Category: News

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LUL ALL Night Running

All night running will have a massive affect on our area, how the work is done and when people work. The issue affects not only LUL but also Tube Lines and all our members delivering renewals and improvements to the Tube Network. Management will no doubt want to use this as an excuse to change rosters, working practices and will forget about any reward being passed on to our members

Your reps are currently in talks at company level with LUL on this matter and it’s already a major issue within Unity House. See press release below


RMT responds to Boris Johnson’s night tube plans.


Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said

“Whilst RMT is not against night running of the tube in principle, provided all staff involved are properly rewarded and that safety and security is thoroughly worked out and agreed, the truth is that the Mayor threw this plan in as a diversion from his massive cuts and closures programme that will axe a thousand staff and decimate services and safety.

Instead, this proposal is now being bulldozed through without any proper risk assessment or agreement on core issues. To make this plan work we need more tube staff not less if we are not going to be risking disaster at three o’clock in the morning when the West End is flooded with thousands of people fresh out of the pubs and clubs.

RMT does not believe it is an accident that this announcement comes on the day that thousands of our members begin an overtime ban on the tube over the attack on jobs, pay and safety.

As it stands at the moment the night tube plans are not properly thought through, are being used to divert attention from the massive cuts programme and are a disaster waiting to happen.”

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RMT Political School

Attend the next Branch Meeting if you wish to attend

 

_______

 

NOMINATIONS FOR RMT POLITICAL SCHOOL,

SUNDAY 8th MARCH – FRIDAY 13th MARCH 2015

 

With the assistance of guest speakers and our parliamentary group the purpose of the school is for participants to be equipped with a sound understanding of the political role of trade unions, the RMT’s political activity, our international work and how Branches and Regions can effectively support RMT national campaigns and develop local campaigning initiatives.

 

The first school in 2015 will take place from Sunday 8th March to Friday 13th March 2015 at the National Education Centre at Doncaster and at Westminster.  Participants will be expected to arrive in Doncaster by the early evening of Sunday 8th March to meet fellow students at an evening buffet and to ensure a prompt start on the Monday. 

 

Branches are invited to nominate one representative but in doing so please ensure that your nominee will definitely be able to attend the school. In the event of applications exceeding places available the Council of Executives will determine the successful applicants.

 

Branches are actively encouraged to nominate for the school including applications from women members. All applications from Branches will be placed before the C of E for consideration.

 

Please complete the attached form to nominate a representative and return to Head Office no later than Friday 28th November 2014.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Mick Cash

Acting General Secretary

 

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LUL Every Job Matters: Station Grades

2014                                                                   Circular No IR/247/14

 

Dear Colleagues

 

Every Job Matters – Defending Jobs on London Underground

 

Further to my previous circular on the above matter dated 4th September 2014 (IR/226/14), London Underground has advised me that following their ‘Fit for the Future’ consultation they are prepared to amend some of their proposals. However, these amendments only represent window dressing meant to appease the union’s negotiating team. It remains the case that management are hell-bent on carrying out a programme of major job cuts, hitting thousands of RMT members with the prospect of downgrading with a resulting loss of salary and closing every ticket office by the end of 2015.

 

The company’s proposal on displacement is too vague and does not take into account members’ location needs. The salary guarantee needs to be much stronger, as LUL initially promised that all staff would unconditionally have their salaries protected if they were affected. Even though the company had promised that no one would have to reapply for their own job, members are still being strong-armed into attending development centres. 

 

As you will know, as part of the campaign to resist LUL’s plans, an overtime ban along with other forms of industrial action was scheduled to take place earlier this month. However, with the company threatening to use the anti-union laws and to allow for further discussions with your representatives, this action was suspended.

 

Since then, we have read of the resignation of LUL’s chief operating officer Phil Hufton, who was the architect of the Fit for the Future project, leaving this in disarray. But this does not mean that the fight against the company has ended. Far from it, as management remain intent on cutting jobs and closing ticket offices. With this in mind, therefore, the General Grades Committee has considered the matter further and decided to reinstate the overtime ban, the details of which are:

 

  • With effect from 00.01 hours on Wednesday 24th September 2014, until further notice, Station Grades Members, Revenue Protection and Duty Station Manager Grades Members are instructed not to work any overtime.

 

I urge you to stand together and continue the magnificent support you have shown for your union in the campaign to stop LUL from carrying out its plans, which will have a disastrous effect on not only you and your colleagues but on the travelling public also.

 

I will, of course, keep you fully advised on any further developments.

 

Yours sincerely

Mick Cash

Acting General Secretary

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Mick Cash is new General Secretary

Mick Cash has won a stunning victory to become the new General Secretary of the RMT

 

Mick Cash 8938

Alan Pottage 4006

Steve Hedley 1885

John Leach 1428

Alex Gordon 1176

 

Our branch congratulates all the candidates on a fine campaign that was conducted in the spirit of remembrance of Bob Crow and the reality that this was an election that everyone would rather have never happened.

