Following months of talks, the RMT Reps at Thales DTS have reached a final position. This matter is now being put to an email vote of our members, with replies by Friday at 16:00
SCPO 0078 Thales Network Management Centre-Rostering Arrangements Network Analysts
Thales DTS have finally agreed to sign off the below recognition deal with the RMT. Please see the final agreement below
Following an audit of overtime approximately a year ago, it transpired that many staff owed money through being over paid and some owed many thousands of pounds.
The RMT have been in talks with Thales Rail Signals ever since and the company have offered the below compromise
OFFICIAL CIRCULAR
TO ALL BRANCHES AND REPRESENTATIVES
ALL UNDERGROUND AND FORMER LT EMPLOYERS
4th June 2015 Circular No IR/144/15
Dear Colleagues,
EVERY JOB MATTERS – DEFENDING JOBS ON LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/14/5)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/081/15, 23rd March 2015), members will be aware that the Union continues to oppose and resist all cuts in jobs, pay and conditions at London Underground and the following resolution has been received from Finsbury Park Branch:-
“This Branch believes that LUL’s latest pay offer, including Night Tube, is completely inadequate and an insult to the hardworking men and women who deliver a world class service for London. If Night Tube is to work, the staff have to be properly rewarded for the extra antisocial hours and the disruption to their work/life balance.
This Branch believes that LUL’s Fit for the Future (FfF) programme is an appalling attack on the working conditions of London Underground station staff and will lead to a system that is unsafe for customers and staff.
This Branch instructs the RMT NEC to:-
This matter has been considered by the General Grades Committee, which has taken the decision to re-ballot all of our Station Staff members on London Underground over the dispute regarding Every Job Matters which, despite huge opposition from staff and the public remains unresolved. The issues included in this dispute are as follows:-
I am currently acting in accordance with the decision and will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 and NIGHT RUNNING – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/0001)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/124/15, 14th May 2015), members will be aware that the pay offer received from London Underground consists of a 0.75% increase effective 1st April 2015, and an RPI increase in 2016. Also included, in return for the future operation of Night Tube, is a non-consolidated lump sum payment for all COO and CPD Operational to be paid at two stages of £250, making £500 in total. Train Drivers and Track and Signals staff only would be offered a further £250 for Night Tube running.
This offer has been rejected and following the resolution received from Finsbury Park Branch (as above) and a resolution received from LU Engineering Branch, the General Grades Committee has taken the decision to conduct a ballot of all our London Underground members for strike action and action short of strike action as the pay offer from management and the proposals for and imposition of Night Tube are unacceptable.
I am currently acting in accordance with the decision and will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
INTRODUCTION OF AGENCY TRAINERS, FLEET – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/13/2)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/107/15, 23rd April 2015), members will be aware that preparations were underway to conduct a ballot for industrial action of all London Underground Fleet members over the Company’s intention to employ agency trainers at Ruislip Depot. The LU Fleet Branch also submitted a resolution on this matter and the Company has now been informed that a dispute situation exists.
The ballot papers will be posted out to all LU Fleet members on Tuesday 9th June and the closing date for this ballot is Tuesday 30th June 2015. I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
DISMISSAL, N. ROBERTS – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/4/1)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/070/15, 12th March 2015), members will be aware that preparations were underway to conduct a ballot for industrial action of all Station Grades members at East Ham, Tower Hill and Embankment over the unfair dismissal of Brother Noel Roberts. The Company has now been advised that a dispute situation exists as this Union finds it completely unacceptable that a long-standing employee is dismissed on spurious medical grounds, despite being cleared as fit for duty by his GP, London Underground Occupational Health and even the East Ham GSM who dismissed him.
The ballot papers were posted out to Station Staff members at East Ham, Tower Hill and Embankment on Wednesday 3rd June and the closing date for this ballot is Tuesday 16th June 2015. I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
M DOOR ALARM PROCEDURES, JUBILEE LINE – LONDON UNDERGROUND (LUL/14/10)
The following resolution was received from our Jubilee South Branch:-
“This Branch is concerned that once again a new procedure has been introduced on the Jubilee Line which decreases safety checks in order to avoid disruption to the train service.
The latest Jubilee Line supplement changes the procedure for responding to an ‘M door alarm’. Previously a rear M door alarm would require the train driver to stop the train where it is and check the rear M door is secured before proceeding. LUL want to alter this procedure so that the train can continue to the next station and then be checked.
We ask that the Union Executive take whatever action is necessary, up to action short of strike, to prevent LUL imposing this new process.
