Executive Report To London Transport Regional Council September 2012

From London Transport Region's Executive Member Janine Booth

BRANCH SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
The agreed spheres of influence are attached on a separate sheet.

Council of Executives decision, 4 September:

We note the report from our Regional Organiser regarding spheres of influence of branches within London Transport region. We endorse the report and instruct the General Secretary to ensure its implementation.

We note in particular the reallocation of London Underground cleaners and catering staff to those branches which include those London Underground members alongside whom they work. We instruct the General Secretary to facilitate support and training to these branches in integrating, representing and organising cleaners and catering staff. We echo the thanks extended by our Regional Council and branches to Finsbury Park branch for its hard work in organising London Underground cleaners over several years.

We instruct the General Secretary to place in front of us as soon as practical reports on the outstanding issues in this report, specifically: the future of the Thames Riverboats branch; the allocation and organisation of taxi drivers in areas beyond the area of TfL licensing; and the allocation of London Underground service control members at Baker Street (District line) and Waterloo (Waterloo & City line).
We instruct the General Secretary to advise London Transport Regional Council and branches of this decision, to enclose the list of the confirmed spheres of influence as listed in the report, and to publish this on the union’s website for members’ reference.

TUBELINES

GGC decision, 27 September:

We note the failure of the Joint Working Party to achieve our demands of pensions and travel equality, and the desire of our representatives to take further industrial action. This is line with our previous decision of 27 July to call targeted, serious, sustained, effective and strategically-planned action, in pursuit of this dispute. Should Tube Lines continue to refuse our entirely justified demands, we are prepared to take further industrial action and to continue this campaign until we are successful.
We therefore instruct our members on Tube Lines to not work any overtime between 17:30 on Friday 5 October and 05:30 on Monday 8 October.

We instruct the General Secretary to

  1. send a personal letter by post to all members involved explaining this action and urging their full support
  2. facilitate workplace visits by officers and representatives
  3. send a letter to members employed by London Underground and other companies that are part of the TfL Pension Scheme explaining why opening the TfL Pension Fund to all Tube Lines employees will benefit all members of the fund, and therefore encouraging them to support this action.
    We remain available for talks, and remind Tube Lines and its owner, TfL, that it can avoid this industrial action by meeting our members’ just demand for equal pensions and passes.

LONDON UNDERGROUND

DEFENDING LU JOBS AND CONDITIONS

GGC decision:

We note that this [most recent leaked] document adds further evidence to support our belief that London Underground is planning a wholesale attack on jobs and conditions, under the pretext of new technology such as driverless trains, smartcard ticketing and automated maintenance. We reaffirm this union’s view that new technology should be used to complement staff, improve services and increase safety – not as a pretext for cutting staff and cutting corners.
We instruct the General Secretary to obtain a report itemising recent, current and impending issues being discussed at London Underground’s level 2, tier 2 and upgrades levels which may constitute preparations for attacks on jobs and conditions, and to place this in front of us.
We further instruct the General Secretary to:

  • ensure that RMT participates in SERTUC’s Transport Industries Network and raises this issue there
  • discuss this issue with RMT’s Parliamentary group
  • seek dialogue with potentially-supportive GLA members
    We instruct the General Secretary to arrange for the compilation of information that will support our campaigning, to include:
  • the financial state of TfL/LU – including pay rates of top officials and levels of government grant
  • projects currently being proposed or developed for new ways of working eg. ticketing, train operation
  • policies, quotes and arguments on future Tube operation from political parties, think tanks, academics etc.
  • all proposals for new lines and extensions and for funding them
  • summary of leaked documents
  • facts on the accessibility of London Underground to disabled passengers
  • comparisons with other metro systems around the world, including their funding
  • the financial consequences of PPP – and the payouts and profits made from PPP by companies / individual fat cats

GGC decision, 27 September:

We note the reports from our representatives, which reveal a catalogue of measures from London Underground Ltd aimed at preparing the ground for job cuts.
These affect every grade of London Underground worker and underline the need for RMT to pursue a united, active and thought-out response, in order to defend our members’ jobs and London’s transport services.

