Health and safety

From General Secretary Bob Crow

I write to advise you that the Government yet again are proposing changes to the CICS that if implemented will affect the compensation that our members currently receive when attacked at work or when they experience a suicide on the railways. It is currently proposed to abolish the lower tariff bands of the Compensation Criminal Injury Scheme (CICS), this move will remove from eligibility the majority of our members injured as a result of criminal violence during the course of their work.

London Tube bosses faced with a self-inflicted Olympics station-staffing crisis are taking “cavalier risks” with passenger and staff safety by attempting to sidestep legally enforceable standards of training, the network’s biggest union says today.

We note the request from our Finsbury Park branch, suggesting a joint campaign with ASLEF against the introduction of Automatic Door Opening on the Victoria Line, believing this to be a major component of London Underground’s preparation for the introduction of ‘driverless trains’. We accordingly instruct the General Secretary to contact ASLEF seeking a joint campaign on this issue.

We also encourage our Finsbury Park branch and trains representatives to pursue this with ASLEF at a company and local level.

From Stations and Revenue Health & Safety Council

This matter has been referred by your local representives Kenton and Eliza to the Stations and Revenue Safety Council.

Having read the work stream diary that has been created for you all, I am extremely concerned that the amount of time you are being given to get familiarised is totally unrealistic. For example, having spoken to roistered supervisors at various locations, Bank takes a min of 3 days but staff are only being allotted 1 day.

From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow

I am writing to advise you of a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court which will effect many of the 2,500 people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year.

The Supreme Court upheld an appeal brought by Unite the Union and rejected arguments by insurance companies which would have denied compensation to victims of the terminal disease mesothelioma.

Judges in the country’s highest court agreed that the insurers of an employer at the time of the exposure to asbestos should pay compensation.

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.