Category: News

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RMT confirms driver strike vote on Piccadilly Line

RMT confirms driver strike vote on Piccadilly Line over comprehensive breakdown in industrial relations

 

TUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that it is to ballot nearly 400 train operators across the Piccadilly Line for both strike action and action short of a strike over a comprehensive breakdown in industrial relations combining a range of issues. The ballot will open on 6th October and close on the 20th October.

 

The Piccadilly is the fourth busiest line on the London Underground network transporting an average of 600,000 passengers a day and services London’s Heathrow airport – the busiest airport in Europe.

 

The issues at the heart of the dispute involving the train operators include:

 

SPAD Management

 

Breaches of the agreed SPAD management processes. Issues of weak brakes on certain rolling stock units have not been taken into account in recent investigations with union members left facing spurious disciplinary procedures because of faulty rolling stock and because the Safety Critical errors procedure has not been fully adhered to.

 

Breaches of the Machinery of Negotiation

 

A number of local agreements are repeatedly ignored by a management which is instead intent on imposing unacceptable working practices on members.

 

Attendance Management

 

Members are targeted as a result of breaches of LUL’s attendance management policies, including the application of an arbitrary capability/rainbow attendance management scheme that is not incorporated into any of LUL’s policies and not written down. This is leading to members who are fit and at work being called into meetings where they are threatened with attendance improvement targets, which if not met may result in their termination of employment from LUL. The whole attendance process is flawed, agreed processes are ignored and requests for machinery meetings to address these issues have been refused.

 

Discipline at Work

 

A number of union members are currently subject to spurious disciplinary action, outside of the agreed disciplinary processes. The union is clear that the harsh and unjust treatment of members on the Piccadilly line amounts to a campaign of bullying, harassment and intimidation which is completely unacceptable.

 

Cockfosters Depot

 

A number of issues regarding the opening of Cockfosters Depot, including the familiarisation process and link & duty schedule issues are the subject of a failure to agree and remain unresolved due to unsatisfactory progress made during negotiations.

 

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

 

“The wholesale abuse of procedures and agreements by management on the Piccadilly Line is rife and amounts to the development of a campaign of bullying, harassment and intimidation that the union will not allow to continue.

 

“The combined weight of these issues has built up to a comprehensive and fundamental collapse in industrial relations that the company have done nothing to address leaving RMT with no option but to ballot for both strike action and action short of a strike.

 

“The union remains available for talks.”

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LUL Night Tube and Pay Talks Update

The RMT and the other sister unions are returning to Acas on the 6th October for further talks with LUL. The talks mainly surround outstanding issues with service control and train drivers and the introduction of night tube.

The outstanding issue of the yearly pay rise is also due to be discussed as soon as night tube is finalised

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RMT EDUCATION PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION 2016.

To: All Branches & Regional Councils, Regional Organisers and Head Office Officers.

 

Dear Colleague

 

RMT EDUCATION PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION 2016.

 

The union has for almost 2 years had a ‘partnership’ agreement with Northern College, in particular a working relationship with the college Trade Union Education department. This arrangement has proved very beneficial to the Union in terms of advice and expertise drawn from the many years the College has been a Trade Union Education provider.

 

During this period it has also been possible to ‘accredit’ our own programme, which essentially allows our members completing courses at the Bob Crow National Education Centre to receive ‘academic awards’ that are of real value. It has also enabled us to have our individual courses properly tested against external assessment, provide quality training and ongoing support through tutor observations to our RMT Lay Tutors as well the ability to draw funding towards the cost of our education programme. This has been against a background of continuing attacks on education funding by the government that has beset Northern College and all other TU colleges. The funding situation for adult education generally is still precarious in the medium term.

 

In the current in-house review of each of our courses (ongoing) and changes to education funding again it has still been possible to devise a new and enhanced ‘reward’ system for our members going forward into 2016, which fits the requirements to continue with an accredited programme. In 2016 it is intended that three new levels of achievement will be available to members completing courses in Doncaster.

