It appears LU is in the process of recalling the posters normally displayed at stations informing the public that the company will support its employees against passenger assaults, taking legal action if necessary.
Tubeworker HQ understands that the official company line on this is that they don't want to "give the impression that the Tube is a dangerous place". It seems to us that a good way to ensure the Tube becomes more dangerous is to send the message that the company won't take action on staff assaults, implying that it's open season for attacks on staff.
The timing is lost on precisely no-one. The recall takes place just as RMT is gearing up to ballot members for strikes to win the reinstatement of Lee Cornell, a London Bridge CSA sacked for intervening with a fare evader who assaulted a pregnant colleague. For doing what any of us would've done in the same situation, Lee got two punches to the head and, ultimately, a P45 for his trouble. Two of his colleagues, Dave Sharp and Saeed Sioussi, also received final written warnings for attempting to help out.
Can it be that LU realises how potentially embarrassing it would be to have posters broadcasting its policy of supporting staff who suffer assaults on display at the same time as we're on strike to protest that they've done the exact opposite? It seems the reality of LU's position is: if you see a colleague being assaulted, don't intervene. If you're being assaulted, don't make any attempt to defend yourself. If you do, you'll be sacked.
Tubeworker humbly suggests that as part of the dispute resolution settlement in the London Bridge 3 dispute, once Lee is back at work and the sanctions against Dave and Saeed have been withdrawn, the managers responsible for this scandalous decision be made to personally go round stations putting the posters back up, with a written apology appended to each one. Just a thought...
