London Underground Ltd

From Steve Hedley, Regional Organiser

Dear brothers sisters and comrades

We are facing several attacks from the employers right now and we have had requests for strike ballots on no compulsory redundancies, pay, breaking of agreements and failure to carry out meaningful consultation. Having discussed the issues the Council of Executives has agreed that a ballot will be conducted on LUL and coordinated with a ballot on TfL.The issues for the LUL ballot are:

Well what can i say!!

We have let LUL sack one member who damaged his leg at work and before that we let them dip a driver to stations and took little or no action when at the branch meeting recently i was very disturbed at the majority attitude there no one seems to want to take any action stating we will not win a ballot!! let alone even taking a ballot!

LUL want to lose 180 driver positions "they are over subscibed" they say

will there be any one left to stand up against LUL or should we just let them walk all overs us??

they are offering no real pay rise!

The figures for the most recent completed financial year (2007/08) revealed that ...

• Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy was paid more than £540,000: a salary of £334,720 plus a bonus of £115,200 and other benefits.
• Tim O'Toole, Managing Director of London Underground, received £283,254 and a bonus of £73,115.
• David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport, was paid £261,500 plus a bonus of £42,625.

A two day Bus Reps course took place in central London on thursday 26th and friday 27th february 2009. It was well attended by very enthusiastic and motivated volunteers. The course will help them to assist fellow members at their workplaces. If you are an RMT London Busworker and are interested in going on a course, please contact your branch secretary. If you are not sure about who to contact, you can find the information on the RMT website or call the RMT freephone helpline 0800 376 3706.

This resolution, proposed by TfL no.1 branch, was passed unanimously by the February Regional Council meeting.

This branch believes that TfL/LUL are jumping on the bandwagon of the recession, using it as an excuse to cut jobs. If we let the company get away with cutting admin/non operational grades, it will set a precedent, and have a double negative effect. A) it will make everyone’s life harder as all admin jobs are vital to the safe operating of the railway and the care of the employees themselves and B) it will make it easier for them to slash operational jobs.

London Underground managing director Tim O'Toole has resigned - reports from the BBC and the Guardian.

TfL Commissioner Peter Hendy's circular to all TfL staff on 2 December 2008 spelt out the company's cost-cutting agenda and plans to slash jobs ...

"Our 10-year Business Plan sets out our plans for multi-billion pound transport investment. This year, the Operating Cost Review team has been working with the business to identify opportunities to make the £2.4 billion savings we need to deliver our commitments within the available funding levels.

A recent article by Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard reveals some interesting facts about how much TfL/LUL bosses spend on themselves.

Below you can read a question-and-answer briefing produced by London Underground management about their 'Organisational Change Process'.

RMT would like to point out that:

• Whatever soft-soap and jargon it uses, this is a document announcing around 1,000 job cuts.
• Despite the claim in this document, your union has not agreed to this process.