Industrial action

by Rick Grogan, RMT rep, East Ham group

On East Ham group there is an ongoing dispute due to management’s disregard of proper procedure and the bullying and unfair sacking of staff.

A meeting with management made things worse, with management now saying you are not entitled to a union rep until you have been off sick for 28 days.

This opens the door to widespread abuse and bullying of staff. We have been struggling for over a year to get management to accept our agreements and now they have shown their contempt and torn up our right to representation when off sick.

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

Now we must co-ordinate the action Come to the meeting: 19 August, 6.30pm Friends House, Euston Road, opposite Euston station Speakers: Bob Crow, and reps from all the disputes

By Steve Hedley, RMT London Transport Regional Council Secretary

Massive congratulations are in order for the RMT members who have organised effective strike action recently.

Supported RMT’s campaigns and industrial action over recent years? Thought the union did some things OK but some things less well? Come to our conference on Friday 29 August in the King’s Cross area to discuss with other union members how we can make current and future struggles more effective.

From 'RMT On The Trains' newsletter, August 2008

Recent threats of strike action combined with public campaigning by the RMT caused management to re-think their plans to cut station staff. We pointed out that a safe railway must be properly staffed. Videos will never substitute for staff.

LUL have now dropped their plans to close dozens of ticket offices. Furthermore they dropped plans to do away with station supervisors during traffic hours – not everything we want but even that could not have been achieved without determined action from your union.