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)
The Branch meets at 16:00 hours in the Clachan, Kingly Street near Oxford CIrcus tube.
Please see the attachment for the latest newsletter from the Trains Safety Counil on XTP.
Excess Wheel Screech.
At the recent Fleet Liaison meting Metronet have finally declared what the cause of the infernal wheel squeal is. Apparently it is all down the grease pots not being refilled. When this problem was first reported in November 2008 one of the main areas of cause was thought to have been the empty grease pots, but this was dismissed by the track people on the grounds that their maintenance schedule was robust enough to rule this out. Now some 6 months later we are told the grease pots are faulty and will be replaced or rectified by August 2009.
Bakerloo south group health and safety rep / adventurer Joe Thompson is going to conquer the alps on a bicycle in aid of macmillan cancer support. Joes challenge which takes place between 17th and 21st of september 2009 and will include 3 days covering 315km of the alps toughest cycling peaks made famous by the tour de france, this includes Col du Galibier and alp d,Huez.
I presented Train Operator Des Modeste with his 25 year badge at the booking on point at Elephant & Castle depot yesterday. Des is a mainstay at the Elephant and it was a pleasure to present and thank Des for his loyalty and dedication to the union. I conveyed to Des the appreciation of the Branch and gave him some gifts with best wishes from the RMT.
Viva Des Modeste!
Like most reps and activists in the union I have not had to deal with the Disability and Discrimination Act (DDA) in any great detail. I am aware of the headline issues: the DDA exists; it is a bad thing if an employer discriminates against someone who is disabled; and an employer must carry out a thing called "reasonable adjustments" for existing staff and potential recruits. But that was the extent of my knowledge.
Press release
LONDON UNDERGROUND’S biggest union today expressed outrage at a ‘shameful and undemocratic’ legal challenge by Tube bosses that has forced the re-run of a strike ballot of more than 9,000 RMT members – despite it yielding a five-to-one majority for action.
RMT today said it would re-run the ballot on the same issues of jobs and pay as soon as possible after the union received a detailed legal letter designed purely to undermine the ballot and as a preliminary to a court challenge.
At the recent TFAG, (Fleet Liaison) RMT H&S reps were told the reason for the problems with wheel/flange squeal have now been identified as being caused by grease pots either wrongly directed or being empty. This is exactly what the track people told RMT H&S reps back in February were definitely not causing the fault. MRIS, the specialist team brought in by Metronet, however have now confidently declared that they have been able to locate the source of the problems and will have it rectified by August 2009.
Click on the attachment for a poster advertising the Bakerloo Branch meeting on Wednesday the 1st of April.
Focussing on the ballot of all grades on London Underground, click on the attachment for the Bakerloo Branch March Newsletter. This months newsletter also reports on management breaching attendance procedures amongst other issues.