Category: News

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Dec 2016 Inflation Rate

New Inflation Rates

 

The Office for National Statistics has published inflation figures for the twelve months to December 2016.

The Retail Prices Index (RPI) stood at 2.5% for the year to December 2016, up 0.3% from the year to November 2016.

Some private and public sector employers are attempting to sideline RPI as the measure for pay negotiations and are pushing other measures – such as CPI (1.6% for the year to December 2016, up 0.4% from the year to November 2016) or CPIH (1.7% for the year to December 2016, up 0.3% from the year to November 2016). These alternative inflation measures are not appropriate for pay negotiations as they are an inaccurate measure of workers’ average costs over the year.

Any attempts by an employer to link pay awards to CPI or CPIH must be opposed and logged with the National Policy Department.

Further information will follow in the Pay Bulletin and I would be grateful if you could bring this Circular to the attention of all Branch members.

Yours sincerely

Mick Cash

General Secretary

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LUL Circular 18th January

DISPLACEMENT, TRAIN OPERATORS, CENTRAL LINE – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/16/4)

 Further to my previous Circular (IR/395/16, 19th December 2016), the ballot concluded with members voting as follows:-

Are you prepared to take strike action?

 Total Votes Cast               90

Number Voting ‘Yes’          82

Number Voting ‘No’           8

Spoilt Papers                    0

 Are you prepared to take industrial action short of a strike?

 Total Votes Cast               90

Number Voting ‘Yes’          86

Number Voting ‘No’           2

Spoilt Papers                    2

The National Executive Committee has noted the result strongly in favour of taking strike action and action short of a strike and has taken the decision to call on all affected members at Hainault, Leytonstone and Loughton Traincrew Depots NOT TO BOOK ON for any shifts that commence between:-

  • 21:00 hours on Wednesday 25th January 2017 and 20:59 hours on Thursday 26th January 2017.

RMT met with the Company on 3rd and 13th January in an effort to reach an acceptable solution to this dispute but LUL has now written to us stating that it will be proceeding with the displacements. This has left us with no option but to take strike action to demand that management return to talks and halt any forced and unacceptable displacements until agreement is reached. I am sure all members will support our Central Line Train Operators and I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.

BREAKDOWN IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – LONDON UNDERGROUND (FLEET GRADES) (LUL/14/2)

 The following resolution was recently received from LU Fleet Branch:-

“Due to a breakdown in industrial relations with management and the ongoing attacks at various levels, this Branch calls on the General Secretary to advise LU we are in dispute and request the NEC to ballot all LU Fleet members for strike action and action short of a strike. This action has been called due to management breaching the agreed machineries, our main agreement and local agreements, namely:- 

  • Not consulting or negotiating with this Union about reducing staff numbers within Fleet
  • Breaching our agreement on Night Tube and their failure to recruit the additional staff to cover this job
  • Actively attacking our Reps for carrying out their duties
  • Not following the correct process when seeking to change rosters
  • Removing a very long and established practice of ‘phone in days’ throughout Fleet without full and meaningful consultation”.

This matter has been considered by the National Executive Committee, which has taken the decision to inform London Underground we are in dispute and to conduct a ballot of LU Fleet members for strike action and action short of a strike. The Company has been advised accordingly and I am currently making the necessary preparations to conduct a ballot for industrial action. I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.

 STATION STAFFING & SAFETY ARRANGEMENTS, POST-IMPLEMENTATION OF FIT FOR THE FUTURE – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/14/5)

Further to my previous Circular (IR/1/17, 3rd January 2017), the National Executive Committee congratulated all members for the tremendous strike action on Sunday 8th and Monday 9th January 2017. Now the Company has until Monday 6th February to come up with a genuine proposal which meets our reasonable demands over station staffing and safety. If nothing is forthcoming, the NEC has resolved to call further, escalated strike action as the current situation is a disaster waiting to happen and cannot be allowed to continue.

In the meantime, the overtime and rest day working ban, non-familiarisation and non-rostering of overtime remains on as a clear demonstration that it is not possible to run a decent service without sufficient, experienced, safety-critical staff.

