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Contract Of Employment – Trainpeople.co.uk

From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow

I have received reports that agency workers employed by Trainpeople.co.uk engaged on Grand Central Railways and London Underground’s Bakerloo Line contracts have not been paid for the second month running and have been excluded from the Agency Worker Regulations by Trainpeople.co.uk, who are using the Swedish derogation contract model to employ our members.

The use of the Swedish derogation contract model prevents our members from being entitled to the same pay as permanent employees at Grand Central Trains and London Underground, although the Agency Regulations would still apply as normal to most other terms and conditions. For the Swedish derogation model to be applied properly, Trainpeople.co.uk would need to do the following:

  • Employ our members under a permanent contract
  • Pay our members at least 50% of normal pay during any periods when they are not assigned work with Grand Central or LUL (so called “downtime”)
  • Continue to employ our members under these terms for a minimum of 4 weeks (on aggregate) during downtime without termination.

At the time of writing the union has not been able to establish whether or not Trainpeople.co.uk is correctly applying the Swedish derogation contract model. I have also been informed that two directors of Trainpeople.co.uk have allegedly been banned from holding or applying a Public Service Vehicle Operator Licence indefinitely in the United Kingdom.

The General Grades Committee has considered this matter and has taken the following decision:

“We note the issues raised by a member who works for the agency Trainpeople.co.uk, the legal advice received, and that the employer argues that it is exempt from regulations concerning agency workers, as it is using the Swedish derogation model. We instruct the General Secretary to:

  • Provide our legal advisor with further information requested, and place in front of us the further advice that will result
  • Provide full support to this member and others who are challenging the unacceptable practices of this and other agencies
  • Prepare a briefing for General Grades Committee members about the Swedish derogation contract model issue and its implications for our members.

We further note reports from our members of the non-payment of wages by Trainpeople.co.uk to our members on the Bakerloo Line. We instruct the General Secretary to urgently obtain further details of this, and demand that Trainpeople.co.uk pay any outstanding wages on time in the future.

We further note correspondence on file containing allegations regarding the directors of Trainpeople.co.uk. We instruct the General Secretary to establish the facts surrounding this.

We reiterate our stance that we believe that all transport workers should have secure contracts of employment, directly employed by an integrated, publically owned public transport system. We instruct the General Secretary to draft a report on the use of agency workers in our industries and proposals for organising them. Any developments to be placed in front of us. Regional Councils and Branches to be advised.”

I will now be acting on the instructions of this decision and I will keep you advised of any developments.