RMT LONDON TRANSPORT REGIONAL COUNCIL: ANNUAL REPORT ON STATE OF BRANCH ORGANISATION AND PERFORMANCE IN THE REGION (required by Rule 11, clause 13)

Membership numbers by branch

The membership of branches in the Region is as follows. Figures are those at 31 December 2009; in brackets are the figures at 31 December 2008, for comparison.

Bakerloo Line – 531 (547)
Camden 3 – 620 (698)
Central Line West – 837 (668)
Docklands Light Railway – 417 (377)
East Ham – 394 (404)
Finsbury Park – 1,435 (1,705)
Hammersmith & City – 776 (708)
Jubilee South & East London Line – 417 (481)
London Taxi Drivers – 459
LU Engineering – 2,857 (2,666)
LU Fleet – 1466 (1,374)
Morden & Oval – 618 (353)
Neasden – 594 (593)
Piccadilly & District West – 831 (911)
River Thames – 92
Stratford 1 – 592 (652)
TFL 1 – 726 (714)

TOTAL: 13,662 (12,851)

Some comments:

• The membership of the Region as a whole continues to grow, despite unfavourable current political and economic conditions, and despite job losses in the London Transport sphere.

• New branches, in particular London Taxis, have contributed to this, but even without them, the total would still have risen.

• Increasing membership can only come about through the hard work of reps and activists, with effective support from the Regional Council and head office. London Transport Regional Council has a very effective Membership Secretary (Dave Rayfield); discusses recruitment and organisation at every meeting; held useful training workshop to help local reps become more effective and recruitment and at managing membership information; and has improved communication both in print and electronically. However, there are clearly many ways in which we can improve, which will be the focus of our annual Recruitment and Organising Plan, to be discussed at our AGM in February.

• The number of bus members has increased significantly. During 2009, a ‘spheres of influence’ meeting allocated bus workers – who had previously generally been members of their closest geographical branch – to four branches: Central Line West, Hammersmith & City, Morden & Oval and Stratford no.1. With only one exception, these branches have consequently seen a significant increase in their membership, while others (eg. Piccadilly & District West) have seen a consequential decrease.

• The same ‘spheres of influence’ meeting agreed that cleaners, who were previously all in Finsbury Park branch, could transfer to other branches where that branch was willing to make a commitment to organise and assist them. This has led to a fall in Finsbury Park’s membership and a rise in other branches’ membership. However, there has also (probably) been an overall decrease in cleaner membership, the main cause being management’s attacks on the grade, and on our reps, in the aftermath of the partly-successful living wage dispute in 2008. There have also been other difficulties with organising the grade, and we need a definite, agreed, written strategy to take this work forward.

• Membership in the engineering branches continues to increase steadily.

• There has been a tendency to lose members in branches where the big majority of members are LUL employees. Factors in this will include:
o the loss of 1,000 London Underground jobs
o ‘patchiness’, in that the union is better-organised in some locations and grades than in others
o the 2009 industrial dispute: firstly, there are always some people who leave a union in order to ‘justify’ scabbing, but RMT’s willingness to strike helps build our membership in the long term even when it causes a dip in the short term; secondly, there were problems with the way the dispute was conducted, as reflected in resolutions adopted by the Regional Council in January 2010 * This comment should in no way be taken to suggest that RMT was wrong to pursue the dispute; we were right to do so

• These figures do not include branches with London Overground members, as head office has yet to carry out their affiliation to the London Transport region. LT Region is now organising in this company, with some notable success, and we hope that when we do have the figures available to us, this will be shown.

• I plan to produce a similar assessment of figures looking at membership according to employer rather than branch: I am just waiting on the figures from head office.

Branches’ own assessments

I wrote to all branches, asking for their assessment of their branch’s work during 2009.