The following resolution has also been received from Bakerloo Branch:-

“This Branch calls on the NEC to name a programme of further strikes in the station staffing dispute. These strikes should:- 

  • Be longer than 48 hours
  • Seek to maximise disruption, for example by taking place on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday
  • Involve Night Tube staff, with at least one strike day starting or finishing at 23:01 on a Friday
  • Be announced as part of an ongoing programme of action, also involving demos, rallies etc., similar the approach RMT has pursued in the dispute on Southern
  • Coordinate as much as possible with other disputes, including the Central Line Drivers’ dispute and the Southern dispute”.

This National Executive Committee has now referred this matter to the Southern Sub-Committee and I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.

 DISMISSAL, D. STOREY, TRAIN OPERATOR, WEST RUISLIP – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/4/1)

 Further to my previous Circular (IR/1/17, 3rd January 2017), London Underground agreed to conduct a Director’s Review into Brother Storey’s case and to allow this review to take place, the National Executive Committee took the decision to cancel the strike action which was due to commence on Monday 9th Janurary 2017. The outcome of the Director’s Review which took place on Thursday 12th January is awaited and I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.

 

Yours sincerely

Mick Cash

General Secretary

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RMT demand action over downtime

The RMT have held talks with senior managers at  CPD Signals over the concerns our members have over the lack of work and downtime (no available work) where we have seen up to 40 people with no work on occasion.

The reality is that in the Project Area there has been a move to the work being down in weekend BTRs and night tube has affected the work being done on that night. Couple that with our members tending to work Monday to Friday Nights and a general down turn in normal work being done then it is obvious to foresee a situation where downtime increases. This obviously impacts job security in the longer term but also personal dignity and ability to maintain licensing

To the end, the RMT are demanding:

  • The company looks to prioritise internal Signalling work to these staff. It is a ludicrous situation where certain jobs are given to companies such as Kelly Rail (among others) and not our own staff.
  • That the way the ‘internal charging’ is done so that staff are just sent as staff rather than with an overhead
  • End of silo thinking. We understand people looking at their own budgets, however, if some work costs LUL as a whole more, then it is the economy of the madhouse to not give that work to internal LUL workers that have no work that night
  • Look to compete for other work. We see a massive investment in the SSL Signals upgrade and therefore fully utilising CPD Signals would seem an obvious choice. In the past, this organisation has even won contracts abroad to do re-signalling projects in countries such as Australia and Hong Kong
  • Invest in training staff on new technology so that they have the skills to work on all available assets
  • Look for volunteers to work rosters on agreed rostered rates of pay to have the staff available when the work is. This is a very contentious issue as staff on Nights have always fought and won the right for Monday to Friday Working. However, it would be wrong of us not to explore every eventuality to ensure our members job security.
  • LUL to stop the cuts in this area and do the work that the railway needs to be done

Our reps will be going to workplaces as soon as possible to speak to our members on this matter.

However, we also need to be clear that we will not be accepting a slow death of any of our areas and intend to fight to make sure our members have job security and a job that is worth having.

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MAKE SOME NOISE DEMO 13th MARCH

MAKE SOME NOISE DEMO 13th MARCH

In the light of Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s shocking decision in October not to grant an inquiry into “The Battle of Orgreave”, the Truth and Justice Campaign are planning their biggest and noisiest demonstration to date. Having sent our own letter to Teresa May, when she was Home Secretary, calling for a review RMT is fully supporting this action and urges everyone who can to support it.

The campaign has chosen Monday March 13th at 2pm to 4pm to demonstrate at the Home office address below:

Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

Publicity is available via their website http://otjc.org.uk/home-office-noise-demo/

or you can order hard copies of the materials by emailing orgreavejustice@hotmail.com

OTJC want to show how angry the movement feels about the decision so have billed the event as a “Noise Protest”.  Please circulate details and make every effort to attend with banners, join in and loudly tell this Government the campaign will never be silenced!

I look forward to seeing you all on the day.