We instruct the General Secretary to ensure that these reports are discussed at our London Underground level 2 / tier 2 representatives' meeting on Monday 8 October. We seek views and recommendations from this meeting as to how to pursue these issues both individually and collectively, including through the machinery of negotiation, workplace campaigning, political lobbying and where and when appropriate, industrial action. A report of this meeting is to be placed in front of us.

DRIVERLESS TRAINS TO BE TESTED

GGC decision, 25 September:

We note the resolution from our LU Fleet branch, and reiterate this union's complete opposition to driverless trains. Every train must have a driver, to ensure the safe and effective running of the Underground. Plans to scrap drivers or reduce their driving duties are risking safety, services and jobs, motivated by saving money and undermining trade unionism.
We instruct the General Secretary to:

  1. conduct a ballot for industrial action - both strikes and action short of strikes - of our members who are test train drivers, with the intention of instructing them to refuse to test driverless trains should they, as we strongly recommend, vote for action.
  2. conduct this ballot to a timescale agreed with our representative and branch, aiming for the action to be in place in good time to be effective.
  3. send a personal letter to all members being balloted, explaining our stance and strongly urging them to vote Yes to both questions.
  4. urgently obtain a report as to which other grades may be called upon to test-drive these trains, so that we may issue them with appropriate advice and consider balloting them.
  5. ask our London Transport Regional Council's train grades committee to discuss this issue at its meeting on Thursday 27 September and draw up plans to mobilise all London Underground drivers around this issue; place these plans in front of us.
  6. encourage our branches, Regional Council and its grades committees to discuss mobilising all London Underground workers around this issue and submit proposals.

OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS PROGRAMME (OSN101 etc)

GGC decision, 19 September:

We note that no comments or updates have been received. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to convene a meeting of GGC members, the Assistant General Secretary, Regional Organiser, LU Trains Council representatives, LU Trains Health & Safety Council representatives and the Chair and Secretary of the London Transport Regional Council Train Grades Committee to discuss progress with this dispute. A report of this meeting is to be placed in front of us.

This meeting will take place on Monday 8 October.

VICTORIA LINE UPGRADE DISPUTE
GGC decision, 19 September:
We note that no comments or updates have been received. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to convene a meeting of GGC members, the Assistant General Secretary, Regional Organiser, LU Trains Council representatives, LU Trains Health & Safety Council representatives, Victoria line drivers’ representatives and the Chair and Secretary of the London Transport Regional Council Train Grades Committee to discuss progress with this dispute. A report of this meeting is to be placed in front of us.
This meeting will take place on Monday 8 October.

MACHINERY OF NEGOTIATION AND CONSULTATION

GGC decision, 19 September:

We instruct the General Secretary to write to all branches with London Underground members and to all London Underground representatives advising them of the review of the machinery of negotiation and developments so far, and asking for their feedback on issues which RMT might raise during this review.
We further instruct the General Secretary to raise during this review our concern as to the increasing incidence of management refusing to accept legitimate agenda items submitted by RMT representatives to meetings convened under the machinery of negotiation and consultation.
Any developments to be placed in front of us.

BREAKDOWN OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – ARNOS GROVE DEPOT

Finsbury Park branch sent in a resolution advising that LUL is abusing a number of company policies at Arnos Grove depot, including: using a unagreed rainbow attendance policy, misusing the SPAD policy to call case conferences, failing to respond to a number of issues raised in the health and safety machinery, failing to properly consult on a number of issues and misusing the disciplinary policy.

GGC decision:

We note the resolution from our Finsbury Park branch and share the branch’s concern at London Underground management’s actions at Arnos Grove depot in failing to abide by several important policies and agreements, to the detriment of our members. We note that the Assistant General Secretary has written to London Underground as requested by the branch.
We instruct the General Secretary to place any reply in front of us, and should the company fail to reply, to place this matter back in front of us within 14 days. We further instruct the General Secretary to prepare a ballot matrix, and to offer our Finsbury Park branch any assistance it may need on campaigning on this matter.

SERVICE CONTROL

With the opportunity to building on recent successes, and reorganisation and job cuts looming, our service control grades committee will be meeting on 25 October, 13:00, Unity House.

SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES

Management have written to inform us of a new policy which gives guidance to staff over the use of social media. GGC decision:

We note the correspondence from London Underground. We remain concerned about the potential use of these guidelines to unfairly discipline our members.
We instruct the General Secretary to circulate these draft guidelines to our London Underground Company Council representatives and branches seeking their comments, and to place replies in front of us.

Please make sure that you branch discusses this and sends in any comments. You can read the guidelines here: http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/node/3393

CASE CONFERENCES

GGC decision in response to LTRC resolution:

We note the resolution from our London Transport Regional Council and share our Regional Council’s concerns.
We instruct our London Underground representatives to not take part in case conferences where there is a breach of procedure and the Employing Manager is not present.
We also share our Regional Council’s view that it is not acceptable for LUL to simply change a policy or procedure by letter, without consultation. We note that in Decision Gww 19 July 2011, we noted similar actions from LUL regarding its ‘command and control review’ and created a file, ‘Failure to consult/negotiate on policy changes - London Underground’. We instruct the General Secretary to place this file in front of us for consideration.
London Transport Regional Council, branches with London Underground members, and all London Underground representatives to be advised.

RETURN OF POWER SERVICES TO LUL

GGC decision:

We note the correspondence from London Underground and welcome the termination of the contract between UKPN Services and LUL, leading to the return of power supply services to London Underground in August 2013. London Underground power supply was transferred to the private sector under a Private Finance Initiative in 1998, which LU has chosen to terminate after 15 years of a possible 30-year contract term. This underlines RMT’s view opposing PFI and other forms of privatisation, and we call for other privatised sections to be returned to a fully-integrated, publicly-owned London Underground.
We note that talks are taking place concerning this transfer, which our representatives are attending. We resolve that this union will defend and represent our members through the transfer process, ensuring their rights and preserved and no workers’ jobs are cut.
We instruct the General Secretary to place regular reports on the progress of these talks in front of us, and to place minutes of the meetings and other documentation on the file.

CLEANERS

CARLISLE (DLR)

Reballot to take place, currently being prepared.
GGC decision, 19 September:

We note the report from our Regional Organiser and correspondence from our Branch Secretary. We congratulate our members for the action they have taken so far, and instruct the General Secretary to conduct a new ballot for strike action and industrial action short of strike action, in pursuit of our demands for agreements (with implementation dates) on the issues of: a substantial pay rise to at least the London Living Wage; sick pay; overtime rate; allocation of overtime; days in lieu; better roster system; weekly working hours; uniform issue; zero-hour contracts; third party agreement; consistent bank holiday pay; free travel; and job security.

We instruct the General Secretary to send a personal letter to all members involved, explaining the issues and urging them to vote yes.

USE OF FINGERPRINTING TO BOOK ON, INITIAL, HAMMERSMITH

Initial has imposed a system whereby staff must produce their fingerprints when they book on and off shift at Hammersmith depot.

GGC decision, 19 September:

We note the report that Initial is attempting to introduce a fingerprinting system for booking on and off shift at Hammersmith depot. We reiterate this union’s view that the imposition of such systems infringes our members’ civil liberties.
We note that this union has written to the employer about this, and instruct the General Secretary to place this matter back in front of us when a reply is received, and in any case within seven days.
We further note that various employers have attempted to introduce similar systems over recent years. We instruct the General Secretary to arrange for the compilation of a summary of information as to where this has happened and the outcomes, and to place this in front of us when completed.

Initial has responded as follows:
... It is a group wide initiative from Initial Facilities to implement the Kronos Time and Attendance System into all contracts by end of 2012. We will have two systems in operation across the LU Depots to include the Bio-metric and telephone system.
Our employees can use either of these inputs but must use one system as these will link direct to payroll. This process will ensure the old paper systems are up dated and fewer errors are made when keying in data.

There are a number of advantages of using the system such as the employee can check hours worked, pay and available holidays thus reducing pay roll issues and queries. In time the unit can also be used to delivery training tool box talks, internal communications and other proactive engagement with our colleagues. ...