I left the format of their responses up to them, but suggested that they might address the following points:
- whether your membership grew or shrunk during 2009, and why you think this is
- any problems you have had filling reps’ positions within the branch’s area
- how effective your branch was during any industrial action in your area last year
- what recruitment activities you have organised
- any comments on how the union, either nationally or regionally, has helped (or not helped!)
- ideas for future improvements

The responses received so far are as follows:

CAMDEN 3 (north of Northern line plus CBS Outdorr)

[1] Membership went down in 2009 and think this can mainly be put down to the long-running Pay Dispute, which a lot of members grew disenchanted with over the course of the year and disagreed with the direction of the action we took and indeed were threatening to take again. However, it is very noticeable that the mood out there with Station Staff has now changed since we made them aware of the Job Cuts that were going to be imposed upon them individually and I have seen a steady stream of members who left now re-apply to join the Union again. If we carry on the way we have been going and also keep a united front on the action that we will have to take, then I have no doubt that not only will existing members fully support us but we will more than recover the losses that my Branch has recently suffered.

[2] Only places we have had problems in filling reps positions within my area is at our two Traincrew Depots, and we are now taking steps to successfully rectify that situation.

[3] Patchy, or could have done better, would probably be the most apt way of describing my Branch’s support during the Industrial Action but again we are putting methods in place to rectify this situation from now on. As soon as they are in place, I would be more than happy to suggest that we will be able to put on a much better showing in the future.

[4] To facilitate an audit of everybody who works within my Branch’s spheres of influence, I have asked all the Local Reps to get up-to-date Staff Lists and have also asked Unity House for a print-out of every Station Staff member that we have on LUL. Upon receipt of these, myself and Becky and others will go through them and determine who all our members are. Those who are shown not to presently be in the RMT, even if they belong to the TSSA, will be sent a letter and an Application Form and asked to join to enable us to strengthen our position before any action becomes necessary. Furthermore, as Becky is the Branch Recruitment Officer, I have asked Unity House to ensure that she has the same access and authority over the Branch Membership details that I have as the Branch Secretary. There is no reason why such a request should be refused , as it can only help our Branch and the Union in ensuring that all our membership details are correct and up-to-date.

[5] One comment that has been made to me is that there can actually be an ‘over-kill’ of information and leaflets that we send out to our members. The LTRC and other publication lists are fine and these circulars are widely read but I know from being a Branch Secretary that I can sometimes actually receive 3 or 4 copies of the same leaflet/circular which is fine by me but could have a different and detrimental effect on your normal every-day member who just pays his dues and expects the Union to keep them in touch with what is happening elsewhere on LUL.

[6] Have e-mailed you under separate cover the first Edition of the new Camden 3 Branch newsletter that I would be grateful if you could arrange to be distributed as widely as possible.

CENTRAL LINE WEST

Central line west had an extremely busy year, in the most part due to the Bus Worker members. Although we were kept busy with the LUL strike, the most intense part of branch business was dealing with Bus Worker issues. The branch dealt with approximately 85 representations of Bus Workers throughout the year (and this was only cases where local reps couldn't either cope or were unavailable). We had no option but to pay ex LUL, BR and Bus Worker Representatives to represent members in need as it was agreed by the branch that it was far too risky to have LUL reps continue to represent our Bus Worker colleagues. The result of this was an expenditure of approximately £1800 from branch funds to assist Bus Workers during the year. The GS agreed to reimburse £800 of this from central funds which was gratefully accepted by the branch.

Our numbers have maintained a fairly steady course throughout the year with a more or less even number throughout, however there have been many transfers into and out of the branch due to Bus Workers being transferred to geographically closer branches. I haven't carried an in depth analysis of the leavers and joiners trends however an overview suggests that the majority of movements are those of Bus Workers who tend to leave and join at a great rate.