Thanking you in anticipation

Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash

General Secretary

 

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WOMEN’S REGIONAL ORGANISATION – WOMEN’S WEEK

WOMEN’S REGIONAL ORGANISATION – WOMEN’S WEEK

Further to circular NP/277/16, 23rd November 2016, promoting a week set aside to specifically organise women within the industry, the button badges saying “A woman’s place is in her RMT union” and a new leaflet aimed at women regarding the benefits of joining the union will be made available.  In addition we also hold “Violence against women transport workers – its not part of the job” posters which could be added to any membership pack.

Please do contact our Equal Opportunities Officer, Jessica Webb (j.webb@rmt.org.uk 020 7529 8821), immediately to say if are planning any activity and how many of the badges and leaflets you require.

Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash

General Secretary

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RMT to ballot London Underground fleet staff

RMT to ballot London Underground fleet staff for action over breakdown in industrial relations

 

RAIL UNION RMT confirmed today that it will be balloting its London Underground fleet staff members for strike action and action short of a strike over a breakdown in industrial relations and numerous breaches of agreed machineries and agreements by LUL management including:

•          Not consulting or negotiating with RMT over reduced staffing levels within Fleet.

•          Breaching our agreement on Night Tube and failing to recruit adequate additional staff to cover this work.

•          Actively attacking RMT Reps for carrying out their trade union duties.

•          Not following the correct process when seeking to change rosters.

•          Removing a long and established practice of ‘phone in days’ throughout Fleet without agreement.

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Thales Proposal to attack Pension Payments

The RMT have received a proposal from Thales UK to amend the future pension increases for members of  legacy final salary pension schemes (such as Thomson Retirement Benefit Scheme, Thales Optronics Pension Scheme and Racal Group Pension Scheme) and those in the Thales UK Pension Scheme (TUPs) ONLY. This proposal will see future payments from these defined benefit schemes being index linked to the CPI figure rather than the RPI figure which is usually higher.

This proposal would potentially see members having to survive on lower pensions than they would have done under the old scheme rules.

Also worrying, the proposal, though not clear, seem to infer that Thales are going to court and we can only assume that this is to attempt to rewrite the Pension Rules (in effect the promise made to its members) to change the indexation criteria to RPI.

To this end, the RMT have demanded full talks on this matter and will be opposing these changes until this has occurred. Furthermore, should Thales win this matter in court then the RMT will also be referring this matter to our solicitors and will not hesitate to challenge any ruling legally or industrially if necessary. We will keep our members informed of developments

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Jan 2017 Blacklisting Update

Happy 2017, and a massive thank you to everyone who has assisted the blacklisting campaign throughout 2016 and beyond. Last year saw a historic outcome in the High Court litigation, something few of us thought possible when we first started this fight but a half hearted apology and financial compensation is not the same as justice. That’s why our fight continues for a full public inquiry.

 

  1. ‘Blacklisted’ book world tour continues – this time Kuala Lumper

Phil Chamberlain will be giving a free public talk and book signing at Gerakbuduya bookshop in Kuala Lumpur on January 17 from 8-11pm.

More details on the bookshop here: http://gbgerakbudaya.com/bookshop/or on twitter @GerakBudaya

address: No. 2, Jalan Bukit 11/2, 46200 Petaling Jaya which is about 10 minutes walk from Tama Jaya metro station

 

  1. Another protest – another music video:

This coming Saturday there is a protest at Harrods over the company keeping the tips given to staff. BSG encourage as many people as possible to attend and show solidarity with the waiting staff. Wear your Blacklisted t-shirts as there will be a music video shoot for the new song ‘Us the Workers’ by the cutting edge MC, Potent Whisper – meet at Knightsbridge Tube 2pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/1133047913458998/?ti=icl

 

  1. The Health and Safety Executive have announced their intention to finally prosecute the BFK consortium (Bam – Ferrovial -Kier) over three incidents on the construction of the Crossrail tunnel, including the death of Rene Tkacik, who was crushed by falling spray-on “shotcrete” from a tunnel roof. BSG send solidarity to the family, the London Hazards and construction safety campaign who have tirelessly campaigned for justice.

