This weekend, station staff on Charing Cross group will strike to demand that LUL reinstates Jerome Bowes, a CSA sacked for being assaulted on New Year's Eve. 90% voted for strike action, obviously recognising the injustice in Jerome's treatment, and understanding that if LUL gets away with this, then any of us could be next. The message to LUL is clear: stop treating victims as villains!
All duties due to book on after 18:59 on Sunday 27 and before 19:00 on Monday 28 will strike. It is essential that the action is as solid as possible - with TSSA members supporting RMT workmates - to make it impossible for management to open the three stations involved: Elephant & Castle, Lambeth North and Charing Cross. They are all Section 12, and two of the three are busy interchanges, so we have the potential to cause a big impact. Join the picket lines on Monday morning to dissuade any waverers from breaking ranks. Drivers should also respect picket lines and refuse to drive through the striking stations: it is not like they are immune from assault and the injustices that often follow.
Management appear to be digging in. Rather than use Jerome's Director's Appeal as a way of backing down without losing face, they did the oppposite: held it much more quickly than they usually would, and upheld the dismissal. In doing so, the company has upped the stakes. It is asserting its right to dismiss staff who won't accept that being a punchbag is part of our job. We need to assert the opposite, by making this strike solid and by planning further action should LUL not back down. A second strike should be timed to coincide with planned action by other workers, including cleaners and Rickmansworth station staff.