London Underground Ltd

Industial relations within the Revenue dept sank to an all time low last week with an appalling attack on the RMT reps within the dept, by the centurian manager, in an email to all staff.

The email, full of gross untuths, misleading suggestions and anti union retoric, lays bare the depts full contempt for the RMT and the machinary.

Since last september, RMT reps have , via the level one process, agreed in good faith, arrangements to enhance work life balance and other issues, only to then see the arrangements made, regulary ignored by DRCMs and Centurian managers.

Tube union RMT has slammed plans to transfer some Tube Lines clerical and project staff back in-house to London Underground without pension or travel facilities and has threatened industrial action to defend the terms and conditions of its members.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that while proposals to re-integrate some staff into LUL may sound positive after the long-running PPP Tube privatisation fiasco, the 700 or so staff involved would not be allowed to join the TfL pension fund.

From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow

Further to my Circular No IR/131/13 dated the 25th February 2013 with regards to the above matter and where I informed you of the important court ruling on annual leave under the Working Time Regulations. As you may recall, I again wrote to London Underground raising our concerns over their decision not to update or publish company policies to reflect the changes to case law.

This trade union branch notes bankers tend to see consumers as customers who can be “exploited” by layering on more fees. The consumer is simply an income stream and exploiting that is the purpose of the majority of banks.

See the attached updated advice for dealing with Rainbow sickness processes.

Feb 2013-02-28

Update on Rainbow Sickness Process from Stations Functional Council Reps (SFC).

This update is overdue but we have been waiting for an agreed set of minutes from the last APC (Attendance, Performance & Conduct) meeting with management. The minutes are still in dispute but as the next meeting is not now scheduled until April and we are now getting more reports of the process kicking off again we are issuing this update to previous advice.

Triggers

The Bakerloo Branch agreed the following resolution for the attention of the RMT's General Grades Committee:

"The Bakerloo Branch notes the disgraceful treatment of our members, formally employed by Trainpeople, by London Underground. Despite assurances to our General Secretary and members of our Stations Functional Council, our members’ treatment in the LU recruitment process has been scandalous. We note that at least two thirds of our members have been unsuccessful in the recruitment process despite many of them doing the job for 5 years. We believe that LU has rigged and abused the recruitment process to deny our members direct employment. The fact that 32 of our 33 members are black or are ethnic suggests that racism is a central factor in their treatment.

The Bakerloo Branch agreed the following resolution for the attention of the RMT's General Grades Committee.

“This branch notes the appalling treatment of our young member and activist Brother Jayesh Patel at the hands of LU. Bro Patel was acting in the interests of safety when he requested ‘assisted despatch’ at two overcrowded stations on 1st of February 2013. This branch is amazed that as a result of carrying out these actions he was told to detrain and run out of service. Worse still he was instructed to attend a location away from his home depot to participate in a fact finding. Unfortunately the fact finding interview turned into a Gestapo interrogation where our member was denied the right to ask questions, denied the right to have physical break and denied to go home after his booking off time. Worse, this branch notes that since this time LU have added insult to injury and have stood down him down from that date.

We note the report from our Trains Council representatives, and note the following issues regarding
London Underground’s new S stock:

• the inadequate time allowance for the drivers’ train preparation
• cross-line working by C&H drivers on the Metropolitan line under the new timetable to be introduced in May
• the removal of train maintenance at Hammersmith depot and the impact of this on train movement
• the length of time between drivers being trained and actually driving the new trains
• the absence of Defective In Service Instructions (DISI) for the S stock

We note the correspondence from London Underground Ltd, and additionally the report from our representative and from our Regional Organiser.

We are appalled that LUL is attempting to circumvent our agreed machinery of negotiation through its ‘Engagement’ meetings. We believe that this will not encourage a more constructive working relationship and involvement as the company claims, but will reduce trust and remove important issues from our agreed, transparent and formal process.

We endorse the General Secretary’s instruction to our representatives not to attend these meetings.

Here is the latest edition of Morden & Oval branch news.

In the newsletter are stories including:

• How to: Official annual leave requests
• Level 1 process explained
• Young Member’s Resolution on a shadowing scheme
• STOP Boris! Save Clapham’s Fire Station
• and more

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