TSSA has taken its campaign to stop violence against transport workers to the London Assembly \u2013 calling for\u00a0Transport for London\u00a0(TfL)\u00a0to do more to help workers who have been victims,\u00a0adhere to policies of zero tolerance of abuse and aggression towards staff, and for more funding for British Transport Police\u00a0(BTP).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0The union has actively been campaigning on\u00a0the issue of violence against transport workers for\u00a0many months\u00a0and last year\u00a0launched a report<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>highlighting the growing number of incidents.\u00a0TSSA\u2019s case was highlighted to\u00a0the\u00a0London Assembly Transport Committee\u00a0by\u00a0Paul Feakes,\u00a0a TSSA rep on London Underground\u00a0<\/strong>who has himself\u00a0been the victim of\u00a0a\u00a0serious\u00a0assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paul,\u00a0a Revenue Control Inspector,\u00a0told the Committee\u00a0during a\u00a0three-hour\u00a0session\u00a0that\u00a0when he was\u00a0assaulted,\u00a0he\u00a0had\u00a0been \u201cpunched twice by a member of the public\u201d,\u00a0had\u00a0\u201csuffered concussion\u201d and had been dragged across the station floor.\u00a0He also\u00a0made the point that colleagues\u00a0seem to be\u00a0discouraged by their\u00a0TfL\u00a0line\u00a0managers from intervening\u00a0and\u00a0pointed to\u00a0a lack of BTP\u00a0funding<\/a> \u2013 another issue\u00a0TSSA\u00a0actively\u00a0campaigns on.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u00a0told the Committee\u00a0there needed to be a better system in place for staff to report incidents\u00a0and questioned why, in his experience,\u00a0TfL\u00a0were\u00a0not doing more to\u00a0assist\u00a0employees when they\u00a0have\u00a0been the victim of assaults or threats.\u00a0As\u00a0Paul\u00a0put it – \u201cit\u2019s down to the victim of the assault to chase prosecution\u201d and other matters such as occupational health assessments, with \u201calmost no support from the company on that side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Paul also called on\u00a0TfL\u00a0management\u00a0to\u00a0themselves\u00a0see what it is like for staff who are working alone in the evening\u00a0at\u00a0a station,\u00a0describing how a group of young adults can make ticket halls \u201cscary places, especially if you are on your own. There and instances where people have been assaulted, attacked, abused \u2013 police have been called and nobody came.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0He\u00a0went on –\u00a0\u201cif I\u00a0was\u00a0a senior manager at\u00a0TfL\u00a0I would be begging the\u00a0powers that be\u00a0for more funding for British Transport Police.\u00a0The\u00a0situation\u00a0has got to a\u00a0ridiculous\u00a0level.\u00a0The amount of pressure\u00a0each individual\u00a0(BTP) officer is under\u00a0\u2013\u00a0it’s\u00a0not fair on them,\u00a0it’s\u00a0not fair on us and in the end\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not fair on the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0His final plea was that TfL make good on their stated policy of zero tolerance of abuse\u00a0and\u00a0aggression\u00a0towards staff, saying:\u00a0\u201cthere very much is a tolerance for it,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0well above zero. I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0put a\u00a0figure\u00a0on it but\u00a0yes there is a high tolerance for workplace violence and aggression within Transport for London.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Commenting, TSSA General Secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust said<\/strong>: \u201cThe evidence\u00a0our rep,\u00a0Paul Feakes,\u00a0gave to the London Assembly must be acted on at pace because it\u00a0underscores\u00a0the need for urgent action.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWhat we heard perfectly\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0not only the holes in the TfL operation when it comes to their duty of care to staff, but also how much we need a\u00a0much better funding settlement for BTP so that transport workers and the travelling public know they are safe when making journeys.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n