 

  1. An Award in RMT Trade Union Studies, provided for Workplace Reps Level 1
  2. A Certificate in RMT Trade Union Studies, provided for Workplace Reps Level 2 & 3, Branch Officials Level 1 & 2, and also for courses such as Pensions (5 days), Equality, and work is ongoing for to ensure each of our stand alone courses attract this certificate level.
  3. An Advanced Certificate in RMT Trade Union Studies, this will require the RMT member to complete the Advance Certificate Parts 1,2,3 & 4, covering, Representation, Organising, Communications, and Campaigning – over a period of time to suit them.

Those seeking to complete this Advanced programme should have completed the Workplace Reps Level 1 & 2 and/or Branch Officials Level 1 & 2, in previous years.

 

The Workplace Reps Intro course remains a vital starting place for all wanting to embark on a programme of education and training to contribute to the work of organising a strong RMT and representing our members. These Workplace Reps Intro courses should be run in all regions and the costs are met by Head office.

 

I hope you will welcome this development, for further information please contact the RMT National Education Officer at a.gilchrist@rmt.org.uk

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mick Cash

RMT General Secretary

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Serious about equality

RMT takes equal opportunities seriously.

 

This means listening to women, black and ethnic minority, lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender members. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity in the workplace.

RMT listens to its members and has three National Advisory Committees:

  • Black and Ethnic Minority Members’ Advisory Committee
  • Women’s Advisory Committee
  • LGBT Members’ Advisory Committee

 

Nominations are now being invited from Branches for all of the Advisory Committees for the next three year term, January 2016 – December 2018.

If you want to be nominated, contact your Branch Secretary for more details. Members do make a difference and by joining together, we can change things for the better.

 

Join us in our fight for equality – make your voice heard! Equality Matters

 

Poster for advisory committees 2016-2018

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RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 AND NIGHT RUNNING – LONDON UNDERGROUND

 

OFFICIAL CIRCULAR

 

TO ALL BRANCHES AND REPRESENTATIVES

ALL UNDERGROUND AND FORMER LT EMPLOYERS

 

 

 

23rd September 2015                                                          Circular No IR/224/15

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 AND NIGHT RUNNING – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/0001)

 

Further to my previous Circular (IR/211/15, 3rd September 2015), the General Grades Committee has taken the decision to keep this issue under review and has reiterated that we are still in dispute and will reinstate industrial action if and when necessary if our just demands on pay and Night Tube are not met.

 

I will keep you informed of all further developments.

 

EVERY JOB MATTERS – DEFENDING JOBS ON LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/14/5)

 

Further to my previous Circular (IR/211/15, 3rd September 2015), the General Grades Committee has taken the decision to keep this issue under review and has reiterated that we are still in dispute and will reinstate industrial action if and when necessary if our just demands are not met. Also, to launch a political campaign in tandem with the London Transport Regional Council and to seek a meeting with our Parliamentary Group to seek backing to reopen ticket offices and to reinstate lost jobs. We will be seeking support from candidates in the 2016 GLA and London Mayoral elections that they will pledge to reopen ticket offices and reinstate lost jobs on the Underground.

 

I will keep you informed of all further developments.

 

RE-GRADING OF WATERLOO & CITY LINE SERVICE CONTROL STAFF – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/2/2)

 

Further to my previous Circular (IR/200/15, 20th August 2015) the ballot concluded with members’ voting as follows:-

 

Are you prepared to take strike action?

 

Total Votes Cast                3

Number Voting ‘Yes’           3

Number Voting ‘No’            0

Spoilt Papers                     0

 

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

 

Total Votes Cast                3

Number Voting ‘Yes’           3

Number Voting ‘No’            0

Spoilt Papers                     0

 

Having considered correspondence on file from our Lead Officer and Central Line East Branch Secretary after discussions with affected members, the General Grades Committee has taken the decision to call on all Waterloo & City Line Service Control members to take further strike action by NOT BOOKING ON for any shifts that commence between:-

 

  • 21:00 hours on Monday 28th September 2015 until 23:00 hours on Wednesday 30th September 2015.

 

LUL management must be clear by now on our legitimate and reasonable demand for re-grading and I have recently re-iterated that we will not accept an offer which is based on a change in members’ duties or which would cause a detriment to other members. Although LUL has declined our request for arbitration at ACAS, they are aware that as always we remain available for talks to resolve the dispute.

 

I will of course keep you advised of all further developments.

