TUBE DRIVERS STRIKE FOR JUSTICE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2011 :: RMTnews 5 Tube drivers working on London Underground took further strike action this month following the sacking of Tube driver Arwyn Thomas, one of the clearest-cut cases of victimisation of a trade-union rep the union has ever seen. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that further action was planned and urged LUL to stop holding Londoners to ransom in its irrational drive to undermine RMT and trade unionism on the tube. “It is now down to LUL to put this injustice right and agree to a mechanism for getting Arwyn back to work before the next phase of action” he said. Arwyn, an RMT activist for 29 years with a spotless disciplinary record, was sacked for alleged intimidation during a strike, but this was flatly contradicted by the only independent witness. At Arwyn’s interim tribunal hearing, the judge not only accepted that there had been no intimidation, but even suggested that London Underground take 15 minutes to go outside, think about it and re-instate him. Arwyn’s interim hearing found that his sacking was unfair, discriminatory on the grounds of union activities and therefore unlawful, and ordered London Underground to continue paying him. Such ‘interim relief’ awards are extremely rare – and are only ever made if the evidence points clearly to unfair dismissal for union activities. But even if Arwyn had been guilty, RMT has a list of cases to show that others found guilty of comparative offences had been treated far more leniently – further evidence that LU was desperate to use any pretext to get rid of an effective union rep. When RMT members voted for strike action to support Arwyn and his colleague Eamonn Lynch, who was also victimised, also supported by an interim tribunal and who had won his full hearing, LUL agreed to re-instate Eamonn and to discuss Arwyn’s case ahead of his full tribunal hearing. RMT called off strike action, but London Underground reneged on its promise, saying that they would only discuss severance terms for Arwyn – and that is why RMT members are on strike today. RMT estimates that London Underground has wasted at least a quarter of a million pounds on maintaining the fiction that Arwyn Thomas should have been sacked – a criminal waste of money when he should be back at work driving trains. YOU can help win justice for Arwyn Thomas. Please contact London Mayor Boris Johnson at City Hall, The Queen’s Walk London SE1 2AA, or at mayor@london.gov.uk, or on 020 7983 4100, and LU personnel director Gerry Duffy at gerry.duffy@tube.tfl.gov.uk or at 55 Broadway, London, SW1H 0BD and urge them both to respect the Employment Tribunal, re-instate Arwyn, and end the victimisation of union reps. TUBE DRIVERS STRIKE FOR JUSTICE RMT members take industrial action to demand re-instatement of Tube driver Arwyn Thomas