London Underground Ltd

To read or download the April 2010 edition of Monthly News, click on the attachment below.

In this edition:

• HOW OUR BOSSES LIVE - Job cuts for us, jackpot pay awards for them
• EURO DEMO AGAINST RAIL LIBERALISATION - a member's personal report from Lille
• VOLCANIC ASH - staff stranded by grounded airlines told to lose pay or give up annual leave
• RMT defends agreements at Arnos Grove depot
• ASLEF claim credit for sunny weather!

Whichever grade you work in, 800 fewer jobs on stations would mean …

• 800 fewer people paying in to the TfL pension fund + 800 fewer employer contributions paid in = a more fragile pension fund for all of us
• 800 fewer staff available to assist you in an emergency
• The same amount of work being done by 800 fewer people
• 800 fewer staff helping passengers - including your friends and family - around the system
• 800 fewer posts for you to transfer into if you need redeployment or want a career change

Around 15 RMT members and supporters dished out hundreds of leaflets to Liverpool Street passengers on Friday lunchtime, explaining London Underground's plans to cut staff and ticket office service at their station.

All 500 leaflets were taken by passengers, many eager to read about the threat and support our campaign against it, and many of whom signed our petition:

A study by RMT of Transport for London’s latest accounts reveals that the number of managers earning between £70,000 and £99,000 had more than doubled to nearly 800 – which matches the number of front-line station staff that Tube bosses want to axe.

EVER MORE London Tube bosses are being paid telephone-number salaries while hundreds of front-line staff face the axe, the RMT union charges today.

Today is London Underground pay day, and staff have been shocked to discover that their pay does include the 4.2% rise that should have applied from 1 April. After a long-running dispute last year, the pay deal was agreed in December, so London Underground has had plenty of time to arrange for the year 2 rise to be paid on time.

RMT suggests that staff may wish to submit a grievance, and recommends the following wording ...

Grievance to Employing Manager

This resolution, submitted by the Regional Council Executive, was carried unanimously by the April meeting of the Regional Council ...

This Regional Council is very frustrated by the lack of progress in carrying out the union's decision to ballot our members for industrial action to stop London Underground's plan to slash 800 jobs.

We understand the problems caused by the anti-union laws. However, we believe that the union can and must, as a matter of urgency, prepare and carry out this ballot.

We remind our national officers that 800 jobs are at stake.

A dozen RMT reps and activists leafleted passengers coming in and out of Bank station yesterday, Monday 12 April. They dished out hundreds of leaflets and invited people to sign RMT's petition against the job cuts. After just an hour, several sheets of the petition were full of names.

RMT will be appearing outside various stations over the coming weeks, giving out leaflets and collecting signatures. Keep checking back to this website for dates and details - and join us if you can!

If management mistreat you, you have the right to complain! Here is LUL's Grievance Procedure - the text is below, and it is attached as a PDF file. Make sure you get the help and support of a union rep throughout the process.

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LONDON UNDERGROUND LIMITED INDIVIDUAL GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
LU Employee Relations

1st April 2010

Individual Grievance Procedure

London Underground - Individual Grievance Procedure
Issue date: [1st April 2010]
Effective: [1st April 2010]

This supersedes any previous version

Index

Section A
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Scope

TUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that they are preparing for a ballot of members for strike action and action short of a strike after London Underground failed to withdraw the threat of axing 800 staff.

“RMT has made it clear that we will not sit idly by while the Mayor, his transport officials and Tube Line’s drive down tube staffing levels to dangerously low levels. We gave LU and Tube Lines an opportunity to pull back from these cuts but they have decided to plough on leaving us with no option but to organise ballots.”