Pay

Following the resolution passed by our Regional Council in March, the union's General Grades Committee (part of the national executive) made the following decision on June 1st. The latest report is that "work is in progress".

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That we note the resolution from the LT Regional Council and the continuing sackings of our cleaner members and the need to build up our membership in this important grade.

We also take into consideration the recent meeting with our Parliamentary Group, which is placed on file.

The General Secretary is therefore instructed:

Please see below an advertisement for a managerial position in Transport for London for the princely sum of £500 per day. Hands up who still thinks 1.5% (then even worse in the following years) is a "reasonable" pay rise for the rest of us mere mortals ...

The attached two posters show clearly how the pay offers from London Underground and Transport for London - of a measly 1.5% this year (with an even more measly 0.5% in following years) - will not cover the real rising cost of living. In other words, it is a pay cut.

As part of the RMT pay claim this year it was proposed that medical redeployment would mean that any member of staff who was for medical reasons unable to do their current job would be given at least one other job offer. Management have agreed to discuss this with us. The same proposals were forwarded by other unions. The only union that did not submit medical redeployment as part of their pay claim was ASLEF.

Below is a list of 2009 pay awards for train drivers. This information certainly puts LUL's measly 1.5% - and even worse, 0.5% next year - into perspective!

A notice giving this information is attached - please download and circulate to all drivers.

• Arriva Cross Country: 3.5%
• Arriva Trains Wales: 4.75%
• Chiltern Railways: 3.5%
• DRS: 3.5%
• DB Schenker: 4.06%
• East Midlands Trains: 3.5%
• Gatwick Express: 3.3%
• GB Railfreight: 3.27%
  

Our employers would have us believe that all other workers are having their pay cut or frozen, and so LUL and TfL's1.5% offer is generous by comparison. But have a look at these ...

• Novartis Animal Health: 4.5% (effective 1 March 2009)
• Grand Central: 4.08% (effective 1 April 2009)
• Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: 4% (effective 1 January 2009)
• Standard Life: 3.9% (effective 1 April 2009)
• Scottish Water: 3.75% (effective 1 July 2009)
• Department of Work and Pensions: average 3.6% (effective 1 July 2009)
  

As of July 2009, annual price inflation rates of particular products:

• food: 5.6%
• fuel and light: 9.6%
• gas: 24%
• coal and solid fuels: 21.9%

[government inflation figures]

In the year to June 2009, the prices of many essentials rose at a far higher rate than RPI inflation:

• Coal & solid fuels up 21.9%
• Fuel and light up 9.6%
• Gas up 24.0%
• Electricity up 6.8%
• Water and other charges up 4.7%
• Fares and other travel costs 5.5%
• Bus and coach fares 7.3%
• Other travel costs 4.8%
• Food up 5.3%, with
  • tea up 10.3%

This resolution, submitted by Jubilee South and East London Line branch, was passed at the August Regional Council meeting.

This Branch/Regional Council is appalled, but not surprised, by the recent comments made by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that his payment of £250k, for writing a Sunday newspaper column, was nothing more than ‘chicken feed’.

We feel this is a disgrace, considering the Mayor’s actions in intervening in the current LUL pay dispute, and also the failure to pay cleaners the London living wage.

If you want to keep up with the latest statistics on pay settlements, inflation and other employment-related facts, you could try looking at the IDS website.

One fact it will tell you is that median pay settlements are currently running at 2% - a full 0.5% higher than LUL and TfL's current offers. ['Median' is one type of average, found by arranging the values in order and then selecting the one in the middle.]