Tube Lines Reps Meeting Report
The Tube Lines Pay Offer was put to all our Tube Lines reps at a meeting at Unity House on 23 Feb.
The discussions also included Pensions and Night Tube were discussed with all making a contribution.
The debate was focused again on how Tube Lines are again wanting something else before they will even talk about Pensions. This is despite talking about Pensions since 2012 and in 2015 agreed with all the efficiency savings and time scale to implement them yet they now want Night Tube Operating before they will talk to us again.
There were other items of concern at the meeting which are listed below;
PAY & NIGHT TUBE
- Same as LUL!! NO: Tube Lines have constantly ignored any negotiation and kept repeating the Mantra ” you will receive whatever is agreed with LUL “
Well this is now well and truly over as the two offers are very different in 2 important aspects.
At the meeting with Tube Lines we questioned the wording of “24 hour running” rather than Friday & Saturday night running. After some discussion with Tube Lines the LUL Employee Relations Manager admitted that as far as they were concerned if we agree to this then it means agreeing to the principle of 24 hour running any night and when pushed agreed that it means running more than Friday and Saturday. He did not disagree when questioned could that mean running more than 2 nights at Bank Holidays or Special Events. The LUL offer talks about Friday and Saturday running before mentioning 24 hour running. A very big difference !
- Extra Employment and Rostering: The second point with the Pay and Night Tube was the fact the LUL offer talks about those not wishing to work night tube can move to other lines or do other work with LUL committed to employing hundreds more staff to enable this to happen. They have GUARANTEED people can stay on their existing roster. Whereas Tube Lines have said that all staff have to work on Night Tube and that all rosters will change to reflect this. We did say to Tube Lines that our members should be given the same opportunities as BCV and LUL workers and allowed to opt out and if necessary move to SSL Lines, THIS WAS REFUSED OUT OF HAND.
At the reps meeting all this was fully and frankly discussed and taken together with Managements letter attached saying all this must not only be agreed but up and running before they would talk about Pensions it was completely rejected. We had a discussion on what was needed and about making sure we could deliver a big yes vote for industrial action and every rep was asked for their views on a ballot and if we could deliver. There were 32 reps present from all sections of tube lines and it was agreed UNANIMOUSLY to ballot for industrial action on Pensions, Pay and Night Tube.
It was also agreed that Pensions have to be at the front of this dispute and work has to be done on getting the Matrix up to date and a personal letter should go out to all members giving a history of the Pension dispute and reasons it is linked to pay and night tube together with our objections and why we also reject the Pay and Night Tube offer.
UNITY IS STRENGTH
Tube Lines Reps Meeting Report