Defending and improving conditions

WITHDRAWAL OF REST DAYS, TRACK & CIVILS STAFF – TUBELINES (AP JNP) (LUL/8/6)

Further to my previous Circular (IR/081/15, 23rd March 2015), the referendum has concluded with members voting as follows:-

Question: Are you prepared to accept the Company’s offer?

Total Votes Cast… 46
Number Voting ‘Yes’… 7
Number Voting ‘No’… 39
Spoilt Papers… 0

Referring to my previous Circular (IR/061/15, 2nd March 2015), Branches will recall that a resolution was received from our LU Engineering Branch advising that Tube Lines were imposing changes to our members’ terms and conditions. The General Grades Committee has considered this resolution and instructed me to write to Tube Lines to demand that these arrangements are not imposed and to conduct a referendum of the affected members with a recommendation to reject the proposals. The changes referred to are as follows:-

This week, after months of talks, your TFC reps, along with their Aslef colleagues, were finally in a position to put a joint proposal on rostering Night Tube to LUL trains management. This followed a decision at Company Council to review the impact of Night Tube on all members of staff.

RMT campaigning has forced cleaning company Interserve to commit to hiring 50 AGS agency cleaners on permanent contracts across London Underground by the end of April 2015.

This shows that union campaigning gets results. Our exposure of AGS’s exploitative practises, such as forcing workers to register as “self-employed”, is putting pressure on Interserve. Let’s keep up the fight and win more permanent contracts for cleaners.

A resolution was recently received from Jubilee South Branch regarding the above and this matter has been considered by the General Grades Committee, which has taken the decision to investigate the use of “disguised employees” by Interserve and other companies in TfL/LUL (reference LUL Engineers Charter and article by GS in January RMT News ‘Fighting Casualisation’) and to produce a report on this worrying pract

BREAKDOWN OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – INTERSERVE (LUL CONTRACT) (LUL/14/2)

Further to my previous Circular (IR/303/14, 17th November 2014), members will recall that we advised the Company that a dispute situation existed over the mistreatment of staff and abuse of power by supervisors and management, non-payment of wages, and attacks on trade union reps and activists. The RMT Reps then commenced the task of checking and updating member’s details as necessary for a ballot for industrial action.

Further to my previous Circular (IR/061/15, 2nd March 2015), the Company has been informed that a dispute situation now exists over the proposed changes to the Services organisation as part of the GTS Optimisation Programme. The proposals include compulsory redundancies and those members left at the Company will be facing worse rosters, shift patterns and terms and conditions. RMT put forward strong counter-proposals during discussions but it is clear that the Company has no intention of changing their plans.

This guidance document covers the following areas:

• What is rainbow?
• How is it being implemented
• What does it mean for our members?
• Threat of medical termination or disciplinary action relating to capability
• What should RMT reps & activists do next?

A resolution has been received from our London Underground Engineering Branch concerning the above matter, which is as follows:-

WITHDRAWAL OF REST DAYS, TRACK & CIVILS STAFF – TUBELINES (AP JNP) (LUL/8/6)

A resolution has been received from our London Underground Engineering Branch concerning the above matter, which is as follows:-

“The Branch has been informed that the agreement reached below represents the most that can be achieved through negotiation.

We are concerned that our members need to be fully consulted and involved in deciding whether this agreement is acceptable and our Branch therefore requests a referendum is carried out of all affected members in AP JNP Track and Civils, namely, Civils, Northern and Pic Track, Ultrasonics and the Lube Gang.

We further ask for it to be clear in the referendum that a rejection is likely to lead to a need to take industrial action and a strike ballot will likely follow.