LUL Trains

From General Secretary Bob Crow

I write to advise you that despite London Underground announcing yesterday that a deal has been reached for Train Drivers during the Olympic Games period, RMT has not agreed to this deal; and as such your RMT Representatives’ registered a failure to agree at the Trains Functional Council meeting. I can confirm that RMT reject this deal.

Here are the minutes of the Olympic working 'Trains Functional Council' meeting. The RMT representative voted against the proposals, however the proposals were voted through by other staff side representatives, all members of ASLEF.

The proposals include:

• Nine hour turns, plus meal break on a weekend - so possibly working 19 hours Saturday and Sunday.
• Shifts running until 0300 hrs
• Bakerloo line agreement on number of 'tunnel trips' will be postponed

Click 'read more' to read the minutes, or download them below.

In this edition

ASLEF/LU Olympics “deal” turns out to be a marathon for drivers.

To the shock of every driver on the combine the ASLEF/Management alliance has cooked up behind closed doors a so called ‘Olympics deal’. At the heart of this deal is the ripping up of our hard earned driving parameters that form our Train’s Framework Agreement. In essence, ASLEF/Management want to run a 21st Century railway with 19th Century terms and conditions.

Download the attached pdf to read the latest edition, or if you have a modern browser you can see it by clicking 'read more.'

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note that London Underground management announced yesterday that they have reached a ‘deal’ for train drivers during the Olympic Games period. RMT has not agreed this deal; this union registered our failure to agree at the Trains Functional Council meeting.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note that our member, Tunde Umanah, was successful in his appeal and has been reinstated to his position as a driver at Leytonstone depot. We congratulate Tunde, his representatives, and Stratford no.1 branch for their determination and effective work on this issue.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

Following our previous decision of 22 June, we are appalled that London Underground has upheld the unjust downgrading of Jayesh Patel at appeal.
We note the resolution from our Bakerloo branch, and applaud the willingness of our Bakerloo train driver members to take strike action to reverse this downgrading.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note the report from our Regional Organiser. We also note the expressed view of our trains health and safety representatives that three particular aspects of London Underground’s ‘Operational Effectiveness Programme’ and are unacceptable and potentially dangerous. These are the proposed new procedures for: reversing a train; platform re-categorisation; and carrying passengers over a shunt signal. London Underground is now imposing Operational Standards Notice (OSN) 101 against the objections of our representatives.

General Grades Committee decision:

We note that the Employment Tribunal found on 17 August that London Underground dismissed Victoria line driver James Masango unfairly, that London Underground unreasonably required him to drive a train when he was not fit to do so, and that James made no contribution to his dismissal. This is a shocking case, in which LU management’s determination to force its employees to work whether or not they are fit to do so has resulted not only in an unfair dismissal but in putting the travelling public in danger.

Victoria line incident could have been fatal, says union

TUBE UNION RMT has demanded an end to the “reckless” policy of expecting drivers to override a door failsafe system after a potentially fatal incident in which a passenger jumped from a moving train and another was caught in its open doors.

The incident, at Oxford Circus station, happened after the ‘sensitive edge’ door-safety system – which immobilises a train if anything is caught in its doors – was over-ridden on a Victoria Line train during the evening peak on July 11.

The following resolution submitted by the Finsbury Park Branch and amended by the LTRC Executive was carried unanimously at the Regional Council meeting on the 25th August: