Health and safety

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note the resolution from our East Ham branch requesting that all grades be balloted for action short of strikes over OSN101 and related issues.

We instruct the General Secretary to urgently seek the views of all our branches with London Underground members and our Regional Council on this matter, and to place their responses in front of us.

From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow

I am writing to advise you of an online petition to get VAT removed from the fuel bills of Air Ambulance charities. Unlike the RNLI, under European Union rules the charities are not exempted from the tax.

The petition asks that any future fuel VAT payments made by these charities should be returned in the form of a grant of the same amount taken by HM Treasury.

For a debate to be granted 100,000 signatures are needed. I urge you to sign the petition and please circulate it widely so support can be built.

RMT calls Budget “Day of Action” over rail carve up and slams train operators for using increased rail demand as excuse for higher fares

RAIL UNION RMT announced today it is holding a Budget “Day of Action” over Government plans to axe thousands of jobs, close ticket offices, jack up fares and give the train operating companies “gold plated” franchises as it implements the McNulty Rail Review recommendations.

AFTER MONTHS OF campaigning by RMT taxi branch, and with the support of the RMT parliamentary convenor John McDonnell, who through a series of actions blocked the progress of the London Local Authorities Bill, the sponsors have now been forced to withdraw the offending clause which would have enshrined the right to register pedicabs and provide them with rank spaces.

If the Bill with the offending Clause had been enacted it would have meant the introduction of a fully-fledged licensing and right to ply for hire regime for pedicabs, undermining the tightly-regulated licensed taxi trade.

ON THE EVE of the expected publication of a Government Command Paper on their future plans for rail, RMT has warned that Ministers are preparing to wind back the clock to the days of the Hatfield and Potters Bar disasters and bring in private ownership of rail infrastructure for the first time since the collapse of Railtrack.

An open letter has been sent by RMT Stations and Revenue Council Safety Council Staff Side Secretary Ross Marshall to LU Managing Director Mike Brown.

The letter regards "The comments.... made in relation to several questions regarding staffing levels, the current review on stations, the fact that LU had presented the OSP plans as a fait accompli and other problems related to the OSP." Questions are also being asked about the review of staffing levels at a handful of stations, and why the RMT is not being involved with on this review.

Click 'read more' to see the letter or download the attachment for the original document.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note that the meeting referred to in our decision of 6 October 2011 has yet to take place, due to the representatives not having been available. We instruct the General Secretary to write to Stratford no.1 branch advising that unless the representatives make themselves available soon, we will be unable to progress this matter; and to invite LU Engineering branch to send an appropriate representative to this meeting. A report of the meeting is to be placed in front of us once it has taken place.

RMT position regarding station staff sweeping and shovelling platforms clear of snow and Ice in adverse weather conditions.

It is not station staff’s job to undertake this duty.