From Tubeworker
Elaine Holness is the RMT rep on Waterloo Group. London Underground have stood her down on allegations of racial harassment because she, a black woman, gave evidence against her white male manager in an employment tribunal! London Underground management are inventing a whole new concept of justice to suit their own ends. LUL is trying to silence reps from speaking out against the company. They are saying that even evidence in court can be used as a disciplinary matter!
The allegations against Elaine distort the purpose of the harassment policy. Workers experiencing harassment fought for the principle that it was up to us to decide whether we were being harassed, based on how we feel, so the people doing the harassment could no longer get away with the excuse, 'I was only having a laugh', etc. Now, this manager says he feels harassed by what Elaine said in a Tribunal and the company has allowed him to claim that the harassment policy applies to him.
This is an insult to anyone who has ever made the difficult decision to use the harassment policy to speak out and to people who do genuinely feel traumatised by what they are suffering at work. This manager is just using the harassment policy as part of his management armoury to get at an effective union rep.
This company has no sense of justice and cannot be trusted an inch. So, when management spread rumours like 'the RMT have walked out of pay negotiations', we should bear their record in mind when deciding whether to believe the union or management. One is on your side, the other would do anything in their power to stab you in the back.
