RMT has revealed a shocking instruction from London Underground management - that visually-impaired passengers should not travel to Victoria station during the evening peak. The BBC has covered this story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15303638

Gerry Duffy's recent letter to Bob Crow about uniform cleaning token shows that there is a great divide between what management think they know and what it actually the case.

RMT General Grades Committee decision, 10 February:

That we welcome the reinstatement on appeal of Brother Hartshorn. We congratulate Peter, his representative, his workmates, his branch, and all others who supported him in his successful fight for reinstatement.

Peter Hartshorn, RMT rep on Green Park group, has been reinstated on appeal, with his dismissal suspended for 52 weeks. Well done to Peter and his RMT representative, and thanks to everyone from Peter's branch and the region who supported him through this difficult time.

Extract from the RMT General Grades Committee's decision on Wednesday 19 January, the day that London Underground sacked our Green Park group rep, Peter Hartshorn ...

We are disgusted to hear that London Underground has summarily dismissed our representative Peter Hartshorn on trumped up charges of swearing at a manager despite witnesses stating otherwise. The alleged incident took place while Peter was carrying out trade union duties and it is clear that the company has victimised him for his activities as a representative of this union.

Below is the collective grievance submitted by the union reps (RMT and TSSA) on the Blackhorse Road group, listing the reasons why we object the effect that London Underground's job-cutting plans will have on our staffing levels and rosters.

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Collective Grievance on the Blackhorse Road Group in respect of the OSP rosters

Tube union RMT today exposed the safety dangers of cutting station staff serving one of London's largest regular crowd venues – Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download.

RMT members will be giving out leaflets to passengers at Knightsbridge and Arnos Grove stations. Click '1 attachment' / file name (below) to view and download the leaflet, and if you print it out, cut it in half! You can read the text below.

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London Underground plans to:

• cut 26 staff at the stations in this area (Knightsbridge to Leicester Square)

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

Acton Town - South Harrow, Sudbury Hill, Sudbury Town, Alperton, Park Royal, North Ealing, Ealing Common, Acton Town, South Ealing, Northfields, Boston Manor - 11 stations, c.110 staff

• This is the current Acton Town group, with no changes to the stations included. Currently, Acton Town group has 142 staff. So, management's proposals represent the loss of around 32 jobs on these stations.

London Underground's proposed new groups on the Victoria line are as follows:

North group - Walthamstow Central, Blackhorse Road, Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters, Highbury & Islington, Warren Street - 6 stations, c.130 staff

• This is the current Blackhorse Road group with Warren Street added. Currently, Blackhorse Road group has 134 staff; Warren Street has 21 and its share of its current group's reserve is around 8. Total = 163. So, management's proposals represent the loss of around 33 jobs on these stations.

Update: London Underground has upheld Mercy's outrageous sacking at her appeal. Mercy's RMT branch - Finsbury Park - will discuss what action they will organise to demand her reinstatement at their meeting this Friday, 20 November.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download a special issue of 'RMT Platform'. Read the text below.

London Underground has sacked Green Park SAMF Mercy Odisi, accusing her of failing to account for around £400.

But Mercy wasn’t even told there was a discrepancy on her account until more than three months after it happened!

From then on, there was a catalogue of injustice in how management investigated and prosecuted this case. On 8 October, LUL sacked Mercy. Her appeal was held on 30 October; the result is due by 13 November.

Mercy Odisi is innocent. She has been fitted up, treated like a thief with no evidence to back up such allegations.

Mercy’s sacking is a clear miscarriage of justice.

Article from May 2009 edition of Finsbury Park Branch Monthly News

While Victoria line drivers are being sacked for safety breaches which would not even have occurred had the company fitted correct-side door enable equipment to its trains, it seems that managers can make safety-critical mistakes with impunity. An example of this took place on 7th May at Blackhorse Road station. At about 1700, both escalators failed. The Supervisor tried everything to get at least one of them restarted but without success. Because both escalators were inoperative, the Supervisor evacuated and closed the station as required by the Congestion Control and Emergency Plan (CCEP) for the station. A while later, engineers arrived to try to fix the escalators. So far, so good.

From Steve Hedley, RMT Regional Organiser

Dear Colleagues,

Your RMT representatives and I met with Gerry Duffy and LU management yesterday and sadly very little progress was made. Firstly we even had difficulty getting our representatives released to attend the meeting, which did not indicate a willingness on management's part to solve the issues.

RMT press release, issued today ...The RMT said today that the 24 hour strike on the Victoria Line, starting at 9pm this evening, is “rock solid” after management refused last minute talks to resolve the dispute over passenger door safety and the bullying and victimization of RMT members.

Click on '1 attachment' / file name to download this leaflet. Read the text below.

Today, Victoria Line drivers are striking. One reason for this is that London Underground will not install safety equipment that stops doors opening on the wrong side of the train.

Welcome to the RMT Finsbury Park Branch No. 0543

We Welcome and represent all RMT members on the Victoria Line & Piccadilly Line North ( Knightsbridge to Cockfosters). This includes Train Drivers, depot staff,Station and Revenue Control staff in our area.

Additionally we represent most cleaning grades members throughout London Underground.

The branch meets on the first and second Thursday of the month at 4pm very close to Finsbury Park station.
We meet at The Twelve Pins, 263 Seven Sisters road, London N4 2DE. www.twelvepinspub.co.uk/pub.html

RMT is defending two of its cleaner reps - Clara and Mary - against victimisation by their employer ISS. RMT has successfully prevented ISS taking action against Clara, but Mary has been unjustly sacked and the union is organising to demand her reinstatement. Follow developments and find out about action by visiting the RMT London Calling website here.

You may be aware that the LUL Connect Radio System and the emergency services Airwave system both use Tetra Wave Radio technology. Safety reps have recently received a shocking copy of a Police Federation Report questioning the safety of Tetra Wave Radio as shown at

www.planningsanity.co.uk/reports/trower.htm