Yesterday, RMT (and TSSA) met with London Underground to demand an end to the company using the Special Requirements Team (SRT) in breach of its own rules. Regional Organiser Steve Hedley and Stations & Revenue Council representatives Janine Booth and John Kelly attended the meeting with London Underground Director George McInulty and members of his team.

Your reps drew attention to the SRT Framework Agreement, which clearly states (in clause 2.4) that SRT staff should not be used to cover rostered duties. Such duties should be worked by rostered or reserve staff; the purpose of the SRT is to carry out any extra work that is needed due to a special event or upgrade. Despite this, SRT staff have been made to cover rostered duties at Jubilee Line stations while resident staff attend a "briefing" session about the line's upgrade.

Management have excused this by arguing that clause 2.1 of the Framework allows them to deploy SRT staff for anything connected with a project. However, when clause 2.1 refers to "project needs", it means extra work created by a project - for example, if an escalator is hoarded off during major work, it may be necessary for someone to stand by the escalator directing passengers to alternative routes.

So why is RMT so concerned about this? Because we suspect that London Underground has an agenda to use the SRT as a mobile pool of reserves, available to cover uncovered duties wherever they arise across the Underground. Not only would this make for very unpleasant working conditions for SRT staff - treated as "dog's bodies", moved around at will - but would also be used to cut the numbers of resident staff and therefore scrap jobs.

Using the SRT to cover duties to enable briefings on the Jubilee line may seem like a small matter, but is actually the thin end of a very thick wedge.

London Underground will give their response within a week.

We also asked them to investigate two other apparent abuses of the SRT:

• On 24 November, Central Line RCIs were deployed to the Victoria Line, apparently at the request of the SRT.
• On the evening of Sunday 29 November, it appears that Piccadilly Circus station was kept open by counting SRT staff towards minimum numbers when rostered duties were left uncovered.