Dear Colleague,

LU VICTIMISED EAMONN LYNCH – VOTE YES FOR ACTION

On October 13th, London Underground sacked RMT trains health and safety rep Eamonn Lynch for
making an operational error. Eamonn made a mistake and LU summarily dismissed him. But the
company gave retraining rather than the sack to the signallers and control room staff who gave
Eamonn instructions to breach the rules; and it gave a 12-month caution to a Piccadilly Line driver who
made the same mistake after Eamonn’s incident. RMT believes that LU victimised Eamonn because of
his trade union activity. Indeed, Simon Jones, the GSM on the sacking panel used Eamonn’s status as
a rep as the basis for this outrageous decision. A Tribunal judge agreed with the RMT.

After not meeting since October 2009 your reps and management met again on Tuesday 18th May to continue talks surrounding issues on the ex-silverlink stations. Items discussed were as follows:

London Underground's proposed new groups for the Bakerloo line are as follows:

Wembley Central - Harrow & Wealdstone, Kenton, South Kenton, North Wembley, Wembley Central, Stonebridge Park, Harlesden, Kensal Green, Queens Park - 9 stations, c.95 staff

• Current number of staff = 40, but this is signficantly and artificially low, as London Underground has still not increased the staffing of these stations to LU levels following their transfer from Silverlink in November 2007.

Over a year on since the dispute and still no closer

Following last years dispute and supposed resolution over the treatment and working conditions of our comrades on the Wembley Central group we are still no closer to getting what was agreed and hardly none of what was meant to be implemented has happened.

As well as the attack on Core Station Supervisor training outlined here, the following issues were also discussed at Monday's Joint Working Party about the ex-Silverlink stations:

London Underground management are trying to whittle away the core roles of a Station Supervisor by creating a part-qualified Supervisor grade on the ex-Silverlink stations. RMT believes that this is both unfair on the staff who will take up these Supervisor jobs and a threat to the Station Supervisor grade in general.

Stations and Revenue functional reps and the local rep on the Wembley Central group had a meeting on Tuesday 15th to discuss the absolute disgraceful rosters which the ex-silverlink staff are currently working. The staff are still working to rosters from the old days under the Silverlink which in most cases mean a minimum of a six day week and some almost unlimited days working!! One example shows only one fixed Rest day in a four week roster!

From the Bakerloo line branch newsletter

You have to hand it to Lance Ramsey, the current incumbent of the Bakeroo General Manager's hot seat. Most new managers, and there have been a few lately, enjoy a honeymoon period and promise the earth before delivering nothing; Lance has gone straight to the default position: delivering nothing.

The case in question affects our new comrades on the Wembley Central Group, the ex Silverlink staff. These employees are now fully fledged LU staff entitled to the same money, terms and conditions as all LU staff across the combine.

LUL has issued new contracts to staff. It is OK to sign these, as they are standard LUL contracts. If you want management to clarify anything before you sign, you have every right to ask them.

Staff went on to LUL conditions from 6 April, but will not get the pay rate until June! RMT continues to fight for the pay rise to be backdated to 11 November last year: the date of the transfer.

From the Bakerloo line RMT branch newsletter

The detrainment staff who have struck solidly over 7 days against lone working have received hardship payments from the Bakerloo Branch and will receive a payment from the national union.

This is in recognition of their solidarity and 100% commitment to their campaign against Bakerloo management's attempt to impose an unsafe and unnecessary practice.

The following letter was sent to On The Move. It was not published, so we re-print it here. (Update: It was eventually printed in a later issue.)

Anyone reading the article ‘Silver Service’ in the last On The Move would think that the ex-Silverlink employees on the Bakerloo and District lines are now working in paradise. However, this is far from the truth.

Paul McAdam, from RMT’s Bakerloo line branch, explains the history and issues behind the lone working dispute.

The first lone working strike day was on the 20 July 2007 and the sixth strike so far on 25 January. All the RMT station staff have been solid.

Lone working first reared its ugly head in November 2005, but we resisted and the plan was put in the drawer without us resorting to industrial action.

It is two months since eleven stations transferred from Silverlink to London Underground. So why are we still on our old, lower pay rates? And why do we have lots of problems? Answer: Because London Underground Ltd (LUL) has not acted to give us our equality and rights. And what can we do about that? Get involved with the RMT trade union.

Staff have told RMT reps about various problems. We raised them all with LUL:

• Agency staff do not know how to do the banking, so existing ticket office staff have to do it. Management said they would look into this.
• LUL has delivered equipment to stations but not installed it eg. printers, microwaves. Management said there had been a problem with telephone lines that was now resolved, but they would look into any outstanding problems.
  

• Casualisation and De-Staffing
• Agency Staff
• Your Working Hours
• Medicals and Training

We start the new year with a special issue of RMT Platform for ex-Silverlink staff, reporting on pay and conditions and workplace issues.

Download it here.

LUL plans to move ex-Silverlink staff into the following LUL grades:

• Barrier staff, platform announcers and fire wardens will become Customer Service Assistants (station duties, barrier, patrols and platform announcements);
• Booking office staff, ticket office clerks and CSA multifunctionals will become Station Assistant Multi-functional (mainly ticket selling; some station duties);
• Supervisors will become Station Supervisors.

RMT’s view is that this makes sense, with two ‘buts’:

• Eleven stations on the Bakerloo and District lines have now transferred from Silverlink to London Underground. RMT welcomes the transferring staff into our region, and the stations themselves back into the public sector. The new staff will get better pay and conditions. But LUL intends to delay this by several months. RMT is demanding that as soon as they put on an LUL uniform (11th November), they should get LUL pay.

Detrainment staff on the Bakerloo line took a third day of strike action on 26th October in their campaign to stop management imposing lone working - and gave out leaflets explaining their case to the public.

YES to

• well-staffed stations
• LUL work done by LUL employees
• every station to have a Supervisor
• equality for new and existing staff

NO to

• security guards
• agency staff
• mobile Supervisors
• a two-tier workforce

On November 11th, several Bakerloo and District line stations - together with platforms at three other stations - will transfer from Silverlink to London Underground.