Central Line West branch

Following the recent introduction of Fixed Penalty Notices and Financial Deposit Notices issued by VOSA, there was a meeting of the Fines Pool administrators in which this issue was discussed.

It was agreed that if any case arises as a result of these penalties, and which would be outside of the normal remit of Fines Pool payments (fines committed under the Road Traffic Act) each case would be looked at individually and a decision made whether to pay the fine.

A very successful demonstration by busworkers took place today (Friday 2nd October 2009) outside London United's Hounslow Bus Garage. The protest was to highlight the bullying and harassment of RMT busworkers at London United. More protests are planned.

A very successful two day bus reps course took place in central london on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th September. The ever increasing numbers of london busworkers choosing to join RMT will be very well served by this enthusiastic, determined and self-motivated group of volunteers. We wish them well as they return to their workplaces and start defending and representing our members.

The Department for Transport is conducting a consultation on the effects of section 44, Local Transport Act 2008 and is inviting views on a package of draft regulations and guidance which relate to quality contracts schemes.

To view the draft Quality Contracts Schemes (Application of TUPE) Regulations 2009 click on this link http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/qcs/tupe1.pdf

The Local Transport Act 2008 gained royal assent in November 2008. It enabled the creation of Integrated Transport Authorities in the UK modelled on TfL, allowing these authorities to award Quality Contracts. Most of the Act doesn't affect London's bus workers.

The Department of Transport launched a consultation on the review of Domestic Drivers' Hours Rules. The rules, first introduced in the 1930s and largely unchanged since the 1960s, cover issues including maximum driving time, breaks, rest time, daily and weekly rest, record keeping and enforcement.

The consultation document can be found on the DfT website at

http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/domesticdrivershours/

RMT BUS members at London United will be mounting a protest at the company’s London headquarters this Wednesday ( September 9) in a fightback against the victimisation and harassment of RMT members building a fighting and campaigning union organisation that has challenged the company for a fair deal on pay and working conditions.

RMT is growing fast at London United and the response of the company has been to hit back at individual members of staff with completely unfounded threats that the union will not be able to represent them if they find themselves in trouble.

A busworkers meeting, organised by the RMT London Busworkers Committee, will take place on monday 24th august 2009, 5pm - 7pm at the Bulstrode pub, Lampton Road, Hounslow, next to Hounslow Central station. Among the issues to be discussed will be:

• the forced transfer of staff between companies
• the implications of the introduction of telemetric technology on buses
• excessive surveillance of staff
• harrassment of our members
• wages and conditions

and other issues of concern to our members.