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Ex-Metronet Breakdown in Industrial Relations UPDATE

Following discussions at Acas, the following agreement was reached

 

Dear Brian,

 

Former Metronet Grades Dispute

 

I am writing further to our recent productive ACAS discussions regarding the above mentioned issue. At the conclusion of the meeting at ACAS on 4 September 2014 the management team undertook to set out in writing the proposals for the resolution of the dispute.

 

As you will recall, eight issues were initially raised in the RMT’s letter of 14 November 2013, and so I will deal with the issues in the order that they appear in that letter.

 

 

Representation at fact findings:

It is agreed that that staff engaged in those operational activities formerly undertaken by Metronet will continue to retain the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or workplace colleague at fact find interviews (including disciplinary, harassment and bullying and grievance interviews), subject to any subsequent implementation of discipline, harassment and bullying or grievance policies agreed with the RMT.

 

 

Night Worker Issues:

Based on trade union feedback, management has already taken steps to introduce night appointments for age medicals and intends to roll out further general night clinics. Management will not (other than where it is necessary to avoid an operational emergency), place individuals on courses on a Monday (for Monday to Friday Staff). The only exception shall be courses of greater than four days duration. For clarity, in order to comply with rest requirements, night staff attending meetings or appointments on days will be entitled to be released for the shift prior to and following the meeting or appointment, but will be required to work the relevant day shift, subject to the work allocated complying with their terms and conditions of employment.

 

 

Functional and Tier 2 Issues:

Management agrees to hold meetings with the relevant Functional and Tier 2 representatives to identify any outstanding issues and agree timescales for their resolution. This meeting shall also consider lessons learned in order to avoid such situations arising in the future. These meetings shall look to agree timescales for resolution of all outstanding issues within six weeks.

 

 

Train-borne Signalling:

Management and RMT agree that further ACAS led discussions are required in relation to this issue, which shall encompass the, Victoria and Sub Surface Lines. In relation to the Central Line ATC group, management will provide a separate response within one week setting out its position.

 

 

TG Graded staff:

Management agrees to the RMT request for a workshop in relation to this issue. This workshop shall take place within the next six weeks.

 

 

On-Call Roster Payments:

Management and RMT shall agree the group of employees to whom this issue applies . Once the appropriate group has been identified, a one off payment shall be agreed in relation to those employees to reflect any historic underpayment. Only those employees who have been on the on call roster for a period in excess of one year shall be eligible and the payment will reflect the period of time which the individual was in receipt of the allowance. The current allowance figure will be recalculated in accordance with clause 4 of the policy, which will be applied consistently going forward.

 

 

Patterning/Capability Management:

Management acknowledged the RMT’s concerns regarding the application of the process and will apply further rigour prior to holding any meeting with a member of staff. This will be achieved by the Head of AP or equivalent signing off the use of ‘rainbow patterning’ to a set of consistent guidelines which will be produced within the next four weeks.

 

 

Removal of individual PMA:

This issue is resolved.

 

 

In addition to the eight issues originally identified by RMT in November 2013, two further issues were raised during the course of the discussions at ACAS.

 

Incident Management:

It is agreed that a director led joint review of the organisation will be undertaken within six weeks.

 

 

Use of Contractors on Victoria Line

It is our intention for this work to be carried out in-house, but this is subject to staff being adequately trained through the IRSE. The team in question will shortly be internally verified to signals support tech status. Management confirmed that six opportunities existed in LU. It is proposed that this situation be resolved within 12 weeks.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, the proposals set out in this letter apply only to staff in those operational areas of the London Underground business formerly part of the Metronet business. Accordingly, none of these proposals shall be applied or form a precedent in other areas of the business.

 

 

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Power Control

BREAKDOWN IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – POWER CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/14/2)

 

Following consideration of the proposal received from the Company during talks at ACAS to resolve this dispute, the Lead Officer has met with the negotiating team and has reported that this matter is now largely resolved. A lump sum payment has been made to members and talks aimed a joint development of a Professional Power Control Room Agreement are due to commence shortly.

