The third Issue of the Easthammer newsletter is now uploaded to the web with a copy here as well please distribute it as widely across the group/Branch as possible.

Management confirmed that the £5 minimum Top–Up will be rolled out across the whole network with the January fares revision. RMT have and will continue to object to the £5 minimum top up.

Over the last year, London Underground has been running a trial at selected stations, where ticket sellers are supposed to refuse requests for Oyster top-ups of less than £5. RMT has objected to this trial, as we believe that it is an attack on our customers, and a move to prepare for ticket office closures and job cuts. Our objections are itemised here.

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.

The main issues affecting our members were:

1. £5 Minimum PAYG Top Up

Management informed us that a briefing paper was being compiled for an Executive decision on whether to roll out the £5 minimum PAYG top up to all stations on the network. It looks likely that they will do this as it is clearly part of their on-going strategy to drive customers away from the ticket office windows.

RMT and TSSA are organising to submit a collective grievance to London Underground about the serious problems with its ticket office accountancy system. The text is below. If you would like to add your name,do so by the 5th November, please e-mail John Kelly.

With the justified strike action taking place it is unfortunate that other issues tend to fall by the wayside.

The new issue of 'RMT Platform' exposes two major flaws in London Underground's ticket offices, which RMT fears will lead to unfair discipline against staff. It also reports on the unfar treatment of Elaine Holness, the continuing dispute over jobs, pay and justice, and our determination to restore pay and leave to staff who missed work because of February's snow.

Below is a summary of the items discussed at the most recent Staions and Revenue functional council meeting.

Adverse weather

Following 2 referrals from Kings X and Harrow we discussed at great length the punitive measures used by LU, with the treatment of deducting 1 day’s pay or 1 day’s annual leave from staff who couldn’t get into work due to February’s bad weather.

At the recent Stations & Revenue Council meeting, RMT raised the issue of management pressure on ticket office staff. We know that on many groups, managers are using various methods to ‘encourage’ staff to drive their customers away. The company’s plan is to get customers buying tickets at any outlet other than a London Underground station, so as to justify closing and cutting ticket offices, and cutting ticket office jobs, in a few years’ time.

At the Stations Revenue Forum on the 28th January, Management informed us that they intend to do away with the £3 refundable deposit charged when a customer buys an Oystercard and will introduce a £3 charge for each card issued which will no longer be refundable. In other words if you want to travel on London Underground there is a £3 surcharge for the privilege of using their services.

Attached is a leaflet for use on the five stations where LUL is due to run a trial of the £5 minimum Oyster top-up. RMT hopes that management will respond to our representations and call off the ill-prepared trial of this disastrous, unfair, discriminatory, job-threatening policy.

London Underground is to run a trial of a new policy that customers will not be able to top up their Oyster card for less than £5 at the ticket office window. RMT opposes this policy, and having explained our objections to the company, we hope that LUL will see sense and rethink this ill-advised policy.

Our objections are as follows:

Customer Service?

RMT has listed 15 reasons why we object to LUL's plan to impose a £5 minimum Oyster top-up at its ticket offices. But as well as our objections to the policy itself, we also object to the manner in which LUL has pursued this.

We had an ad hoc Director's meeting today about the £5 minimum Oyster trial; travelling time to workshops; Heathrow T5 staffing; and opening and closing of stations . These are all issues on which we recorded 'failure to agree' at the Stations & Revenue Council meeting on 11 December 2008.

As we reported previously, LUL management want to impose a £5 minimum on Oyster top-ups at the ticket office window. This is another attempt to drive business away from the window and threaten your job. It will also cause understandable frustration and anger amongst passengers.

Our RMT rep on Greenford group, Paul Beirne, spotted a cock-up in the new fares revision, and has sent this letter to management ...

I'd like to bring to your attention the following anomalies, which are already causing conflict with station staff and customers. It concerns, what I believe, are inaccurate fares increases which we are advertising on stations and TFL's website.

Have a look at this photograph. It shows a shop (in West Kensington) charging 50p extra for Oyster top-ups paid for by card. The surcharge applies to all non-cash transactions, not just those below a certain threshold.

TfL claims that Oyster saves customers money. For several years, TfL and LUL have pursued a policy of deliberately encouraging customers to use Oyster, buying their credit online or at shops such as this one. The previous Mayor's ticket office closure plan, defeated earlier this year by the unions, was justified in terms of the availability of alternative outlets for ticket sales.