21st July 2022

Dear colleague

Imposition of Night Tube Duties, Train Operators - London Underground

I am pleased to report that, following over 20 sessions at ACAS and with London Underground management having previously shown no sign of shifting, progress has now been made on the Night Tube dispute. As you will know, this dispute began after management ripped up agreements that Night Tube duties would not be imposed on members and that the service would be run on a voluntary basis.

This led to RMT members on the Victoria and Central Lines taking sustained strike action every weekend since last November, with members on the Jubilee and Northern Lines joining that action recently and those on the Piccadilly Line scheduled to take action from this weekend. This action and the efforts of your negotiating team have compelled London Underground management to seriously address the situation and an offer was tabled following the last round of talks last Friday.

The offer from management includes:

• RMT and London Underground agreeing a minimum number on each line who wish to preference Night Tube duties, which once reached would mean no RMT member should be required to work these duties. Regular reviews throughout the process will ensure this remains the case even if there are insufficient drivers who preference them at a particular depot
• A review of the allocation of Night Tube duties against a list of those who have expressed a preference for Night Tube Duties. Syndicates, where they exist, or LUL, where they don't, will facilitate necessary changeovers and the process.
• Level one committees will monitor night tube working to ensure fairness of application. Local reps will have oversight to ensure fair distribution of Night Tube shifts to those who preference them.
• Monthly reviews to take place at Trains Functional Council with a full review of the process at ACAS after three months.

These proposals were subject to a meeting of your Night Tube line reps with National Officials and your National Executive Committee members and the majority view was to suspend the strike action and allow the process to commence and then be reviewed. Your NEC has formally endorsed this position and I have advised LUL that the strike action has been suspended. You should therefore work normally at the times I had previously notified you to go out on strike.

You and your colleagues who have taken the action up to now or who were prepared to take action in the coming weeks and months have ensured that RMT reps will have more control over the process of allocation of Night Tube duties.

But I would like to convey the NEC position that this dispute is not over and that the strike mandate remains and may be used following the 3 month review should an acceptable outcome not be reached.

For now, however, you and your colleagues are to be congratulated on showing true trade union principles in this fight and your NEC and I thank you for that.

I will of course keep you updated with any further developments in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Lynch
General Secretary