 

BREAKDOWN IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – KEOLIS AMEY DOCKLANDS (DLR/14/2)

 

Further to my previous Circular (IR/211/15, 3rd September 2015), a report has been received from the Lead Officer who has discussed the issues with our DLR Branch Secretary and written to Keolis Amey Docklands to seek an urgent meeting with a view to resolving the serious issues at hand.

 

This matter has been considered by the General Grades Committee, which has instructed me to place the matter back before them when the Lead Officer has received a reply from KAD. I will of course keep you advised of all further developments.

 

Yours sincerely

Mick Cash

General Secretary

 

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Martin Stukin's Dismissal

Martin works for Tube Lines in Lifts and Escalators and like many people has been unwell over the last few year. However, he has been improving and has been productive to the company and his vast experience has been well utilised by the company.

However, Martin was brought in for a meeting last week and told the company were to dismiss him on medical grounds. The truth is the company refused to wait for his consultant’s appointment that is due to take place imminently (3 weeks) and stated that as they had no light duties, that they would move straight to dismissal. They never considered alternatives such as London Underground’s Alternative Duties Department or other areas of the business sufficiently.

The RMT won agreement many years ago that no medical termination or redeployment would take place without a job offer first. This did not occur and management  steam rollered the whole issue through despite rigorous opposition from his reps.

The member that worked with Martin believe this to be the wrong decision and are looking to defend Martin and defend the agreement over sickness. To that end they are organising support for Martin including the below attached petition for his reinstatement (to be used at his appeal).

The matter will be discussed at the next branch meeting and all methods to defend his job will be considered

 

Martin Stukin Petition

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MJ Quinns Update

Dear Colleagues,

Following talks with the company regarding removal of the company fuel card and existing expenses system the company have committed to various actions to assist the introduction of the new system.

The talks have been frank so far and very useful and cordial.

The commitments were put to our members in a conference call and it was agreed that it was insufficient to address the basic issues of trust and whether the system is fit for purpose.

It was therefore decided to request further talks on the matter

Anyone wishing to be a local rep in these talks then please contact me at:

LUEngineering@rmt.org.uk

The email exchange with the company is shown below with the guarantees being offered
From: <luengineering@rmt.org.uk>
Date: 5 September 2015 03:29:53 BST
To: Sonia Burridge <Sonia.Burridge@mjquinn.co.uk>, “Sam Young (HR)” <syoung@mjquinn.co.uk>, Alex Murphy <amurphy@mjquinn.co.uk>
Subject: Consultation

Hi Sonia

I put the below suggestions to our members in a conference call yesterday. So apologies for the hour that I am getting back to you formally

They had a lot of issues surrounding this matter. The issues are issues of:

1) Trust. They are concerned the guarantees below will leave them chasing their money on a weekly basis and ultimately see them out of pocket. They believe that a float of only two weeks and a claim system that takes a week to pay potentially just isn’t enough time. Also, they don’t feel some of the management team would be sympathetic to them and this would further cause them stress

2) Fitness for purpose: They are concerned that the software underpinning the change just isn’t up to it. That it is over complex and given the number of their jobs and the various routes they may go down will mean they just cannot fill out the forms with any meaningful accuracy

3) There is concerns regarding personal use and tax and I am waiting for a form of words on that

They have agreed to further talks and I will send over some names for collective discussions supported by the the RMT as soon as I have them all.

There are some individual cases that may require individual discussions. They can notify you of these particular issues

Many thanks

Paul Jackson
RMT Branch Secretary
LUEngineering (0692)
07810643681

——
The new fuel arrangements are intended to be introduced for all grades on the LUL areas.

MJ Quinns agree that under their proposal that no individual will be expected to pay for business fuel.

To enable that commitment Mj Quinns are happy to implement the below

All other existing terms and conditions remain unchanged except for the method of acquiring and paying for fuel

Staff that are presently allowed to book from home will continue to be allowed to do so

Staff will take photographs of their odometers at the beginning and end of each journey. They will also keep copies of any fuel receipts. This will then enable staff to check the mileage they add onto the GoggleMaps system is accurate and the fuel reimbursement equals the fuel that they are actually using. This information will be used for any reviews

Anyone that needs IT support will be entitled to assurance. Any existing special needs will be honoured. It is accepted by MJQuinns that minor errors may occur and these aw not disciplinary issues but the company may ask staff to amend these errors.

