Includes London Underground staff of all grades on the Bakerloo Line, plus the Special Requirements Team (SRT) and hotel staff. Branch meetings are held at The Royal Exchange PH, 26 Sale Place, Paddington, W2. (map)
TUBE UNION RMT said today that in a ballot of staff working on London Underground’s “Trainpeople” agency contract members have voted unanimously for strike action over the termination of a deal which will dump dozens of staff on the dole and which makes a mockery of regulations which were supposed to protect the employment rights of agency staff.
From Tuesday 15th of January 2013 until further notice, RMT and ASLEF train drivers are taking action for safety.
Drivers in both Aslef and RMT unions are taking action, not over pay or hours, but because serious safety concerns have been ignored by London Underground management.
Since the introduction of a new procedure last year to clear trains of passengers before going out of service there have been thousands of incidents in which passengers have been ‘over-carried’ into sidings.
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As we move into week three of our safety dispute over LU’s unsafe detrainment process we are happy to inform drivers that our action remains solid. Drivers are to be congratulated for standing strong in the face of LU’s ambivalence to the problem.
We note the correspondence from London Underground Ltd, outlining its refusal to offer employment to the redundant Trainpeople employees, and containing a list of spurious excuses for denying the legal and moral rights of these workers.
We condemn London Underground’s refusal to offer permanent employment to people who have been working on its stations for up to five years or more
We instruct the General Secretary to:
TUBE BOSSES today stood accused of “lying through their teeth” over the effect of industrial action being taken by train drivers to protect passenger safety on the capital’s Bakerloo line.
Since January 15, Bakerloo drivers in RMT and Aslef have been physically checking that trains are empty of passengers before moving into sidings, after LUL stopped station staff checking carriages.
As we enter week two of RMT`s and ASLEF’s dispute with London Underground over their unsafe detrainment procedure we are happy to inform you that the action on the ground by drivers remains solid. Drivers are united and determined to force Bakerloo management to introduce a safe procedure for detrainment at terminus locations.
Week two of our dispute has generated a letter from Mr Lance Ramsey, the General Manger of the Bakerloo Line to drivers expressing his view that “the safety of our staff and customers is our top priority.” Let’s take a closer look at this claim.
On 19 December 2012 London Underground sacked 33 agency workers who had been employed on LUL contracts for the past 5 years. They were denied applying for jobs that were available on LUL despite the agency workers regs expressly forbidding this.
Angry Bakerloo passengers have tweeted:
“Bakerloo line has been just an appalling service all week. I leave my house earlier and earlier each day and appear to get to work later!!”
“I would rather hop everywhere than have to get on the Bakerloo Line again.”
“Is there any refund procedure for continuous delays to your service? Bakerloo line is an absolute joke at the moment.”
With over 3000 passenger overcarries into the Queens Park sidings last year, culminating in the near fatality of a 12 year old boy in October, drivers are physically checking that trains are empty of passengers before moving trains into sidings.
We have been used. We have been abused. We have been refused
We will not be ignored and we will not go away.
The evidence is absolutely clear.
There is no reasonable explanation for LUL not to give the 33 RMT workers sacked a job.
A job they have been doing for 5 years.
Now LUL will spend in excess of £333,000 to replace 33 workers on the Bakerloo and District lines.
Its the economics of the madhouse.
Sack the agency not the workers. Justice for the 33.
United action by ASLEF and RMT drivers for safety on the Bakerloo Line has been rock solid and has hit LU hard. So much so, that LU are not allowing the control room to manage the service in the best interest of passengers or the service. A diktat from senior LU bosses has stated that a ‘special service’ is not to be implemented and management have been placed in the control room to ensure that control room staff abide by this. They are intentionally out to sabotage the best running of the trains to make drivers suffer.