• Mystery Shopper / Staff Information Surveys
• Station complexity
• Referral from Notting Hill Gate group: rest day rosters
• Referral from Brixton group: Step Back Supervisors
• Referral from Edgware Road: New Supervisor Positions
• Removal of SATS duties
• DSMs conducting case conferences
• Collective grievance
• Parental Leave
• Trade union information requests
• Framework Agreement

Mystery Shopper / Staff Information Surveys: At a previous Stations & Revenue Council meeting, management had promised to consider our complaints about the use of SIS against staff. However, when we asked for an update, it became clear that instead, they had tried to sweep the issue aside - even pretending to have held a meeting about it which they had not in fact held! Moreover, having agreed to advise local managers not to circulate around stations SIS surveys which could identify individuals, they admitted that the only advice they had given was not to display this information on noticeboards - GSMs emailing it around was, apparently, fine by them!
On RMT's insistence, management agreed to an ad hoc meeting within the next few weeks to look at this in detail. If you have a particular concern that you would like us to raise at this meeting, please email Janine by this Friday, 4 December.

Station complexity: Visits to consider uprating Acton Town and High Barnet stations will take place soon.

Referral from Notting Hill Gate group: rest day rosters: The GSM has been refusing to implement a rest day roster for reserve staff, in the mistaken belief that he is entitled to do so unilaterally. It was agreed to advise him of the Agreement that where a union rep requests a rest day roster for reserves, the GSM and union reps must jointly organise a survey of reserve staff in each grade. More here.

Referral from Brixton group: Step Back Supervisors. Union reps have been concerned about various aspects of the introduction of Step Back Supervisors at Brixton station, including: lack of clarity about their role, inadequate training, excessive time on platforms, and ensuring that SS1s nominating Brixton know that the post includes Step Back duties. Local management had failed to address these concerns adequately, so we discussed them at the Stations & Revenue Council.
RMT achieved several positive outcomes for staff - details here. We will, of course, keep on monitoring the situation.

Referral from Edgware Road: New Supervisor Positions: RMT complained that new Supervisor positions at Edgware Road were being introduced without proper consultation. We have several concerns, as these positions involve Supervisors monitoring train drivers and spending excessive time on the platform. As this issue affects several grades - not just stations and revenue staff - we referred it to the next meeting of the Company Council, which takes place on 7 December.

Removal of SATS duties: Local RMT representatives have noticed that at some stations, management have declared that SATS duties are no longer needed. Under persistent questioning from RMT reps, management eventually admitted that they are looking at withdrawing SATS duties where there is no longer a "business need".
Although so far, staff have been redeployed to other duties and therefore no jobs have yet been lost, it is clearly possible that this review could lead to job cuts.
RMT recommends that reps question and challenge management when they claim that SATS are no longer required.
Management also admitted that they are not considering creating any new SATS duties! Local RMT reps should put a proposal for the creation of the SATS duty to local management where you think you have a good case.
More information here.

DSMs conducting case conferences: On RMT's request, management confirmed that DSMs should not conduct case conferences, even if they are covering a GSM who is on leave. As a case conference can make decisions regarding conditions of a member of staff's employment eg. reasonable adjustments, redeployment, this is a role for employing managers only.

Collective grievance: ticket office accounting: RMT tabled the collective grievance on behalf of several members about London Underground's ticket office accountancy system (read it here). The grievance will now be investigated by an Employee Relations Manager, and if we are not happy with the outcome, there will be a right to appeal.

Parental Leave: We raised a particular case of local management refusing a member of staff's request for parental leave despite her giving nearly six months notice. Management will investigate and give a decision by 11 December.

Trade union information requests: We reminded management of their responsibility under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992 to provide trade unions with information to assist with the purposes of collective bargaining. Too often over the last year or more, management have responded to our requests for relevant information either painfully slowly or by giving only partial information. We expect to see this change and management to be more co-operative.

Framework Agreement: We alerted management to our concern that their planned organisational changes could well mean that phrases in the current Framework Agreement will have a much different meaning in practice and will no longer be acceptable to RMT.