During the LUL strike we lost three Driver members and approximately 6 station staff however this was balanced by new station staff members joining. We currently have 838 members (of which 443 are Bus Workers) We elected two R&R Officers at our AGM and both are extremely keen to get out and about. To that end we are in the process of organising a recruitment and retention day in Feb to cover both trains and stations. Depending on how successful the format we use is we intend to make it a regular event (at least every 2 months). We are also looking at doing something on a smaller scale on branch days i.e. visiting specific sites prior to the branch meeting, particularly sites where membership is low or where contact is low.

All our reps and branch positions have been filled with two new Industrial reps on stations and revenue. Unfortunately attendance at branch by reps is still relatively poor with a less than 50% turnout at half the meetings. This is something I intend to focus on throughout this year. Although it has to be said that attendance in general at branch has been extremely good through the year, particularly with Bus Drivers.

Overall it has been a positive year but much work needs to be done. Our main focus in the coming months is to gain more LUL staff particularly Drivers so that we have a stronger hand when we are in dispute and in particular to fend off the ludicrous attacks from aslef when we are in dispute.

FINSBURY PARK (Victoria line; east of Piccadilly line; cleaners)

In answer to your request I have done some membership analysis from our membership as it stood in May 09 (Just before LUL pay and conditions strike) and January 10. During this period we have lost 157 members going down from 1586 to 1429. As you know our branch is responsible for the organisation of cleaner grade members (with the exception of Camden Branch) and of this 157 reduction 102 were from the cleaner grades (65%) even though as of May 09 cleaner grades represented 35% or our branch membership. Therefore proportionally we are losing a much higher percentage of cleaner grade members and I think this has a number of causes. There is a high turnover generally in the grade for a combination of reasons but I believe there has been an attack on our representatives following the cleaner strikes from which we have never really recovered which means that our voice in the workplace has not been as strong since. The proportion of loss of members in the cleaner grade has been higher in the train depots for some reason -24% compared to -16%. on stations. Therefore it seems that we need an improved strategy to reverse this. Glenroy has put forward a plan to go out on the Initial Contract which has branch approval but with Initial winning the contract for the bulk of cleaning on LUL they will be the main employer for cleaner grades in the near future. We have no recognition rights with this company vis a vis ISS so I think we need to call a meeting urgently with them to re-seek recognition or attempt to TUPE the recognition we have with ISS. It is impossible to coordinate our efforts on our own and I think there should be a joined up regional plan that should fit in with branch recruitment plans or vice versa. We need operational grades to support cleaner grade activists and identify reps and support them. We struggle to cover the amount of disciplinaries etc for cleaner grades so I think we need the discussion at region on how best to achieve this and we need to fund it properly and ask for assistance in the short term to cover loss of earnings etc as we struggle to cover disciplinaries by cleaner grade reps alone. So in essence we need a clearly mapped out and funded recruitment strategy for cleaners and obviously the cleaner grade committee should be involved in this. At the moment it seems completely disjointed.

Within our LUL membership our train grade membership has held up really well losing only 7 members over this period the main problem seems to be station grade membership. I need to do some more analysis on the specific groups but I think we have a strong representative presence in all depots in our area although the reps at Brixton Depot are inexperienced and need support which we are providing. A lot of our strength or weakness ultimately comes down to how proactive and capable our reps are in my opinion and this should be the focus of how we build the union the same as the cleaner grades. No amount of campaigning or rhetoric substitutes for well educated and active reps on the ground who challenge and are seen to challenge management and win for the members. Arnos Grove and Seven Sisters are a good example our membership has increased over the last few years.

This leads into you next question we have filled all LUL rep positions in our branch area with the exception of Brixton Group. Which we have now. For some reason this area has been hard to get a rep to come forward. The GSM is particularly aggressive as is the management team so stage two rep support would be useful in this area. We need to redouble our efforts in our groups particularly with the threat of major changes to their organisation. Our flagship group in terms of membership density is Finsbury Park Group which again has a tradition of strong active reps and is really self organising. This is the model we need to try and encourage round the combine. We had a particular problem on Green Park Group with our rep stood down for most of the year and maybe failed to fill the gap adequately but the newly elected reps are doing a good job at trying to reverse this situation. Local Newsletters are a key component too of bridging the information gap and we produce a regular branch newsletter which is crucial to maintaining the union message in the workplace in the face of a constant LUL propaganda barrage.

