Bakerloo branch

TUBE UNION RMT said today that staff sacked from London Underground’s “Trainpeople” agency contract will be stepping up their fight for jobs and justice following the termination of the deal which has dumped 33 staff on the dole, making a mockery of regulations which were supposed to protect the employment rights of agency staff.

The staff will be taking their fight to Transport for London with a protest in support of “Justice for the 33”at the HQ building Windsor House, Victoria Street on Monday 15th April 2013 between 0800 hours and 1000 hours.

Click on the attachment to see an RMT newsletter on the Bakerloo detrainment dispute. Main stories follow:

RMT suspends Bakerloo action

RMT on Thursday 21st of March agreed to suspend the Bakerloo detrainment action. While noting that progress had been made since the initial introduction of ‘flash and dash’, LU’s proposals fully accepted by ASLEF, fell short of the union’s aspirations for a proper detrainment policy that would be acceptable elsewhere on the combine.

The RMT has agreed to suspend the Bakerloo detrainment action with immediate effect. The full decision is below:

"We note our Regional Organiser’s report, the proposals from London Underground Ltd, and the views of our representatives.

We also note the letter from London Underground Ltd, which falsely claims that its contents have been agreed by RMT. We deplore LUL’s disregard for the safety of staff and passengers from the point at which the company first imposed its ‘flash and dash’ detrainment policy. We note that management is introducing a new procedure under which trains will be physically checked and confirmed as empty before they go into depots or sidings. We welcome this progress, which is the result of determined action by Bakerloo line drivers backed up by an active campaign of protests. However, we still have several serious concerns:

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.

London Underground’s latest proposal to resolve the Bakerloo detrainment dispute has not been
accepted by RMT or Aslef. Their ‘Updated Detrainment Briefing’ being issued to drivers does not settle our dispute. This latest version of ‘flash and dash’ has not been properly negotiated with your union. If a driver detrained using this method of shutting the doors and walking down the train looking in windows and overcarried there would be formal action taken against them.

We note with concern the correspondence from our Bakerloo branch that recently-recruited drivers did not have their pension contributions adjusted to the correct level until the first pay period of 2013 despite being in their new grade for many months.

We remind London Underground Ltd that the TFL Pension Fund rules are clear, and that a driver member is entitled to accrue his/her pension as a driver from the date of his/her appointment as a driver.