Merry Christmas from Morden Management

A Morden train operator has had his pay stopped because he has had an eye operation for a detached retina. If this condition had not been treated he would have lost the eyesight in his right eye.

Management tried to force Bob to come back to work on alternative duties. Bob declined this offer, the operation was successful and he was recovering at the expected timescale.

Due to his condition Bob believed that this was inappropriate, he preferred to stay off sick until his GP told him he was fit to resume his duties as train op. LUOH have stated that Bob is not yet fit to work on the trains, platform or track. However management have stopped Bob’s pay from the 28th of November. Do management have the right to do this? NO. This is a flagrant breach of management’s own procedures. They cannot stop pay after a medical update meeting.

As anyone at Morden who has been sick for more than a couple of weeks well knows management have been threatening to cut off pay AS A FIRST RESORT. They have routinely been using this threat to bully and harass our members who are ill.

There comes a time that threats lose their effect unless that threat is carried out. Management have forced themselves into this corner and now they have blundered into this extreme and illegitimate course of action. Management would obviously love to have the power to arbitrarily stop our members pay at the drop of a hat, this would increase their ability to bully our members tenfold, but at the moment they don’t, let’s make sure it stays that way. That’s why everybody at Morden should back Bob up 100%.

At last Thursday’s branch meeting members present unanimously backed Bob. The Branch will pay Bob hardship if this issue is not resolved quickly.

This is the first time management have stopped pay to force one of our members into accepting inappropriate alternative duties. Why cannot let our depot be the one from which this precedent is set. Alternative duties were meant to be a voluntary agreement between the member of staff and local management. They were sold to the unions and the staff as a welfare policy showing management’s duty of care to their staff

The actions of Morden management has blown this out of the water. Many suspected that alternative duties were just a way for management to get their attendance figures looking better and for managers to get their bonuses. The actions of management have confirmed this view. The unions should now withdraw all support for the alternative duties procedures. If you are sick you stay off until you can return to your own job description. Management have shown that they cannot be trusted to implement these policies fairly.

• WE DEMAND THAT BOB McMUNN’S PAY BE RESTORED IMMDIATELY

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