We also note that recent changes to procedures for train drivers effectively remove or less the role of the train driver and subsequently are less safe. We believe LUL’s primary aim is to enable the introduction of driverless trains”.
The Lead Officer has also raised this issue with the Company however, the situation remains unresolved. The General Grades Committee has now taken the decision to ballot our Train Operators and Instructor Operators on the Jubilee Line for industrial action short of strike action. I am currently acting in accordance with the above decision and will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 – INTERSERVE FACILITIES (KEOLIS AMEY DOCKLANDS CONTRACT) (DLR/0001/I(KAD))
Further to my previous Circular (IR/124/15, 14th May 2015), members are congratulated for their solidarity in returning a magnificent result in favour of taking strike action however, despite being given numerous opportunities by our negotiators, Interserve has failed to take the initiative to resolve this dispute. The General Grades Committee considered this matter and took the decision to instruct members not to book on for a 48 hour period between Wednesday 27th May and Friday 29th May 2015.
The determination and resolve of our members is absolute in this dispute and the General Grades Committee has now called further action and instructed our Interserve (KAD) members NOT TO BOOK ON FOR ANY SHIFTS THAT COMMENCE BETWEEN:-
I am sure all Branches will show their support for these members who continue to fight for fair and decent wages and for long-standing agreements regarding differentials to be maintained. I have advised the Company that we remain available for talks at ACAS to resolve this dispute but management have stated they are unable to attend a meeting until late next week. I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 – KEOLIS AMEY DOCKLANDS (DLR/0001/KAD)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/124/15, 14th May 2015), members are congratulated for their solidarity in returning a magnificent result in favour of taking strike action. This prompted some movement from KAD management and our RMT Reps recently attended a meeting with the Company where the following revised three year pay offer was tabled:-
Year One
Years Two & Three
The General Grades Committee has considered this matter and the improved offer from the Company and taken the decision to conduct a referendum with a recommendation that members VOTE ‘YES’ TO ACCEPT THE OFFER. The voting papers were posted out to members on Tuesday 2nd June and the closing date for this referendum is Tuesday 16th June 2015.
I will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
RATES OF PAY & CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 – TUBE LINES (LUL/0001/TL)
In line with Union policy, a claim was submitted to the Company for a substantial increase in rates of pay and improvements to conditions of service. The Company initially tabled a 0.5% pay increase which was rejected. At a further recent meeting, the Company offered a two year deal which was the same as the offer received from London Underground – a 0.75% increase in year one, an RPI increase in year two and a one-off payment in return for the introduction of Night Tube. Following our rejection of the offer, the Company advised that this was not its final offer and agreed that further meetings would take place.
The General Grades Committee has considered this matter and taken the decision or convene a meeting of Tube Lines Reps to discuss the pay offer and to decide whether or not they wish to be balloted for industrial action alongside our London Underground members. I am currently acting in accordance with this decision and will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
COMPULSORY OVERTIME, TRANSPLANT DRIVERS (RUISLIP DEPOT) – TUBE LINES (LUL/8/10)
The following resolution was received from our London Underground Fleet Branch:-
“This Branch calls on all RMT Ruislip Depot Tube Lines Night Transplant Drivers to be balloted for strike action and action short of a strike, to defend our members’ rights and to fight back against the imposition of compulsory overtime.
LU continuously book a number of transplant trains paths to stable after 06:15am at Ruislip Depot when management are fully aware that their shift finishes at 06:15am this is unacceptable to our membership and we expect management to adhere to our members’ contractual hours”.
This matter has been considered by the General Grades Committee, which has noted the reports on file and taken the decision to organise a ballot of Tubelines Night Transplant Drivers at Ruislip Depot. I am currently acting in accordance with this decision and will keep Branches advised of all further developments.
BREAKDOWN IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – THALES TRANSPORT & SECURITY (GTS) (LUL/14/2)
Further to my previous Circular (IR/098/15, 10th April 2015), members are commended for returning a solid vote in favour of taking industrial action. A number of meetings then took place with the Company and following lengthy discussions, an agreement was reached and the Company provided the required assurances and protections regarding redundancies and rosters. The threat of compulsory redundancies was withdrawn, all affected staff will retain their alignment compensation and members in an alternative role will have their pay protected for a period of 12 months so they do not suffer a detriment, all at risk members will get the opportunity to apply for Rapid Response Technician roles ahead of other staff. The Company has withdrawn its unacceptable roster proposals and all future rosters will be discussed through the machinery of negotiation.
This matter has been considered by the General Grades Committee and as confirmation of the agreement has now been received in writing from the Company, I have advised that the dispute situation is resolved.
Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
General Secretary
Rates of Pay & Conditions of Service 2014/2015 – Thales
Referring to our previous correspondence, the referendum has concluded and the result has been considered by the GGC and it has taken the following decision:-
“That we note the referendum result is as follows:-
| Total Votes Cast | 67 |
| Number Voting ‘Yes’ | 65 |
| Number Voting ‘No’ | 2 |
| Spoilt Papers | 0 |
We note the result of the referendum and the overwhelming acceptance of members of the offer from Thales. We instruct the General Secretary to notify the Company of our acceptance of the offer.
Relevant branches and London Transport Regional Council to be informed.”
Please inform the company of our acceptance and send an electronic copy of the revised pay scales to my office.
Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
Dear ALL
Following intensive talks over the last few months, the RMT and Thales have reached agreement on job losses and rostering. We would like to thank everyone for their support in making sure we could negotiate from a position of strength
Furthermore, we have reached draft agreement on how rosters are to be discussed in the future that will be sent to unity house for agreement and signing.
Following lengthy discussions with management over the last week, talks with Thales are starting to show significant progress with regards to no compulsory redundancy and agreeing a mechanism for dealing with roster changes. Further talks are planned for next Monday with the intention to negotiate a settlement that is acceptable to our members. So far we have received proposals and had discussions on:
This offer has been noted by our General Grades Committee and a decision as to whether to call any Industrial Action is on hold to allow for the talks to continue.
The RMT and Thales have agreed for an extension to the notification period for any Industrial Action to be increased by another four weeks with a view to reaching agreement
Thales GTS Waterloo and Palestra members at Waterloo and Palestra House have voted by a massive 4:1 Majority for strike action and action short of strike against compulsory redundancies and rostering.
The RMT have been and continue to meet management and we are impressing on them the need to withdraw all threats otherwise we will be naming strike and other actions in the very near future.
Our members have voted overwhelmingly despite large amounts of pressure from Management and cynical briefings urging them to vote NO. We have seen the same company resort to the anti-trade union laws and say they are not Thales GTS, the staff only work for them, their employers are actually called Thales T&S. The end result is that our members have shown their steadfast desire to fight these ‘efficiencies’ and we now call on the company to start to seriously avoid the need for our members to take action and reach a common sense agreement with the RMT that protects our members conditions.
Reasons to vote ‘YES’ in the forthcoming ballot:
NO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES: There are vacancies and positions available, so let’s fill them with people that are at risk. We believe that there is no need for these people to be worried about losing their jobs and Thales should end their at risk status NOW.
If it can happen to them, it can happen to YOU.
NO TO ROSTER CHANGES: Thales want to change people’s roster patterns and the members affected believe it is for the worse. We’ve had the discussions, we have said we will look at changes but they have to be in line with what our members want. However, to date there’s been no proposal except to end twelve hour shifts.
This is an important principle, when they look at other shift patterns in the business or whether people work days or nights, or whether they work Monday To Friday, we want Thales to recognise that these talks are negotiation and not a tick box on the way to implementation. That is the reason for balloting everyone
If it can happen to them, it can happen to YOU.
VOTE YES
For BOTH Strike Action and Action Short of Strike
Further to previous updates, we met with Thales Management today and the following items were discussed:
* The RMT re-Ballot
* Compulsory Redundancy
* Roster Changes
RMT Re-ballot
We expressed our disappointment that Thales had decided to instruct their solicitors to use the anti-trade union laws to say that our previous ballot notice was illegal. Their challenge was on the basis that the ballot notice was against Thales GTS that our members believe they work for, whilst the Thales Solicitors stated that the ‘actual’ employers are Thales Transport and Security.
Therefore we had no choice but to reissue new ballot papers. We expressed today that we believe this is poor industrial relations and we believe will make members even more determined to vote YES in the ballot.
Compulsory Redundancies
Thales have stated that they believe there will be positions for the members at risk within the organisation and that they will be interviewed for the roles. We pushed our point that we are against compulsory redundancies and that Thales need only withdraw that threat and ‘ring fence’ the available roles for those at risk. Thales are not in the position to do this and therefore our members remain at risk of being forceably made unemployed. This is a principle that affects everyone and no wants to see people on the dole and losing their homes etc especially when there is work for them to do, so therefore we remain in dispute on this matter.
Rosters
Once again Thales stated that they don’t understand why we are in dispute on this matter when we haven’t even had talks! We once again explained that we’ve met many times, and whatever way they dress it up, they want to move the rosters away from 12 hour shifts. Our members have told us that they do not want that and we’ve detailed once again why the answer to changing the rosters is a no.
