PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2015 :: RMTnews Parliamentary column Tube worker Karen Guyott’s case is a shocking indictment of London Underground’s treatment of its own staff. To single out a worker with epilepsy in their ominous ‘Fit for the Future’ review of staff does not bode well for workers’ rights at a time when automation on trains and in stations is being exploited by the Mayor and his managers to cut labour costs. In fact, TfL first tried to sack Karen in 2010 when they first learned of her condition. She is one of 16 London Underground operational staff and 11 TfL staff diagnosed with epilepsy. It is unacceptable for public or private organisations to attempt such discriminatory employment practices in this day and age. Together with my colleague Grahame Morris MP I raised Karen’s case in a recent parliamentary debate on epilepsy as the precedent that TfL is seeking to set in dismissing a worker on grounds of her epilepsy is a dangerous one for all workers, and not just for other people with epilepsy in the transport industry. It should be clearly stated that what TfL have done in sacking Karen contravenes the Equality Act 2010 which classes epilepsy as a disability. This requires employers to make reasonable adjustments so that people suffering from epilepsy can continue working. Although epileptic episodes can be triggered by long hours or other work related stress, almost three quarters of the 600,000 people suffering from epilepsy in the UK today are seizure free once they find the most appropriate treatment. In addition, a recent employment appeal tribunal, Dyer v. London Ambulance NHS Trust, stated that the duty in the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments must always be considered, and that only in the rarest of cases could no reasonable adjustments be made. That affirms that even when it comes to epilepsy, the duty to make reasonable adjustments could extend to redeployment. RMT successfully fended off TfL’s first attempt to sack Karen and London Underground did make reasonable adjustments at that time yet they are back again, persecuting a worker with epilepsy when they should be using her as an example to other employers to avoid the stigma against people with epilepsy. It is also worth recalling the events in January that TfL have used to dismiss Karen. One of her colleagues moved her from a place of safety and left her outside a locked station supervisor’s office that was close to an escalator. Karen became disorientated and wandered towards the escalator, but her colleague realised the danger and moved her into the office. As a result of that incident, instead of providing training for Karen’s colleagues, London Underground argues that Karen’s condition is too risky for it to manage, and it is clear that it is no longer willing to accommodate her. Karen’s prominence as a trade union activist is also a factor worth considering and if London Underground is using epilepsy as an excuse to dismiss a trade union activist when they are pushing through a massive cuts programme, then the facts around this case would become even more shocking and unacceptable. The Government must make it crystal clear to TfL and all employers that it is unacceptable to discriminate against someone due to their having epilepsy. The RMT Parliamentary Group will continue to support people, such as Karen, who are fighting blatant discrimination. We will continue to raise her case with the Government and the Mayor, as this cannot be allowed to stand – TfL is a significant public sector employer and it must be an example of best practice in the treatment of disabled workers and trade union activists. Kate Hoey is Labour MP for Vauxhall KAREN GUYOTT’S SHOCKING CASE 9 in safety, and a change in workforce culture – through measures including shortlisting qualified women for every job – was essential. In an unusually frank speech, Carne said that about 600 railway workers a year – employees and contractors – were injured to the extent that they cannot return to work the next day. “If I were back in oil and gas, a comparable figure for the same amount of activity would be between 30 and 60 people – the difference is that stark. “That means that over 500 of our people are getting hurt every year, well over one a day, because our work practices have not kept pace with comparable heavy engineering industries,” he said. Carne admitted that pressure to get work finished quickly had led managers to “send signals that suggest we don’t care as deeply as we could about our workforce and their safety and health”. He said that tracks had been left untended and problems unreported. “We have too many tragic accidents caused by behaviours and conditions that others had seen and walked past. “I spoke recently to a young man who had his leg amputated because equipment failed and crushed him. The equipment had failed previously, but nobody had reported it,” he said. Mr Carne said he had instigated a programme to tidy up a railway that was “frankly, sometimes a bit of a scrapheap”, including picking up tens of thousands of tonnes of old rails and sleepers. The speech was delivered at the Institute of Engineers in central London. Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport minister, said that he had “never heard a CEO be so critical of his own organisation”.