RMT Executive decisions

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the correspondence from London Underground announcing that it is withdrawing uniform cleaning vouchers. We strongly object to the fact that once again, this employer has declared a change in policy without adequate advance consultation with us. We agree with our Regional Organiser’s view that LUL should table this issue for discussion at the Company Council, as it affects staff in all uniformed grades. We instruct the General Secretary to write to London Underground accordingly, requesting that uniform cleaning vouchers continue to be issued to staff until adequate consultation has taken place. Should LU not agree to discuss the matter at Company Council, we agree to refer this matter to ACAS.

We instruct the General Secretary to obtain a detailed report on the impact of this change on our members, assessing whether the £100 tax allowance really does adequately compensate our members for the withdrawal of the vouchers as the company claims or whether it in practice leaves our members worse off financially. This report to be completed and placed back in front of us within 14 days.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the correspondence from London Underground and the report from our Regional Organiser.

We are very concerned that the role of the recently-reorganised duty manager grades in the grievance procedure will see grievances dealt with only within the driver’s own depot, and that in many cases, the grievance will not even reach the Train Operations Manager (TOM). This represents a devaluation of the grievance process, and will inevitably lead to genuine and serious grievances not being dealt with properly.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note that the ballot result for Power Control Room is a follows:-

Are you prepared to take strike action?

Total Votes Cast 4
Number Voting Yes 4
Number Voting No 0
Spoilt Papers 0

Are you prepared to take industrial action short of a strike?

Total Votes Cast 4
Number Voting Yes 4
Number Voting No 0
Spoilt Papers 0

That we note the unjust conviction of our London Transport Regional Organiser. This conviction is a clear miscarriage of justice and an attack on our union; by London Underground's own admission, it resulted from an incident that took place while Brother Hedley was carrying out his union activities.

We further note that London Underground has seized on this situation to ban our Regional Organiser from its premises and even to demand that this union allocate duties to our Regional Organiser which prevent him having any contact with any LU employees, which includes thousands of our members.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the correspondence from London Underground on this matter, and also note that London Underground has sent a letter by post to Victoria Line drivers defending its actions on these important safety matters and attacking our dispute. This underlines the importance of our previous decision that this union will send a letter by post to all our Victoria Line driver members outlining our stance on these issues, which is to be implemented without further delay. Email and text communication are to be used to promote this union’s ballot and industrial action, but not to substitute for letters by post when specifically instructed by the GGC.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note that Serco Docklands has clarified that: “Employees on trade union contracts will be paid double time if they work on a bank holiday, this applies to both hours and overtime. The bank holiday payments are applied from 12 midnight at the start of the day to midnight at the end of the day. If an employee is rostered to work on a bank holiday or if it is their rostered rest day they will accrue a lieu day. They may choose to have this paid instead.”

We seek the views of our Docklands Light Railway branch on this matter.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note and endorse the report from our Regional Organiser.

We welcome the fact that London Underground has finally accepted that Version 22a of the Stations Framework Agreement is the agreed Framework which applies to station staff and that its Version 24 has not been agreed and does not apply. We particularly welcome the fact that management's attempt to worsen our members' working conditions - including requiring staff to work away from their rostered station in non-urgent situations, and allowing management to impose roster changes - have not succeeded.

We remain vigilant for further attempts by LU to impose these or similar attacks, and instruct our functional council representatives to oppose any such moves and alert the Regional Organiser.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note with disappointment and disgust that London Underground's directors' review has upheld the sacking of Arwyn Thomas. This is despite the fact that the Employment Tribunal awarded Arwyn Interim Relief and found that LU had sacked him unfairly due to his trade union activities. It is appalling that LU apparently feels that it is above the law, and that Tribunals does not have the power to compel an employer to re-employ a worker sacked unfairly.

RMT General Grades Committee decision about London Underground Machinery of Negotiation and Consutlation:

“We note that following the job- cutting OSP, which reduced the number of Station groups from 42 to 37, London Underground management has unilaterally declared a reduction in the number of RMT representatives. Their action in doing so is completely outside the agreed processes.

The Machinery of Negotiation and Consultation states that:

General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the resolution from our Finsbury Park branch and accept its proposal. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to conduct the ballot of our Victoria Line driver members for action short of strikes as soon as practical, with the title “Breakdown of machinery of negotiation: Victoria Line upgrade safety and training issues”.