RMT has sent the following proposal to LUL management to improve the way that the Special Requirements Team is deployed and hopefully prevent some of the abuses we have seen so far ...

RMT (with the backing of TSSA) would like to propose the introduction of a standard form on which GSMs request the deployment of the SRT to stations on their group.

This form should require them to specify the dates, numbers and grades of staff, plus the reason for their needing SRT staff (name and nature of special event etc) and the roles that the SRT staff will be carrying out.

It should also contain a clear statement reminding the GSM and SRT management of the relevant parts of the Framework Agreement.

SRT management would then reply on a standard form either agreeing to the request or turning it down for specified reasons.

This should help to ensure that the SRT staff are deployed properly, and in the event of there being any cause for complaint about SRT staff deployment, the request form will be a useful starting point for management and union reps to investigate the matter.

For example, the Green Park GSM could fill in the form requesting, say, 10 SRT CSAs to work at Knightsbridge on the first day of the Harrod's sale to assist with crowd control and customer information duties in addition to the existing resident staff. This would be agreed, subject to availability. But if a hypothetical GSM filled in a request form asking for 6 SRT CSAs and 3 SRT Supervisors to cover members of resident staff who were going on a training course, this would be refused on the grounds of being a breach of the Framework Agreement.