Our branch organised strong industrial action which was well responded to both in the Victoria Line campaign which saw the line closed down completely for the first time in history and during the main dispute which saw the Pic Line almost completely shut and many many more stations closed than any disputes before that I can remember. I think our branch reps, activists and members supported the disputes very strongly with some exceptions and again this is down to strong organisation on the ground. Particularly on the Vic Line the struggle saw many new and young activists stepping up to the plate which was really encouraging.

We have a number of elected officers who have their own budgets and to a great degree own autonomy including a membership secretary who has organised a number of visits during 09. On the whole we are pretty well organised but we could make some improvements and are currently working on a recruitment plan for this year.

In essence the main improvements required are in terms of assistance with organising low paid workers and in our area the cleaners. We also need to beef up the support and training of local reps and encourage a campaigning and militant approach that wins for members and will make the union stronger.

I have asked for input from other officers but have not received any so these views are my own.

HAMMERSMITH & CITY BRANCH

Membership grew in 09 according to Head office by 10% from 708 to 776 . I do not at this time have a break down of areas but will investigate further at a later date.

But from my experience the growth appears to me to be in Bus driver members we will have a loss in this area later this year due 150 bus drivers losing there jobs at Westbourne Park this Jan and Feb. .

We currently have no vacancy's for reps on LUL however were reps are proactive and keen membership grows (Apart form learner reps which I must admit I have not given Consideration to). Bus rep we don't really have a rep and most of the time this falls upon myself or regional office this area is very difficult for many reasons.

Industrial Action - I believe in my area this was well supported with the closing of certain stations for first time in many years. And I must congratulate the Local reps especially Liverpool Street, Paddington/Ladbroke Grove and Kings Cross as well as the train Crew reps.

Union Nationally/Regionally- I feel we are still suffering from issues that occurred with Bobby Law and the way the dispute was settled.

Recruitment activity - it is very difficult as members don't want to give up time even when offered loss of earnings

Future Improvements - ensure all reps are fully trained(even myself), the reinvigorating of the branch newsletter and trying to encourage better branch attendance.

LONDON TAXIS BRANCH

In just over one year the RMT London taxi branch has managed to become a new voice for the self employed London taxi-cab driver.

On the 5th of Feb 2009 members of the newly formed branch attended a demonstration at Trafalgar Square and the banner was proudly raised to the concern of all other trade groups/bodies in attendance.

Since that demonstration the branch grew at a pretty decent rate with some members joining a trade union for the very first time. Many issues have hit the headlines with Bob Crow visiting the taxi feeder park and taxi-cab drivers expressing vocal support to his speech on the day. It must be said taxi-cab drivers are very good at giving an opinion it is another matter to get them to sign an application form and join. With the branch starting to flex it industrial muscle with demonstrations ranging from the toilet tax/pedicab ranks/a convicted killer on the knowledge of London others within the taxi trade became more concerned and led by the LTDA and the union UNITE a concerted campaign to discredit the RMT had begun.

The branch is doing well but finds it difficult to operate effectively due to the lack of financial resources for reps due to the fact we are self employed and therefore not covered by trade union legislation. Therefore this is certainly an issue we will have to address in the coming weeks, months and years. Excellent work has been done by the branch and its political officer James Croy with a meeting arranged with John Mcdonnell MP at parliament to discuss the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2) Bill, clause 19 seeks to introduce a voluntary registration scheme branch policy is to ban these objects from the public highway or at worst confine them to the parks in the capital.

Branch members and officers have begun to attend regional meetings and recently the taxi branch attended a rally at parliament in support of network rail workers.

