Report by Glenroy Watson. The conference took place on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March 2009.
Conference opened without our Chair, elected at last year’s conference and as a result I was elected to Chair this year's conference in direct contradiction of our ‘own’ standing orders. More about that, later.
Conference was again well attended, but could have been better.
Drivers on the Victoria line made history on Wednesday, 22nd April, by completely closing the line for the first time ever. A rock solid strike by RMT drivers, supported by a majority of their ASLEF colleagues, succeeded in completely closing the line for 24 hours.
Read the text below; click '1 attachment / file name to download the leaflet.
RMT are to re-ballot all London Underground & Transport for London Members following management running to un-elected lawyers to find spurious legal loopholes to deny you your right to protest against their appalling pay offer, their intention to bring in compulsory redundancies and their victimisation of union activists & reps.
Click on the policy title to read the resolution.
MARCH’S RESOLUTIONS
Victoria line drivers held a solid day of strike action, with not a single train running all day Wednesday.
The drivers took action to demand the reinstatement of sacked workmate Carl Campbell (pictured) as well as the installation of Correct Side Door Enabling equipment, and an end to managers' mistreatment of staff, especially RMT branch chair Glenroy Watson.
Click '1 attachment' / file name to download the newsletter. Read the text below ...
HMRI have written to LU raising serious concerns about the safety of the Cross Track Projection system (XTP). The railway inspectorate has told LU what your safety reps have been telling them for the past 6 months: that XTP is a distraction to drivers and is just not safe! When this system was first consulted upon, CBS gave assurances to safety reps that the system would turn off before the train entered the platform. A catalogue of lies, excuses and U-turns later, we are in the position where by the projector stays on constantly in many locations. This, as we have told LU management many times, causes a serious distraction to the driver at a time when they should be concentrating on the PTI, the combine’s greatest risk. As our concerns have been ignored we can only assume that the revenue received outweighs any risk involved.
The following resolution, submitted by LU Fleet branch and seconded by LU Engineering branch, was passed unanimously at the April meeting of the Regional Council ...
Following the reorganisation of admin and HR roles in TubeLines operations some of our members were displaced to the redeployment pool.
As a consequence of the reorganisation one of the HR assistant posts has remained vacant despite three attempts to fill it internally.
RMT Regional Organiser Steve Hedley has written the following open letter to London Underground's Employee Relations Director, Gerry Duffy ...
Dear Gerry,
Victoria Line Dispute – Request for Negotiations
From RMT official circular 138/09, dated 21st April 2009
Members will recall that earlier in the year the union suspended proposed strike action in relation to the above dispute to facilitate discussions under the auspices of ACAS.
Regrettably, these discussions have failed to resolve the issue that has led to the dispute, namely management’s decision to implement new rosters which will remove the 12 hour weekend shifts replacing them with 8 hour shifts, thus creating a situation where members in the Control Room will lose 24 rest days per annum.
Please see the attachment for the latest newsletter from the Trains Safety Counil on XTP.