Arriva drivers win discrimination payout

Two Arriva bus drivers have won compensation for discrimination at an employment tribunal; the men said that they were threatened with dismissal because they had worn high visibility vests which had their union logo ‘RMT’ written across them.
Mr Farr and Mr Graves had worked out of Arriva’s South Croydon garage. Both men were members of the RMT. When they wore high-visibility vests with the RMT logo, they were ‘harassed, disciplined and threatened with the sack’.
Both men raised claims of discrimination to the employment tribunal. Speaking at the hearing, the men said that colleagues had often worn non-Arriva vests, some of which carried racist messages; one was said to have worn a swastika on his. However, none of their colleagues had ever been disciplined, they said.
The employment tribunal ruled that Mr Farr would receive £7,000 compensation and Mr Graves would receive £9,000. It said: ‘The purpose of the acts complained of was to penalise the claimants for being members of the RMT and/or to deter them from taking part in the RMT.’
Speaking after the verdict, RMT General Secretary, Mr Crow, said: ‘Arriva had no problem in tolerating bigotry and fascist messages but was not able to tolerate the three letters ‘RMT.’
http://www.ukemploymentlaw.co.uk