On an even more positive note over 100 hundred taxi-cab drivers in Luton have joined the union thanks to the great work done by committee member George Vyse and airport rep Lenny. The branch have also weathered the storm and insults thrown at them by the LTDA and the union UNITE and ended the year of a positive note passing over 16 motions which gave the branch a spine and a bedrock/platform to move onwards from. The branch have started a newsletter and blog www.rmtlondontaxibranch.blogspot.com with a small A5 monthly booklet soon to be hitting the ranks of many mainline stations.

London's taxi-cab drivers are a challenging demanding bunch of workers but the standards they hold are high, the committee of this branch firmly believe we can move this branch forward and create new branches to represent members in the suburbs and at Heathrow Airport. The potential is here for the RMT to become a force and a voice not only in London but right across the nation.

A special thank you must go out to Eddie Lambert and David Vidgen without these two committed trade unionists this branch would never had been created, we must mention the excellent work Stan Marut is doing has complaints officer of the branch. We also thank Thompson's Solicitors with regards to an issue at Heathrow Airport Taxi Feeder park.

LU ENGINEERING

This branch’s recruitment plan is attached as a separate document.

LU FLEET

Membership up mainly due to sterling work at Stratford Market Depot and Distribution Services.

All reps positions filled.

Industrial action well supported but there seems to be a tendency when arranging meeting to assume that most reps are full time release which in my branch this is not the case.

We carry out a full audit of members twice a year. Following each joiners and leavers report any changes are e-mailed and texted to the local rep for investigation.

I would suggest that membership officers be given log ins to allow them to better carry out thier role and be allowed to attend the courses concerning the membership system that are run at Doncaster.

NEASDEN (north of Jubilee and Metropolitan lines)

Neasden 1070 has remained level with regards to membership numbers, even after the mass transfer exercise, we are slowly growing, and the reasons for this is firstly the branch has commissioned a branch badge which is worn with some pride around all of our groups, our meetings are designed around our members and their needs, I believe the attendance numbers at branch meetings speak for themselves, branch officials monthly visit around our spears of influence, checking on notice cases and local issues, answering members questions and explaining the good our union does.

Our Communication officer Adrian Rowe has designed and edited The Neasden Flyer to inform our groups what’s going on, this flyer is also used to highlight local issues and is hated by local managers.

With two Union Learner Reps in our branch, we are reaching out to help members progress their learning skills, our Membership Secretary Nick Smith does a great job supplying local reps with up to date lists so they can keep track of members in their areas.

The only problem areas we seem to have is RCI’s locations, but we now have Bro Ross Marshall on the case, so hopefully that will not be a problem much longer.

All in all, with some hard work and forward planning Neasden 1070 Branch can only grow stronger in 2010.

PICCADILLY & DISTRICT WEST

We have spent more on maintaining current branch membership than ever before, we do our own recruitment on branch days and within that this year we have been talking to the members about the disputes we have been involved in it was a very long year.

Industrial action has taken a heavy toll on all, we have had more literature than ever on what is happening but that said I believe we have a forgotten generation who do not see striking as a way of negotiation (cannot say who's fault but without doubt the Thatcher years are now paying dividends for employers due to apathy and the fact most people now their own homes or at least have mortgages and are afraid of losing them)

On the plus side we are at least raising awareness of what can be done but again the down side of that is that more and more members are asking for phone numbers and email addresses to be withdrawn from the RMT membership site due to the saturation of texts and messages on disputes.

On LUL I firmly believe we now need to get a united workforce to tackle management, but I cannot see Aslef or TSSA members swapping unions so we will need to unite with them in some way (that was as difficult to type as say, as I really do despise the other unions) perhaps a very visible campaign of offering an olive branch to them in unity to fight management and management practises so their membership can see and if they do not grab the olive branch we should continue to offer it so we show every body involved we will work towards getting the best for the workers?