GGC decision, 27 September:

We note the reply from Initial, that this is a group wide initiative from Initial Facilities to implement the Kronos Time and Attendance System into all contracts by end of 2012, with both biometric and telephone systems in operation. We also note the views of our representatives, who strongly oppose this move, rightly seeing it as an attack on their civil liberties and a weapon for management to use to victimise our members.
We therefore instruct the General Secretary to:

  1. Urgently contact Initial management demanding a meeting to discuss our objections.
  2. Obtain a report from our London Transport Regional Council’s cleaners’ grades committee on what action members are willing to take in order to stop this and place this in front of us.
  3. Obtain a report on the imposition of this procedure elsewhere in the country and the views of our members and place this in front of us.

We further note the information on file concerning other incidents where companies have attempted to introduce fingerprinting. We instruct the General Secretary to place this information on a new file, USE OF FINGERPRINTING TO BOOK ON – NATIONAL, and refer this to our National Sub-Committee for examination and report.

NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR JUSTICE FOR CLEANERS IN THE TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

GGC decision, 25 September:

We note that RMT currently has at least eight ongoing disputes with cleaning employers with ‘live’ ballot mandates, with issues heading towards disputes in other companies as well. We aim to hold co-ordinated strike action to pursue these disputes, perhaps a 48-hour strike in October or November.
We instruct the General Secretary to obtain as a matter of urgency reports from all relevant lead officers as to the feasibility of this in the disputes with companies for which they have responsibility, and to place responses in front of us as they are received, and in any case within 21 days.
We further instruct the General Secretary to initiate a national organising campaign among cleaners as follows:

  1. to review and update our Cleaners' Charter, placing a revised draft in front of us within 28 days.
  2. to conduct a mapping exercise to provide information on where cleaners work in the transport industry, to include for each company/area:
    • whether the work is contracted-out or in-house
    • if contracted-out, when the contract expires
    • whether RMT has recognition
    • whether the Council of Executives has agreed a reduced-rate contribution
    • rates of pay, and the pay anniversary date
    • a summary of working conditions
  3. to place this item on the agenda of the Executive and Officers’ meeting on 15/16 October to seek feedback and ideas.
  4. to draft a syllabus for a training course for cleaner reps; to reserve a week at the Doncaster National Education Centre in 2013 to run this course; and to make this course available to regions.

Regional Councils, branches and cleaners’ representatives to be advised.

Input from the Regional Council, cleaners’ grades committee and branches into this is very welcome.

MITIE PAY

GGC decision, 25 September:

We note the final offer from Mitie Technical Facilities Management of a pay rise of 1.5% for this year. While this is a disappointing offer, we note that it is the first pay rise in several years and as a one-year offer, gives us a platform to campaign for an improved rise next year.
We note that our representatives and branch recommend accepting it on this basis, and instruct the General Secretary to advise the employer of our acceptance.

CUTS AT LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM

I have heard that cuts are planned at the London Transport Museum, and have asked our TfL no.1 branch for further information and views on this.

TAXIS

GGC decision:

We note the resolution from our London Taxi Drivers branch, and deplore the mistreatment of London Suburban taxi drivers, especially since the introduction of the identifier tags earlier this year.
We instruct the General Secretary to convene a meeting with GGC members, representatives of our London Taxi Drivers branch and a legal adviser within 14 days, to discuss possible legal recourse and other options and campaigning tactics that may be open to us, and to place a report of this meeting in front of us.
This meeting took place on 20 September, and I am in the process of writing up a report.

CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION

The government has withdrawn its proposal to exclude many injuries, and specifically the consequences of railway trespass, from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. But these proposals will be back, and we must campaign actively against them. This will be discussed at the next Council of Executives meeting, and I would like to see the Region campaigning on the issue too.

TUC DEMONSTRATION, 20 OCTOBER

Leaflets specifically aimed at Tube workers have been produced and should be available at the Regional Council meeting.
General leaflets are also available.

TRAINING

RMT's nationally-organised training courses can be run in regions with the support of Regional Councils, with head office bearing the full cost.
I strongly recommend that the LT Region seeks to run some of these courses.

NATIONAL ISSUES

  • Caledonian MacBrayne tendering put back three years
  • 'Action For Rail' leafleting day Friday 12 October
  • Legal victory re victimisation on Arriva buses

    Janine Booth, 27/9/12