Arwyn Thomas, the driver at the centre of a row over his sacking, resulting in a series of Tube strikes has won his claim of unfair dismissal, the RMT says.
TfL said that ‘contrary to the claims of the RMT leadership, the Tribunal finds that Mr. Thomas was not dismissed because of his union activities.’
The tribunal found that – although LU were right to discipline Mr.Thomas – other options than dismissal should have been explored, therefore he was unfairly dismissed.
Given these findings, and the fact that the tribunal has not recommended that Mr.Thomas be re-instated, TfL say they will now be considering the findings in detail.
In the meantime, TfL have urged the RMT leadership to acknowledge that Mr. Thomas was not subject to action due to his union activity, which was the whole basis of their call for strike action.
TfL is therefore calling on the RMT leadership to suspend their threatened strike action to allow the employment tribunal process to consider the potential remedies.
Mike Brown, LU’s Managing Director, said: “The employment tribunal has today ruled that Mr Thomas should have been disciplined for his actions and that his dismissal was in no way due to his activities as a union member.
“This is entirely contrary to the claims made by the RMT leadership in order to justify their strike action.
“‘The tribunal has also found that he was 50 per cent blameworthy for his dismissal, and it has not called for his re-employment.”
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“London Underground have asked us to wait for the outcome of Arwyn Thomas’s Employment Tribunal and that body has now found that he was unfairly dismissed.
“Throughout this process LU have said that they would abide by the Tribunal ruling so all that we are now asking them to do is stick to their word and get Arwyn back to work. I am seeking an urgent meeting with the Managing Director to make the necessary arrangements.”
Now Arwyn has won his case, it is unclear whether strikes set to go ahead next week on these dates:
- Between 21.01 hours on Monday 27th June and 11.59 hours onTuesday 28th June.
- Between 12.00 hours on Wednesday 29th June and 11.59 hours on Thursday 30th June.
- Between 12.00 hours on Friday 1st July and 21.00 hours onFriday 1st July.
