Management agree that the duties are available and Adrian is capable of doing them but apparently it would be 'too difficult' for them to manage on a day to day basis.

Adrian has developed a medical condition in recent years which resulted in the Railway doctor restricting what work he can do. His own GP has stated that stopping Adrian working will actually be detrimental to his physical and mental health.

We are appealing against this deplorable decision and unless there is a satisfactory result we will be seeking support from the union nationally for a legal challenge and industrial action ballot to get Adrian back to work. It would seem that after 43 years it is now just ‘too inconvenient’ to go on employing him.

Following discussions between the RMT and FGW, Adrian’s appeal on Thursday 28 September has now been cancelled and further independent medical evidence will now be sought regarding Adrian’s fitness for work.
Whilst we must see this as real progress in this case we cannot see the matter as fully resolved until our member is back in secure employment.

The RMT Bristol Rail Branch has therefore passed a decision to request an Industrial Action ballot of all of our members at SPM if a satisfactory result is not achieved in Adrian’s case. Because of the principles involved in this case moving any dispute to other FGW grades would have to be an early consideration.

Other case evidence has come to light about BUPA Occupational Health Services and the Branch will be writing to the RMT Executive asking them to now make strong representations to FGW about the treatment of our members. It is becoming clear that through a mixture of inconsistent, ambiguous and sometimes just very poor advice our members are having their livelihoods put at risk. It has been noted that one particular BUPA doctor has been associated with a lot of the reported problems.

The RMT Branch would like to thank all of our members for their resolute support for Adrian in his fight to keep his job. We also thank those members of other rail unions who have been quick to lend their support to this cause. We have also had a lot of approaches from other staff with ongoing medical problems at SPM. They were fearful of their position and hopefully this partial move back to a common sense approach will give them back a little bit of reassurance.

As stated earlier this is not over yet and we would ask all of our members and supporters to stay on alert. It is everyone’s clear wish that management do the right thing in this case, that we avoid a totally unnecessary dispute and that we can concentrate on the other important issues at SPM and within FGW.

Keeping sick and disabled employees at work sometimes presents a real challenge to managers. Good management is about taking up this challenge and ‘no stone is left unturned’ in an endeavour to accommodate staff.