This will enable the correct payment of any monies owed and will allow for any diversions/ idle time/ traffic jams etc.

A float will be calculated for each driver that is equal to their expected fuel usage for the previous two weeks.

Any claims are submitted for 9am on a Monday morningthey will be paid on the Friday of the same week. If a payment is not going to be made that Friday because of an internal error which is not the drivers fault then we will ensure payments are made by BACS or CHAPS, however drivers must inform us of any discrepancy asap.

In the event of a theft of motor issue that is not the fault of the driver, then MJ Quinns will reimburse the driver for any list fuel using the existing expenses system

MJQuinns confirm there is no intention to monitor private journeys and the existing safeguards remain unchanged

MJ Quinns will allow staff to use their tablets/ PCs at Finsbury Circus or Barking to lodge these claims. No one is expected to do this in their own time or on their own pc.

Staff can request a review at anytime if they believe their claims are inaccurate. This review is to ensure that staff are fully paid for business mileage. Any short term errors will be dealt with by the usual expenses claims process. Any longer term issues may result in the fuel rate being altered.

Staff that exhaust their float or have severe financial issues should raise with the management teams at the earliest opportunity. It is envisaged that the float allowance and repayment and constant review of the mileage and fuel used should mean that at no time will the fuel be exhausted

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome New Starters

 

New Starters Leaflet

 

Branch Secretary Paul Jackson,
Mob: 07810 643 681
Email: LUEngineering@rmt.org.uk,
Email (LUL Addresses): PaulJackson.rmt@gmail.com

Welcome to the RMT.

Dear Colleague,

Our Branch looks after many of the activities of the Infrastructure companies that undertake work on London Underground. We are currently the largest RMT Branch in the country and have very many diverse roles among our membership. These range from the General Secretary of the RMT (who is in our Branch) to high ranking managers, from Permanent Way Staff to administrative staff. We even have a lorry driver! We currently have members from nearly forty different companies and we can proudly state that we are an ALL GRADES union.
As a new member you may well have a few questions about what is going on within the union, who your local representations are, sort out any problems or advice that you need etc. One good place to find these answers is by coming to the Union Branch Meetings. We meet on the first and third Wednesday of every month at the Savoy Tup, 2 Savoy St, The Strand, London. WC2R 0BA. This is only a few minutes walk from Holborn, Temple or Covent Garden stations. You can also just give me a call or email me on the contact details shown above and I will be more than happy assist you. Also please check that your details are correct (this can be done online at www.rmt.org.uk) and you notify your union if you change locations or grades.
Below are also some phone numbers to RMT Helplines that you may find useful:
Criminal Helpline: 07659 118 181
Personal Injury: 08457 125 495
RMT Helpline (non-work related legal): 0800 376 3706 or email info@rmt.org.uk

 

You can also find out more info at www.luengineeringrmt.co.uk
Or join ‘like’ us on facebook www.facebook.com/luengineering.rmt or ‘follow’ us on twitter https://twitter.com/LUEngineering

Many thanks,
Paul Jackson

 

Posted on

Tube Lines Pay and Night Tube

RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND NIGHT RUNNING – TUBE LINES AP JNP (LUL/0001/TL)

 

Further to my previous Circular (IR/200/15, 20th August 2015), I advised Branches of the dates for the industrial action ballot in respect of the above however, it has regrettably been necessary to withdraw this ballot. This is because the Company challenged the validity of our Notice of Ballot, stating that a number of members that RMT has listed as working for Tube Lines AP JNP have since transferred to work for London Underground or TfL. Our RMT Reps and Branch Secretaries are now urgently reviewing the data and we will serve a new notice on the Company as soon as possible. I will advise you of the revised dates in due course.

It is of course unfortunate that the Company has chosen to use the anti-trade union laws to prevent this ballot going ahead rather than discussing the matter with us in an effort to resolve the dispute. The dispute situation with Tube Lines AP JNP over the pay offer and the offer in recognition of a 24-hour service is still very much in place and we will continue to demand an above inflation pay rise and proper recognition and reward over Night Tube for Tube Lines AP JNP members.

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