Campaigning for higher health and safety standards at work, and opposing the employers' shortcuts
In yet another indictment of the privatised railway system, staff at Victoria station were recently shocked to discover that an ongoing leak into their mess areas contained more than just water.
RMT reps have raised the issue with Bakerloo management of train drivers urinating in bottles and throwing them on the track. The union has a long standing agreement with LUL that drivers needing a toilet break should call for a personal needs relief (PNR) to use the the proper facilities.
Please find attached, the Neasden Flyer for October 2009
Inside this issue
Also attached....
Jubilee line management tried to implement TBTC trial operations on the 3&4th October.
A man who was abusive and attacked a bus driver outside Northolt Tube Station has received a 12-week suspended sentence and has been tagged for three months. Scott Rogers, 37, boarded an N7 night bus in Ealing on april 11th where he was abusive and had problems paying the full fare before his friend helped him out. The bus travelled to Northolt tube station where it then terminated and once the passengers alighted, Rogers confronted the driver before attacking him.
ON THE tenth anniversary of the Paddington rail crash, transport union RMT has called upon the government to mark the date by intervening to stop planned cuts in Network Rail maintenance which have put 2500 jobs, nearly 20% of the workforce, at risk.
At last.
The CMO (formerly better known as metronet) have finally decided to get their act together and try and sort this problem out.
They are going to adopt a scientific approach to it.
Over the next few weeks expect to see many operatives in bright orange Hi-Vis at the usual locations, Padd, Picc,CX.
They will first gather as much information as possible.
The Department of Transport launched a consultation on the review of Domestic Drivers' Hours Rules. The rules, first introduced in the 1930s and largely unchanged since the 1960s, cover issues including maximum driving time, breaks, rest time, daily and weekly rest, record keeping and enforcement.
The consultation document can be found on the DfT website at
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/domesticdrivershours/
Local trains health and safety rep, Gary Fitzpatrick, was recently deducted a day’s pay in a case which demonstrates the warped priorities of our management at the moment. Safety continues to be ignored in favour of keeping the service running at all costs, and union reps continue to be harassed and bullied for trying to protect their members.
Safety ignored after lift failure
By a majority of 3 to 1 on a high turnout, RMT drivers on the Victoria line have voted for strike action and action short of a strike against local management’s attempt to impose 5-rounder duties on the line. The unions had an agreement with the company that there would be no more than four rounders in any duty because of the hot and noisy conditions on the line and the detrimental effect on morale that these turns
Readers will remember that in the May edition of Monthly News we reported on a serious breach of safety at Blackhorse Road when the station was left open at the insistence of a DSM despite both escalators being out of action and contrary to the Congestion Control Evacuation Plan (CCEP). Alarmingly, the CCEP was broken again recently, this time at Tottenham Hale.