Other questions

In addition to your reservations and concerns listed above there were a few questions arising from the acceptance of the rosters with the changes requested which were not or pressing importance but which I nevertheless raised at the meeting, namely:

1. Where will staff book on for their duties which will begin at Aldgate?
2. Will reserve staff get first refusal on the four new vacancies?

On one last matter I asked the GSM if reserve staff would be given first refusal of the additional four vacancies arising from the proposed roster, it was thought unlikely but the GSM did say she would look into the matter. The outcome of her enquiry was to the effect that the four CSA vacancies would be filled in the normal way – that is to say that those who had nominated and were at the top of the nominations list will fill the vacancies.

It was confirmed that CSA’s would book on at Liverpool Street as usual signing in on the evacuation register, that we will sign out when leaving for Aldgate Station, signing in and out there as appropriate before returning to Liverpool Street. It was initially thought that the first three hours of shifts beginning 0700 and 1500 hrs would be be completed at Aldgate Station, this is not the case, CSA’s will be on duty at Liverpool Street before going to perform platform duties at Aldgate.

Matters arising at the Meeting

You should have received a circular Proposed Staff Roster at Liverpool Street dated 28th of May 2008 from Management (see attachment below) , from this you will apprehend that the idea of including an additional worked weekend to the proposed roster was brought up at the meeting.

My consultation with you was based upon the proposed roster as it was presented to us up until the date of the review meeting; we had not discussed the subject of working an extra weekend because the matter had not arisen at that time. During the meeting I had with the Managers the matter was discussed, though I would not negotiate on the idea of working an additional weekend; it was clear to me that to have negotiated on the matter would have made a mockery of the consultation process, would have undermined the trust staff have placed in me as your industrial rep and would have been undemocratic. I suggested that the consultation process should be extended to allow for further discussion of the proposal to work an extra weekend, the opinion was aired that further discussion would not be fruitful that you would be unlikely to relinquish one of the benefits the proposed roster offers. I disagreed. I pointed out that the idea should have been posited before the meeting to allow full discussion of the matter, but as it was not a further period of discussion was required, therefore the memo you have received which plainly puts forward the facts of the matter was the result of my suggestion and endeavour on your behalf.
The was one point in it which I thought unnecessary and that is that the hours left over from reducing the dead early shift could be added to weekend shifts.
To my mind they could be added anywhere in the roster. The suggestion that they be added to weekends is a clear demonstration of the fact that management feel there is a need for extra cover at weekend, and so we arrive at the point.

An extra weekend?

As I have already noted above I would not negotiate on your behalf a matter you had not had time to discuss; nevertheless I did discuss the matter with those present at the meeting. What the GSM and DSM's were at pains to make clear was that to work an additional weekend would clearly be to the benefit of various people, even the majority of CSA’s; it benefits those of us who work under pressure during engineering works, it benefits those who complain there are not enough staff, it benefits reserve CSA’s who are often not considered positively, and it benefits that person who wrote to the GSM suggesting that working with fewer staff at weekends puts our safety at risk. I did make the point that a greater complement of staff does not of itself make life any easier for those working weekends because the key is in the efficient deployment of staff around the station. I also pointed out that a lot of the complaints about the lack of staff come from occasions when we have been under pressure directly as a result of engineering works but have had near to or exactly minimum numbers of staff compared to occasions when seemingly very little was happening and we were saturated with reserve CSA’s and CCA’s etc. Nevertheless it is an inescapable fact that we cannot reasonably complain about a lack of staff at weekends and also complain about working at weekends. Nor is it right or just to request that we work fewer weekends at the expense of reserve CSA’s. Reserve CSA’s are deserving of the same rights, respect and work-life balance as rostered members of staff. I could not with conscience act as a union representative if I thought otherwise. Therefore it may be seen that by asking us to work an extra weekend management was seeking a solution to a problem that we had highlighted, and furthermore by writing to the GSM and insinuating that she is failing in her duty of care to maintain our safety by not having more staff at weekends, the GSM was put into a position in which she felt she needed to act, being restricted by your unanimous will that did not allow me the mandate to negotiate working an additional weekend the consultation period was extended.

Furthermore I asked if several team talks could be convened with the idea of making staff more informed about work safe procedures and keeping safe when dealing with customers.

The outcome of the extended consultation period is that everyone’s opinion was canvassed regarding the roster. The majority of staff forwarded their opinion to me either by email, telephone call, text message(see attachment), and even via www.facebook.com, but mostly by word of mouth.
Some staff did not reply at all.
In order for a new roster to be introduced (unless it is a temporary roster as was the case with the 23 week roster that we had a short while ago) 51% of the staff have to agree to it.
83% of staff gave a response to the proposal.

As you can see from the pie chart 93% (see attachments for pie charts) of staff question objected to working an additional weekend, whilst only 6.2% of those questioned were in favour of working an extra weekend. The second pie shows in blue that the majority of staff questioned opted for a few extra hours over an additional weekend.

So what next?

Returning to the question that some staff raised about shortening dead early shifts: during week 9 of the new roster Thursday and Friday will be 04.55-10.55 (5.5 hours shifts) and in week 10 Monday through to and including Wednesday will also be from 04.55 to 10.55 (5.5 hours shifts) – to have had one week of 5.5 hours shifts would have been a breach of the framework of agreement.

Sunday of week 4 has had 5mins added. Sunday of week 11 has been increased by 45 mins Sunday of week 19 has been increased by 15 mins Sunday of week 22 has been increased by 15 mins Saturday of week 13 has been increased by 2.5 hours Saturday of week 18 has been increased by 2 hours. I was assured by the DSM that this scheme of things would allow for fuller staff coverage at weekends and would avoid staff having to work another weekend. Therefore in 22 weeks rostered CSA’s will have 15 Sunday Rest Days and 14 Saturday Rest Days and in a 22 week cycle there will be three long weekends. You can see the new roster on PAGE 8.

Is this the end, or is the more to come?

It would be wrong to say that the roster will never change again. London is changing socially, commercially, economically and in other ways and it is therefore inevitable that at many points in the future and in many small and large ways London Underground will change in response, thereby necessarily affecting the way we work. On the 18th of June 2009 at the meeting to confirm that the changes to the proposed roster are those requested and sanctioned by staff , the GSM made it clear to myself and to the TSSA Rep that in three months time this roster would be reviewed to see if it is working. If after three months there are still high levels of overtime being done at weekends to cover shortfalls in staff it will be known from overtime payments and from staff feedback.

If staff still complain that there are not enough CSA’s on duty then she has told us today that she will revoke this roster and will replace it with one that has fewer weekend Rest Days than either the current 18 week roster or the 22 week roster that has been signed off today. I feel I should remind everyone that the roster we currently enjoy is one of the best on the combine allowing more weekends at home with family and friends and time to pursue other weekend activities that would not be permitted to such an extent by the rosters of other stations, and the new roster is also one of great benefit to CSA’s where weekend Rest Days are concerned.

In context.

At Liverpool Street under the new roster we shall enjoy 15 Sundays Rest Days out of 22 weeks which means we have 68% of Sundays off. At Bank station CSA’s have 51% of Sundays off. At Aldgate East they have only 44% of Sundays off. Under the 62 week roster at King’s Cross only 33% of Sundays are enjoyed as Rest Days by CSA’s. St Paul’s CSA’s only get 40% of Sundays off.