The truth is that our members like their time off, they like less travel, they like less need for child care, less need to lodge in London. There are many reasons why our members do not want to move from a 12 hour shift position and we once again told Thales what these were. It is not that we are not talking, the reality is that this is about Thales insisting that members move away from a 12 hour shift pattern.
Thales insist that they want to move away from this and won’t withdraw these rosters. We therefore remain in dispute.
We have however, in the spirit of trying to reach a settlement, said we want the roster agreement signed off to give terms of reference for how the rosters will work, the business coverage requirements so that we can build that into existing rosters, the actual number of Network Analysists that Thales want, where it’s 12 or 15, and a copy of the management proposals to show clearly how they perceive the roster will look.
To that end the ballot notices will drop through your door over the next few days, so I’d strongly urge you to vote YES for Industrial Action and YES for action short
Regards
Paul Jackson
RMT Branch Secretary
LU Engineering (0962)
07810 643 681
Why is your union balloting you?
Dear Colleagues
Your union is balloting you because we have no choice, there is no alternative but to fight the proposals being put forward by Thales Management. Following a very well attended Branch Meeting a month ago, our members decided enough is enough and now Ballot Papers are due to fall through your letter boxes any day now and we urge you to vote asap and send a powerful message back to Thales.
Compulsory Redundancy
Apparently there is no alternative to forcing people onto the dole queue. We have tried and tried to negotiate with Thales to look for Volunteers, especially in other areas where people wish to leave the company. Surely this is reasonable. At a meeting on the 9th March, Thales made it clear that contractors such as Brookvex will be retained and their own loyal staff will be axed. We strongly believe that the company has valid roles available that these staff can do. The whole purpose of their reorganisation is to make them more efficient and do more work, common sense says you don’t do that by making up 5 extra management positions and forcing 6 Technicians out of work! All this purely in the name of making people work harder, deliver more whilst being permanently overseen by a even larger management team. Let’s be blunt, this is not about getting the work done, this is about worsening your terms and conditions and making more profit
We believe there are roles for these people, so we challenge Thales, come out and put these people’s minds at ease and give them jobs. Look at our counter proposals and let’s save jobs instead of making them compulsory redundant in the run up to Easter. Start talking to us in a meaningful way. The choice with compulsory redundancy is stark, where does it stop, ultimately this affects everyone, whether that is today, tomorrow or next year, we simply cannot allow people to lose their jobs when there are other choices available.
Rosters
Thales in the meeting of the 9th March made their intentions clear on Rosters, they are seeking legal opinion on imposing them. They are happy to talk they say, they are happy to listen they say, yet refuse to sign any agreement on how rosters are implemented and the rules associated with them designed, state that the rosters will be not be 12 hour patterns anymore, and that they are giving your reps ‘a reasonable instruction’ to attend talks with them in what can only be a thinly veiled threat of disciplinary action. We cannot even get a straight reply about what will happen to staffing levels at Palestra should people be promoted into the new Duty Management Positions and will they back fill these new vacancies. This would potentially lead to even worse rosters with less staff than now
The reality is we have told them that our members reject worse rosters, working and travelling more and to withdraw their proposal. They are refusing
Choices
We have asked Thales to put their proposals on hold for further talks and this was rejected now you have a choice because you have a vote.
So we strongly urge you to use it and would urge you all to vote yes for action
Kini Pathmanathan
Head of HR
Thales UK
Quadrant House
4 Thomas More Square
Thomas More Street
London E1W 1YW
Our Ref: LUL/14/2
27th February 2015
Dear Kini,
BREAKDOWN IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – THALES GTS
Following recent discussions between the Company and RMT regarding the proposed changes to the Services organisation as part of the GTS Optimisation Programme, I am writing to advise you that a dispute situation now exists between our organisations. The proposals mean that my members are facing worsening rosters, shift patterns, terms and conditions, less staff and compulsory redundancies, which is unacceptable to RMT. As a result, my Union will be conducting a ballot for industrial action amongst our affected members and I will provide the appropriate notice, in accordance with the legislation, in due course.
As you will be aware from these discussions, the issues leading to this dispute include the failure to agree over changes to rosters. Also, RMT is totally opposed to any compulsory redundancies and does not believe that these job losses are necessary or that full consultation into mitigating these job losses has been conducted in a meaningful way. I note that the Company has refused to consider the option of voluntary redundancy and continues to use sub-contractors as opposed to directly employed staff. Furthermore, the proposed redundancy criteria are not fit for purpose and these should be withdrawn until such time as agreement has been reached between our organisations.
As always, we remain available for talks aimed at resolving this dispute.
Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
General Secretary