HEATHROW EXPRESS MEMBERS TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION

A second Tube driver at the centre of a series of strikes has been found to have been unfairly sacked by London Underground by a tribunal and has been re-instated. The tribunal found that Arwyn Thomas, a driver at Morden depot with an exemplary employment record after 30 years of service, should not have been sacked. Yet London Underground threw at least £250,000 at trying to defend its victimisation of Arwyn. Sacked Bakerloo Line tube driver Eamonn Lynch had also earlier won his employment tribunal case for unfair dismissal on the grounds of trade union activities and was re-instated. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that London Underground knew in January that their case against Arwyn, like that against Eamonn Lynch, had fallen flat on its face when the interim tribunal judged that Arwyn had been sacked for his trade-union activities. “Yet without the resolve shown by RMT members on London Underground and the strike action taken in defence of two victimised union reps they would not have got their jobs back,” he said. Following Arwyn’s dismissal, the union won an ‘interim relief’ Employment Tribunal which clearly ruled that LU sacked him for his trade union activities, and the Tribunal ordered LUL to pay Arwyn’s wages until a full Tribunal was convened. The chair of the Tribunal even took the very unusual step of asking LUL to take a fifteen- minute adjournment and consider reinstating Arwyn Thomas immediately which they refused. RMT regional organiser Steve Hedley said that at the full Employment Tribunal Arwyn came across as a very straightforward and credible witness, in contrast to LUL managers who appeared disingenuous, contradicting themselves and each other and indeed were proven to be giving totally inaccurate information by the CCTV evidence produced. The charges against Arwyn were that he abused a Tube Lines employee acting as a CSA at Morden depot. However CCTV showed that Arwyn was pursued across the station and physically blocked on at least two occasions and there has been absolutely no suggestion even in management’s propaganda that any physical contact occurred. A conviction against Steve Hedley that he had assaulted a worker during strike action in March was also overturned by a court of appeal after it was revealed that police had not submitted all CCTV footage as they were required to do. Steve said that the charges had been “politically motivated” and LU had used the conviction to ban him from LU offices. London Underground has accepted the findings of the court and lifted the ban. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2011 :: RMTnews 6 RMT REJECTS LATEST TUBE PAY OFFER TUBE DRIVER ARWYN THOMAS RE-INSTATED R MT has formally rejected the latest pay offer from London Underground as it was only a fractional increase to only 4.75 per cent which is still significantly below inflation, as the RPI figure for February was 5.5 per cent. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that members were currently experiencing significant increases in the costs of living, the latest being the outrageous price rises announced by British Gas. “Moreover, LU’s offer is for a five-year settlement which is too long duration, especially when the offer for years two to five is only a small fraction above RPI. “This would leave London Underground staff vulnerable to real-terms pay cuts in years when RPI under- estimates the real rise in living costs, as it often does and would leave us unable to claim for further increases until 2016,” he said. LU has dismissed claim for a minimum flat-rate pay increase, which would benefit lower paid grades, and a reduction in working hours and offered little or nothing on our other claims for improved conditions.