 

  1. UNITE – UCATT merger

Blacklist Support Group sends comradely greetings to all construction workers now in the same union following the merger of UCATT and UNITE on 1st January. Let’s hope the newly merged union takes a strong stance against the exploitative employers who have blacklisted our reps and denied their workforce basic employment rights for too long.

 

  1. Trade Union Pale Ale

The people who brought us Brigadista Beer to commemorate the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War are launching Trade Union Pale Ale in February, with events in both Manchester and London. There is a special edition blacklisting version. We need people to represent, to drink the beer and take photos of the bottles. And more importantly get your local pub or club to order bottles via Matthew@hopenothate.org.uk –

Tickets available for the launch events from: http://www.kingsarmssalford.com/index.php?id=9#02/10/2017

 

 

 

 

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RMT hits back at Government-appointed ORR

General Secretary Mick Cash said.

“The Office of Road and Rail are claiming to be an independent safety body when in fact they are a department of the government made up of Tory appointees and funded by the transport industry.

“Despite their own reports highlighting over 20 serious safety failures they claim that, with remedial action, Driver Only Operation can be made safe .

“Any other industry that had over 20 serious safety failures would be put under special measures immediately but with the government itself pushing Driver Only Operation it is no surprise to us that this whitewash of a report has appeared on the eve of a strike.

“The ORR didn’t even have the decency to speak to the RMT when compiling their report  to get the workforce side of events and instead concentrated only on the opening of doors and not on the far wider guards role of evacuating a train during an accident, fire or terrorist incident and a suite of other safety competencies.

“The recent derailment at Watford, where the guard evacuated the train alone, has been completely ignored which shows what a servile shambles the ORR really is.‎ RMT will continue to fight for rail safety despite this coordinated attack from Government, their wholly-owned regulators and the rip-off train companies.”

Cash added;

“The ORR should also state that the orthodox train despatch with a conductor/guard is a safe method tried and tested and used in 70% of the railway network and Southern will continue to use it on their network with the authority of the ORR.”

“The  ORR, DfT and Southern want to confine this issue to doors and train despatch yet the role of the conductor/guard ensures a superior and safer method of working as it ensures a second safety critical person on-board to deal with a range of safety issues such as driver incapacity, evacuations, traction current isolations. Coordination of emergency services protection of the train and a whole range of issue including passenger assistance and accessibility.

“Any settlement of this dispute or consideration of the development of safe train operations must fully encompass this agenda and cannot be be based on the dilution of the safe operation of trains in the interest of company profits and the government’s anti-union agenda.”

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2016 Branch Social

Dear ALL

Please see the photos from our 2016 branch social and we would like to thank all our members and especially our long serving ones for making it such a great night

 

img_1996

 

img_1958 img_1960 img_1965 img_1968 img_1970 img_1971 img_1974 img_1976 img_1978 img_1981 img_1984 img_1985 img_1988 img_1990 img_1992 img_1993 img_1996

Anyone that attended that night for an award, please email LUEngineering@rmt.org.uk for a copy of the photos

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Tube Lines entry to the TfL Pension Fund

We would like to remind members that intend to transfer into the TfL Pension Scheme to send back their papers and chase up confirmation or replies if they have not received any.

The company intend to map those agreeing to transfer at the same time and it took eight years to win the right to join the fund for Metronet Staff that missed the window when the same process was done with that company. We do not want to have a similar fight and loss of potential pension rights again

So please document that you have sent your forms back or make sure you your forms have gone back and you have gotten confirmation they have been received (for those that have chosen to join the fund)

 

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Thales RSS ALP & A-Z Agreed

The RMT have now formally accepted the below agreement for Thales Rail Signals LR 1-7 Grades to resolve the long standing issue of annual leave pay and equalise conditions with Thales DTS Section.

We congratulate our members on their steadfast determination to achieve justice

 

ALP & A-Z AGREEMENT

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