 

The RMT Reps continue to closely monitor the situation and will report any further developments

PCRO Page 1

 

PCRO page 2

 

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Legal Timetable Update

LA/42/14

 

15th September 2014

 

TO ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL COUNCILS & REGIONAL OFFICES

 

UPDATE: TIMETABLE LEGAL EVENTS

 

Dear Colleague,

 

Please note forthcoming UK and EU developments

1st October 2014

  • Increase in national minimum wage to £6.50 (adults).
  • Right for employees and qualifying agency workers to take unpaid time off work to attend up to 2 ante-natal appointments with a pregnant woman with whom they have a “qualifying relationship”. The right is available to the pregnant woman’s husband, civil partner or partner (including same –sex partners); the father or parent of the pregnant women’s child, and intended parents in a surrogacy situation who meet specified conditions. ( The Children and Families Act 2014)

2014/15

  • The Deregulation Bill is due to commence Committee Stage in the House of Lords on 21stOctober 2014; the bill will, among other things, repeal employment tribunals power to make wider recommendations in discrimination cases.
  • The Government will consult on making “caste” a protected characteristic of race as required by s97 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. Recent indications indicate that consultations would take place in the autumn of 2014.

5th APRIL 2015

  • New right to shared parental leave and pay. Under the new scheme, women will continue to be eligible for statutory maternity leave and statutory maternity pay (or maternity allowance) in the same way as previously. However if a mother chooses to bring her leave and pay to an early end , eligible working parents will be able to shear the balance ,up to a total of 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay. Eligible adopters will also be able to use the new system for shared leave and pay.
  • The Act also introduces changes to existing adoption leave and pay regime; extending it to include prospective fostering parents for adoption scheme and intended surrogate parents. In addition adoption leave and pay will be adapted to reflect entitlements that already exist for birth parents. There will not be any qualifying period for entitlement to leave and statutory adoption pay will be raised to 90% of salary for the first 6 weeks.

2015/or later

  • Introduction of tax-free childcare for working families. The Government intends to provide 20% of working families’ childcare costs up to a limit of £1200 per annum per child.
  • The Government have not yet responded to the remaining elements of its May 2011 Modern Workplace consultations on changing the Working Time Regs 1998. It is anticipated that any changes will reflect the European case law that has established that workers who are unable to take their annual leave because they are sick, maternity or parental leave in the current leave year must be able to carry it forward to the next year.
  • Repeal of the socio-economic duty in s1 of the Equality Act 2010 which will if brought into force oblige public bodies to have regard to the desirability of exercising their functions so as to reduce the inequalities of outcome which result from socio economic disadvantage.

 

I would be grateful if you could bring the contents of this Circular to the attention of your Branch members.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mick Cash

Acting General Secretary

 

 

 

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Working Time Directive

Please see above and below
Circular No NP/ 149 /14

To All Branches, Regional Offices & Regional Councils

Our Ref: LA/42/14

2nd September 2014

Dear Colleagues,

Legal Update:  Holiday Pay.

Further to Circular NP/099/14 of the 29th May 2014 where I reported the case of Lock v British Gas. Many members have been asking questions about holiday pay, who is entitled to it and what we should be doing in light of the European case law.
 
Entitlement to statutory holidays under the Working Time Regulations 1998 applies to workers which includes those who personally provide services under a contract such as casual and freelance workers as well as zero hours workers.  Some sectors are excluded from the Working Time Regulations 1998 but have similar although not always identical provisions in separate regulations these include for example seafarers as defined, sea fishermen, workers engaged in the navigation of vessels in inland waterways and aircraft crew.
 
The Working Time Directive (WTD) provides that all workers are entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid holiday per year.  The WTD does not set out how holiday pay should be calculated.
 
The Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998, which are meant to implement the Working Time Directive goes further by providing that workers are entitled to 5.6 week’s paid holiday – subject to a maximum of 28 days.  Therefore statutory holiday is made up of two entitlements; 4 weeks statutory holiday or 20 days if working a 5 day week; and additional statutory holiday which is 1.6 weeks leave, or 8 days if working a 5 day week.
 
A contract of employment can provide that a worker is entitled to more leave than the statutory leave.  This briefing does not cover how contractual holiday pay is calculated.  It only covers the statutory 4 weeks holiday
 
How statutory holiday pay should be calculated is set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996.  These provisions are complicated but broadly speaking how much statutory holiday pay a worker receives depends on whether the worker works normal working hours or has no normal working hours.  Normal working hours is where the contract fixes the working hours.  Overtime hours are not “normal working hours” unless obligatory on both sides, which means contractually guaranteed by the employer and compulsory for the employee For example, where a clause in the contract states “Your normal working hours are 37 per week”, statutory holiday pay is calculated on the basis of the normal 37 hour working week, so if overtime is worked this is not included in the calculation of statutory holiday pay, unless the overtime is obligatory on both sides.
 
If no normal hours are worked and none are set out in the contract, for example where the contract provides “Your working hours will vary according to the work that needs to be done” the rate of holiday pay will be calculated by reference to average pay over the previous 12 weeks for all sums earned.
 
