Rail staff may strike over sackings

Jan 31 2012

Members of the RMT union are to ballot for strikes over the sacking of two workers.

RMT members employed by ScotRail will also ballot on action short of a strike over the dismissal of Darren Brander and Karin McLean.

They are demanding the "immediate reinstatement" of both workers who they say only defended themselves against an attack by a gang which had "waged a two-year campaign of abuse and violence against them".

But ScotRail said the pair's action is "unacceptable and inexcusable" and their investigation suggests the case is different to what was described by the union.

RMT said the two workers have been "verbally and physically assaulted at work", "harassed" while off-duty and followed home. A union spokesman said matters came to a head in June 2008 when the gang assaulted and spat on Ms McLean. The pair reacted "in the face of extreme aggression and provocation", said the RMT.

The union executive has instructed a ballot of all RMT ticket examiners in Airdrie, Bathgate, Dalmuir, Glasgow Central (Argyle Line), Helensburgh Central, Motherwell and Partick. The vote will begin on Wednesday.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "This dispute on ScotRail is over the most blatant travesty of justice where two of our ticket examiner members have ended up sacked for simply defending themselves from a gang of thugs who have waged a two-year campaign of violence and intimidation against them both at work and right up to their own front doors.

"ScotRail have shown themselves to be totally unsympathetic and uncaring during the whole process and their only objective has been get our members out of the door even though they have been the victims of this crime. We have no option but to ballot as part of our campaign for justice for Karin and Darren."

ScotRail said it stood by the summary dismissals on grounds of gross misconduct. A spokesman said: "A full, proper and detailed investigation concluded that their conduct was unacceptable and inexcusable. It also concluded that their actions fell well below the standards we would expect of staff on company premises, whether on or off duty."

ScotRail insisted it was "never made aware of a so-called campaign against the staff members" before the incident which led to their dismissal. The train operator also insisted passenger journeys will not be disrupted if industrial action is taken because contingency plans for revenue collection would be put in place.