The TWU will argue in the industrial court that bus driver Ken McMahon, who went to the defence of a female colleague being harassed by a drunken passenger, was unfairly sacked.
The drunken man had just been put off the bus after he began abusing Mr McMahon who had asked him to show his concession card.
Mr McMahon and the woman were drivers at the firm's Beckenham depot and were good friends. She was walking past the bus when the incident occurred. She was just a few feet away from the bus when the drunken passenger was told to leave. The incident occurred in Victoria Park and the woman was in uniform.

''He was attacking her and I went to protect her,''  Mr McMahon told the Sunday Times after meeting with the TWU. "He took one swing and I hit him one time and stopped him in his tracks. He was a large, intoxicated and aggressive - - an abusive male who was right in her face, fists clenched, chasing her down the footpath screaming all sorts of obscenities at her.''

Mr McMahon, who has been a bus driver for Swan Transit for 18 months and has martial-arts training, said company policy forbids him to leave his bus to aid anyone in trouble.
''So, I lost my job over the incident,'' he said. ''They called me in on Thursday afternoon and I was sacked. ''The lady is a close friend, so I clearly would not stand by and let the situation escalate to the point where she was physically battered.''

Fellow drivers have described Mr McMahon as a hero.
Witness statements, including from the woman, support Mr McMahon's version of events.
"Ken was the only one who came to protect me,'' the woman said in a written statement to Swan Transit. ''No one walking on the street did anything.''

However, Swan Transit director Neil Smith said the woman was threatened verbally, but not physically, so Mr McMahon's actions were an over-reaction.
The TWU strongly disagrees with Swan's version of events and believes it should have given Mr McMahon greater backing. To set the record straight we have conducted our own investigation and I have spoken to the woman driver and an eye witness who had a clear view of what happened.

The woman driver- who we won't name - told me she was walking to the bank during her break - in uniform. She said the passenger had gotten off the bus swearing at her and started to follow her. He was swearing at her and had his hands clenched in fists. He got up close to her, in her face swearing at her. "He was very dangerous".
She confirmed to me that she had her arms up to her head to protect herself.
Swan claims the on-board video - which I have seen - doesn't show such a confrontation. That is because there was no camera pointing to where the main confrontation occurred.
Both Ken's and the woman driver's versions were backed up by the passenger who told me he had seen the entire incident.

He said the driver had asked the man for his concession card. "He didn't have one and started calling the driver (Ken) a wanker and a white wanker. After awhile the bus driver (Ken) told the man to get off the bus and the guy called him a white wanker again." said the witness. "The guy got off and started to go after her. He was swearing at her and calling her a f#@king slut and stuff," the witness told me. "He was very close to her, right in her face and going off at her. She looked very scared. The driver got up out of his seat and got off the bus. He took two or three steps and spun the guy around and hit him once and then put him on the (bus-stop) bench." The witness stated.

So there you have it. Three similar versions of the same event!

On the Friday after Ken's sacking the TWU's Paul Aslan spoke to Swan chief Neil Smith about the matter. Paul suggested he speak directly to the woman driver and the eye witness. Mr Smith wouldn't do this, opting instead to rely on his depot management and the camera vision, which had NOT PICKED UP the most violent part of the confrontation.
Over the past year there have been literally hundreds of recorded assaults on Perth's buses. In one of them a bus driver comes to the aid of a workmate and his employer sacks him.

WE THINK that's WRONG!!!!