There is a body of European case law which states that workers should be paid their normal remuneration when on their statutory 4 weeks leave under the WTR.  In the case of British Airways v Williams the European Court held that holiday pay should include: 
 
(i)            payments which are intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks which the worker is required to carry out under her/his contract of employment;

(ii)          those elements of pay which relate to the personal and professional status of the worker; and

(iii)         the rate to be applied must be based on an average calculated over a representative reference period.

 
Applying those principles the European Court in the case of Lock v British Gas Trading Ltd held that a worker whose pay was made up of about 60% commission was entitled to include commission in the calculation of his holiday pay.
 
As a result of these European cases there have been a number of Employment Tribunal claims which have been brought claiming that overtime and shift premiums should be included in the calculation of the statutory 4 weeks holiday pay.  These cases are currently stayed (i.e. put on hold) pending the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the cases of Hertel (UK) Ltd v Wood & ors and Amec Group Ltd v Law & ors .
 
What does this mean for members now?
The law in Britain is not yet decided, we can rely on the European case law to argue that the payments (e.g.  Overtime, incentive bonus payments; shift premiums; standby/emergency call out payments; certain allowances; commissions) are intrinsically linked to the tasks our members are required to do under his/her contract of employment and so should be included in the calculation of the statutory 4 weeks holiday pay, but until our courts have decided the position it is too early to give a definitive advice and we should be cautious in our approach.

 

However we are not content not to do anything; so we have begun the process of writing to all our employers through the normal bargaining procedures to open up discussions with them to seek a collective resolution to the issues raised by the European Courts to secure better pay and conditions for our members. 

 
In the meantime if an individual member considers they have a pressing problem with their holiday pay they can contact their Regional Officer who will update them on negotiations and if necessary obtain legal advice. Remember time limits may apply to holiday pay claims and early conciliation also applies to holiday pay claims. ACAS must be contacted and the early conciliation certificate issued before any Employment Tribunal claim can be lodged.
 
We will keep you updated on both the legal implications and our approaches to the employers.
 
Yours sincerely,



Mick Cash

Acting General Secretary

 

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LUL Trainers

The RMT was disappointed that despite raising the issue regarding the LUL Trainers reorganisation, LUL are hell bent on forcing new trainers to become support manager grades. This will not only have an impact on new starters but create a two tier work force and try to impose a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of terms and conditions whilst at the same time ripping through existing agreements in that area. It looks like a cynical attempt to remove new starters from the protection that Q Grade staff have under the Main Framework Agree i.e. the ‘jobs for life deal’ and  can only be seen as a precursor for further attacks on our members. 

 

This issue will be discussed at the 16th September LU Engineering Branch Meeting to decide what action to take next

 

RMT – Training DirApp 9 9 14

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LUL Signal Mtce

LUL and the RMT are in talks regarding the reduction of the Signal Maintenance frequencies from 12 to 16 weeks.

 

These talks had been going fine and we have been working  with management through the proposal and it was a massive surprise to see a bulletin from management this morning stating that the proposal was being implemented. This is not acceptable.

 

we have lodged an immediate failure to agree at departmental level and will be demanding that LUL listen to your representatives on all matter that affect our members

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USE OF FINGERPRINTING TO BOOK ON – ISS (LU CONTRACT) BR1/27/2)

SUPPORT THE ACTION

FIGHT THE CUTS!

 

USE OF FINGERPRINTING TO BOOK ON – ISS (LU CONTRACT) BR1/27/2)

 

Branches will be aware that ISS imposed a Biometric booking on system back in July without our agreement despite the clear and overwhelming objection of their own staff.We have been in dispute ISS for over a year because we firmly believe this system is a breach of your civil liberties. It is not acceptable for an employer to force staff to give their Biometric “fingerprint” data to allow them to work their shift. 

 

As far as we are concerned, the system should be scrapped immediately and they should return to the agreed booking on system of signing in at the station and using the Autophone to notify ISS.  In many cases, the Machines have been installed in rat-infested cupboards used to store the stinking waste collected from the London Underground network. This is not only degrading but also a major Health and Safety concern which has been raised with ISS and has been raised with London Underground at the highest level.

 

Since ISS imposed the machines in July, several of members  and representatives have stood firm and refused to use the new system. Despite offering to use the established method of signing in, the company has refused to let them to work their duties and has locked them out. It is no coincidence that many of those that have been locked out are  RMT reps. They have refused to be bullied by ISS and have suffered significant financial hardship because they have stood up for their principles.

 

Yesterday we told ISS that we are balloting all members on the LU contract for strike action and industrial action short of a strike with voting papers being sent to members’ home addresses from Wednesday 3rd September 2014. I urge our ISS members to vote strongly in favour of action to send a clear message to ISS that you wont tolerate the invasion of civil liberties and the locking out of their colleagues and reps. 

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