'RMT up front' - October issue

Submitted by Joffe on 28 September, 2010 - 20:06

Click on the attachment to see the latest 'RMT up front', newsletter of the RMT train grades committee.

Articles follow:
Bend it like Beckham!
Becks can bend a ball, but not half as much as LU can bend standards and procedures
Remember the disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell? He used to ask his legal advisors for their legal opinion; if he didn’t like their answer, he’d sack them, and get a new legal advisor. He’d repeat the process until he got the opinion he wanted. LU is no better. They have standards to ensure health and safety is maintained, if they don’t have enough staff to ensure standards and procedures are carried out correctly, they just bend the rules to suit them.

Regional Council meeting

Venue: Somers Town Community Centre, Ossulston Street, London NW1.

Guest speakers: Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary) and Faryal Velmi (Transport for All).

Plus reports from our Executive member and Regional Organiser, reports on recruitment and organising, discussion on our disputes and campaigns, resolutions from branches, and more.

Details of agenda, resolutions etc here.

Strike for Jobs and Safety - Round 2

Submitted by plectrum on 28 September, 2010 - 10:40

After the successful strike on 7th September and with an overtime ban causing stations to close and engineering works to be cancelled, London Underground management is coming under strong pressure to return to the negotiating table. We can win this fight for a safe and properly staffed railway, but only if we crank up the pressure. Finsbury Park's latest leaflet explains how our overtime ban is hurting the company and calls on all members to make the next strike on October 3rd/4th even stronger than the first.

Download a copy by clicking on the attachment.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow On Labour Leader Ed Miliband

Submitted by Peter on 28 September, 2010 - 05:04

The BBC have an article on RMT General Secretary Bob Crow's comments on the new Labour leader Ed Miliband.

The article says "Mr Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, claims Mr Miliband might break his pledge to attend a rally against public spending cuts."

"Mr Crow said a Labour leader who failed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the party's core supporters would "get slaughtered at the polls".

The full article is here.

Job Cuts – London Underground - New Strike Times

Submitted by Peter on 28 September, 2010 - 04:57

This is a letter to all RMT members at London Underground (excluding ex-Metronet), from General Secretary Bob Crow.

I am writing to advise you that despite the best efforts of your negotiators at the recent ACAS talks management refuse to take seriously our concerns that their proposed job cuts will have a devastating effect on safety. The General Grades Committee has amended the times of the next strikes as follows:

  • 18.29 hours on Sunday 3rd October 2010 and 18.28 hours on Monday 4th October 2010

Alstom-Metro Tube train maintenance staff to stage second strike over pay

Submitted by Peter on 28 September, 2010 - 04:47

NEARLY 200 Alstom-Metro train-maintenance workers at depots on London Underground’s Jubilee and Northern lines are to strike again next week over pay and conditions in a concerted bid to force the wealthy company to improve its “insulting” sub-inflation pay offer.

RMT members at the two depots will begin their second 24-hour strike at 19:00 on Monday October 4, with further action scheduled for the same time on Wednesday November 3, and Monday November 29.

October Bakerloo Branch newsletter

Submitted by Joffe on 26 September, 2010 - 20:55

Click on the link to see the latest Bakerloo Branch newsletter.

Main story follows:
Strike again on October 4th!
Overtime ban causes havoc - keep it going!

The last strike and the continuing overtime ban has shocked LU management. They assumed that the months of brain washing - the job cuts are necessary and inevitable - would convince ordinary tube workers not to take action. This has backfired on them big time.

New Attack on Trains Safety: Tripcock Testing to be Cut?

Submitted by Janine on 25 September, 2010 - 07:43

LU management have produced a document which waters down safety checks for trains. Your reps believe that this is a disaster waiting to happen. The document states that during special circumstances, special timetable operation, abnormal service patterns, failure of trip-cock testers, there is no requirement to test trip-cocks every trip. Every 48 hours or so seems good enough for LU.

As far as RMT is concerned, trip-cocks must be tested every trip regardless of other circumstances.