Defending and improving conditions

Rail union RMT said today that it is stepping up the campaign against attempts by agencies, notably Trainpeople, to force their way into the rail industry with the express intent of profiteering at the expense of jobs, security and decent pay and conditions.

RMT branches in Wales have alerted the union to the fact that there is a new drive by Trainpeople to try and get a foot in the door through an aggressive marketing approach to railway employers. The union has pledged again to fight off any attempts by Trainpeople, or similar agencies, to downgrade and casualise rail jobs.

We note the continuing widespread use of agency labour by London Underground Ltd (and other parts of Transport for London): as of 2 April this year, there were 829 'non-permanent' staff on London Underground Ltd. LUL’s continuing use and abuse of agency staff is seriously detrimental to LUL employees, as it undermines their opportunities to obtain and retain work and creates disruption in the workplace Ltd. We reaffirm our demand that LUL stops using agencies and offers their workers permanent employment - including those of the 33 former Trainpeople employees that it has not yet employed.

We note the report from our Regional Organiser and the correspondence from the employer.

We instruct the General Secretary to tabulate the differences in attendance policies, pension rights and travel benefits for former LUL employees and other employees, in preparation for tabling to this employer a demand that all employees be levelled up to equal rights and benefits in these three areas.

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised. LU Engineering branch and our Cubic representative to be advised by personal letter.

In line with the wishes of our Finsbury Park branch, we instruct the General Secretary to ensure that this issue is included in our dispute BREACHES OF AGREEMENTS AND FAILURE TO ADDRESS REASONABLE CONCERNS – DRIVERS – PICCADILLY LINE – LONDON UNDERGROUND.

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised. Finsbury Park branch and Arnos Grove depot representatives to be advised by personal letter.

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We note the report from the lead officer, confirming that there is no negative impact on our members who work in this department. We instruct the General Secretary to carry out the remaining part of our decision Gww 3 October 2013, obtaining a report on any possible impact on those members across TfL and LUL who are affected by the work of this department.

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised.

• Previous decision on this matter is here.

We note the resolution from our Finsbury Park branch and share its concerns at London Underground Ltd's refusal to honour annual leave commitments and abide by the established procedure. Accordingly, we instruct the General Secretary to write to LUL calling on it to ensure that its local management at Arnos Grove depot grant odd days leave and agree to allow members to carry over and use annual leave accrued from previous years. The letter is also to warn LUL that failure to respond fully to our request will bring our unions into dispute with the company over this issue.

The original newsletter is attached below

RMT pressure gets management to back off 6 rounder turns and commit to work with us to stop abuses of policies.

We note the correspondence from LUL. While we are disappointed that the company has not agreed to our request for better representation at the working party, we note that it has agreed to release all our company council reps for a feedback meeting the day after the first working party meeting, and understand that this will happen after every working party meeting.