London Underground Ltd

John Knight a lifelong union rep, activist and officer of Finsbury Park Branch has died after being diagnosed with throat cancer only six weeks ago. John spent most of his working life as a guard and driver both at Oakwood and Arnos Grove and was known for the integrity and unshakeable principles that characterise all that is good about our union. He was kind and compassionate and was well respected by all who knew him; even in his retirement years that were so tragically cut short, he still gave his time without reward to help youngsters in his local RAF cadet company.

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

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.

Click on the link to download the September issue of Monthly News.

Circular No. IR.275/09: RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2009, REDUNDANCIES AND BREACH OF AGREEMENTS - LUL and TfL

At a meeting of the LUL Company Council last week, the company’s pay offer was further discussed. There was no further movement by the employer and so their offer still stands as follows:

Year 1: 1.5% increase from 1st April 2009 Year 2: February 2010 RPI + 0.5% or 0.5% whichever is the greater from 1st April 2010

It's confirmed: Boris Johnson has broken his promise that no London Underground staff would be penalised for being unable to get to work because of the heavy snowfall on 2 February. In answers to questions put to him by Green Party Assembly Member Darren Johnson, the Mayor backs up the unfair actions of London Underground management in every single respect.

Now we know how much a promise from our Tory Mayor is really worth!

=====

Dear colleagues,

LUL - TfL - Alstom - Cubic - bus workers

LUL Pay

I attended the LUL company council meeting on the 08/9/09 and discussed the pay offer. There was no improvement whatsoever on the last offer. It remains 1.5 percent this year and RPI plus 0.5 percent next year. LUL are prepared to release our reps for a meeting and I am requesting Tuesday 6th October 2009 (one day after the ASLEF reps are released) to take a sounding on where we go.

A summary of where we currently stand with the jobs/pay/justice dispute:

• RMT is calling no more strikes for the time being.
• Our disputes with LUL and TfL are still 'live' ie. not resolved.
• The Regional Council's strike committee continues to meet and organise.
• No RMT member will be made compulsorily redundant in the current LUL job-cut process.
• LUL accepts that it has a 'no compulsory redundancy' agreement, but insists that this only applies to operational staff even though it clearly states that it applies to "all employees".

This is an open letter from Stratford No 1 branch to Steve Hedley (RMT Regional Organiser) and all members regarding 'Mystery Shopping Surveys' and management's treatment of staff.

Dear Steve Hedley,

At our last branch meeting, several stations reps and activists raised the issue of increasing management pressure on members.

From Steve Hedley, Regional Organiser ...

In response to management's internal circular claiming that the RMT have settled our dispute [which is attached] let me just clarify the position.

1. No RMT members will be made compulsorily redundant as part of the LUL organisational change process. There may well be members of other unions made redundant.