an equality partner for the gay rights group Stonewall,” he said. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow represented Pete following his selection for redundancy and secured a settlement without the need to go to tribunal. "Within a few weeks of telling us that there were no jobs for curators anymore, TfL put out an advert for one,” said Pete. “Being in RMT was like having family around me when I most needed it. “I had the very best representation all the way through and would advise everyone to join up," he said. Pete continues to work on behalf of RMT members as a volunteer assistant organiser. R ail operator One has been forced to pulp adverts after RMT member Ray Knight complained to the Advertising Standards Agency that the company was misleading customers. One was ordered to remove advertising which claimed it could take passengers ‘straight to the heart of the city every 30 minutes’ after Ray complained that the assertion was untrue. He pointed out that, in fact, the service from Cheshunt to Liverpool Street in London often runs at one-hour intervals in the week and the service from Enfield Town was hourly at weekends. The company admitted that it had ‘made a mistake’ and ‘forgot’ to change the advertising when it cut services last December. Ray said that the new timetable with gaps of one hour between trains was confusing to passengers. “The company constantly claims to be getting better but the level of service is often appalling,” he said. RMT WINS SETTLEMENT FOR ‘REDUNDANT’ RMT REP ‘One’ forced to pulp adverts