TUBE UNION RMT today launched a campaign for the reinstatement of tube driver James Masango who, despite winning by 100% an Employment Tribunal claim for unfair dismissal, has still not been re-engaged by London Underground.

James Masango’s case exposed an appalling litany of mismanagement which resulted in his Tribunal taking the rare step of finding 100% in his favour with not a single shred of evidence that there was any contributory fault on his part. Reinstatement in light of such an overwhelming verdict on his innocence should be automatic.

James was found to have been returned to driving duties too early after a period of sickness relating to an incident while at work despite the fact that LU’s own occupational health department had issued a memo saying that he should not be returned to driving duties, or be taking safety critical decisions, in light of blood pressure problems directly connected to the earlier incident.

As a consequence of these failures by the management side James was involved in a wrong side door incident and dismissed. In a damning judgment the Employment Tribunal said that:

“No reasonable employer could have concluded from the evidence that the claimant should have been driving at the time of the wrong-side door incident.”

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“It is extremely rare for the Employment Tribunal to find 100% for the claimant and that means that the employer, London Underground , is 100% guilty of unfair dismissal and that reinstatement should be automatic. The fact that we are still fighting for justice for James Masango in light of all the evidence is a shocking indictment on LUL.

“We hoped that we would be able to negotiate reinstatement through the normal channels but LUL have dragged their feet and we now have no option but to launch a public campaign and to begin preparations for a ballot for action of all our train grade members to put right this gross injustice.”