We have had no problem recruiting reps far from it we have had up to 6 vying for one position, what we do have problems with is reps being sacked, this year Kingsley Omole and Tony Crump both thorns in the side of management have been sacked for incidents which normally would not lead to sackings especially in the case of Kingsley were dates were moved to suit the charge, so no recruitment not a problem.

Over all the year went well again that said our timing for ballots does need looking at, the ballot prior to Christmas was in my view very poor judgement, as we cannot really expect our members to put a cross on a piece of paper that may reduce the money some desperately need at one of the most expensive times of year, we also again in my view tried to jump the gun and exposed our hand to management we presented them a wish list and tried to control the situation with regards to our pay increase, management then took control and we did not come out of this looking to good.

We must not put ourselves in a position again were we expose our hand too soon, every one already believes whether rightly or wrongly that we run straight to the ballot box, we need to improve this image and we also need to improve and expose how we save jobs, which the other unions obviously do not. Thanks for the chance to moan and hopefully get some views across.

On industrial action the Piccadilly line ran nine trains across two days, with over 500 shifts to cover per day. This was nothing short of miraculous and a testimony to the people who work on the Piccadilly line and the picket lines this is something I am particularly proud of the stations were equally well supported, but we must get the other unions on board if we are to make serious inroads against management.

STRATFORD no.1 (east of Central line; Stratford Market depot service control; buses)

- whether your membership grew or shrunk during 2009, and why you think this is
Membership shrunk, due to local issues and the strikes

- any problems you have had filling reps’ positions within the branch’s area.
As you know, we have had some division in the branch, resulting is some small issues with regards to filling local reps positions, but things are getting better.

- how effective your branch was during any industrial action in your area last year.
The Branch was effective, but did suffer some losses of membership,

- what recruitment activities you have organised
We are in the planning process for a regular monthly recruitment drive to co-inside with our branch meet

- any comments on how the union, either nationally or regionally, has helped (or not helped!)
Not at the moment

- ideas for future improvements
Bus Drivers charter

TfL no.1 (LUL managers; TfL)

- whether your membership grew or shrunk during 2009, and why you think this is
TFl no.1 membership has remained steady in figures. We lost quite a few LU managers just before the strike, but surprise surprise now there is a rumour that their jobs are on the line they are coming back and a few new ones as well.

TFL has been a struggle: we are losing around 30 due to TFL imposing they sign the pay deal or they will lose their 75% rail discount which they can’t afford to lose.

We recruit regular numbers in and lose after OCPs etc.

- any problems you have had filling reps' positions within the branch’s area

The Rep situation in LU is ridiculous, Roy Carey is the only MATS Rep according to the structure, to cover 376 people. I also represent members but I don’t have the release rights which means I have to fight to get to meetings for LDI's/CDI's if I'm on the schedule to train.
Paul Jackson and I have spoken about the ex Metronet Managers which are now LU Managers and we have agreed to leave them where they are until we can sort out an increase in the reps numbers.

In TFL we are entitled to 4 to cover 400 it’s not enough and particularly depressing when TSSA have 14 under the framework! We are constantly fighting with the help of Steve Hedley but we are hitting our heads against a brick wall. We went down to 3 after the sad loss of Andy Melvin but now have a replacement Peter Wicks, he going to take some training as he has no experience but he is keen to learn.

- how effective your branch was during any industrial action in your area last year

The LU side strike was terrible: there were around 20 managers on strike only. TFL was a good turn out but they received a lot of abuse from their TFL colleagues.

- what recruitment activities you have organised

We have tried email blitzing, mail drops with postcards and morning surgerys in local coffee shops. They work OK but not brilliantly.

- any comments on how the union, either nationally or regionally, has helped (or not helped!)
- ideas for future improvements

I know Steve is busy but TFL feel as they are treated as 2nd class to LU as there isn’t always a HO person to attend the 4 meetings a year. The branch support and believe that Steve is doing a good job and that he fights for them .