London Underground Ltd

RMT press release, issued today

LONDON UNDERGROUND’S biggest union RMT today welcomed plans to transfer the workforce at failed public-private partnership company Metronet back to LUL.

In a letter to RMT general secretary Bob Crow, Metronet Rail chief executive Andie Harper confirmed that a consultation over the TUPE transfer will soon be underway and that he hoped the process would be completed by December.

“RMT has been pressing for this measure all along and welcomes Metronet Rail’s move as a victory for common sense,” Bob Crow said today.

The highest-paid director’s earnings:

• London Underground £522,123 (2007)
• Metronet £212,947 (2006/7)
• DLR £136,833 (2007/8)
• CBS Outdoor £477,000 (2006)

TfL’s Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy’s salary: £320,000 + up to 50% bonus (2006)

Tube Lines: 15 Directors, average salary £660,000+ (2007)

by Steve Hedley, RMT Regional Council Secretary

An all-grades, all-companies ballot is essential if we want to stop sackings, harassment, victimisation and bullying. The very future of the union is at stake.

It doesn’t matter if you are a driver, station staff, controller, cleaner or engineer, you will know someone who has been harassed back to work when sick, been sacked for attendance or suspended for carrying out union activities.

by Jared Wood, RMT rep, Rickmansworth group

We remain in dispute over the enforced transfer of five CSAs from Rickmansworth group.

RMT’s strike action was extremely well supported. 70% of turns did not book on; 25 members picketed. Several TSSA members and even non-union staff observed the strike.

LUL is picking local disputes with station staff in an attempt to demoralise us by facing these down. At some point they will attempt a major cut in station staff numbers. This must not be allowed to happen.

The following is a report of the organisational conference on 29 August requested by branches and facilitated by the Region.

The day began with a general assessment of some recent disputes, including those involving TfL, Metronet, Tubelines, and the fight against Casualisation within LUL, with a view to establishing what the union did well and where it did badly.

Positives

If you have a medical appointment, how should you and your manager deal with it?

• You are supposed to arrange the appointment outside your working hours if possible. But the company accepts that it is not always possible.
• If the appointment takes you out of only part of your shift, you should get paid special leave.
• If the appointment takes you out of your whole shift and you have not been able to arrange cover, you may have to take annual leave; if that’s not possible (eg. if you have run out of annual leave entitlement), you should get paid special leave.

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Happy London and Brighton Pride!

July saw two of the biggest and best Pride events to date.. London Pride and Brighton Pride.. the RMT were present at both, flying the flag proving that we are as diverse as every other company or employer....

The Regional Council meeting on Thursday 29 May 2008 unanimously adopted the following resolution from Stratford no.1 branch ...

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This Regional Council believes that our campaign for next year's LUL pay claim starts now. We believe that the first stage is to conduct a democratic debate as to what our claim should be. We therefore resolve that:

• RMT LUL branches should discuss what they think the claim should be at their meetings in June and/or July and forward proposals to the Regional Council.