Minutes: Emergency Regional Council meeting, 29 June 2010

Janine

Thursday, 1st of July '10

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Minutes: Emergency Regional Council meeting, 29 June 2010

ATTENDANCE

Bakerloo branch – Sean Geoghegan
Camden No.3 branch – John Reid, Tony Gandolfi, Becky Crocker, Joanna Prestwich
Central Line West branch – Vaughan Thomas (meeting chair)
DLR – Darren Arnold
East Ham – Claire Reilly, Gary Lazell, Unjum Mirza, Andy Izard
Finsbury Park branch – Dean O’Hanlon, Dave Rayfield, Frank Curtis, John Kelly, G Doyle
Hammersmith & City branch – Mac McKenna
Jubilee South & East London Line branch –
London Taxis branch –
LU Engineering branch – Paul O'Brien, Lewis Peacock, Paul Jackson
LU Fleet branch –
Morden & Oval branch – Paul Geer
Neasden branch –
Piccadilly & District West branch –
Retired Members branch –
Stratford No.1 branch – Adrian Finney, Janine Booth (meeting secretary)
TfL No.1 branch – Carol Foster, Roy Carey
Thames Riverboats branch –
In attendance – Steve Hedley (Regional Organiser), Olly New (Council of Executives member)

1. COUNCIL OF EXECUTIVES and REGIONAL ORGANISER'S REPORTS

Olly New reported on:

Tube Lines dispute:
- injunction not granted, but hearing to take place
- excellent support by Tube Lines workers for strike
- LU managers lying re safety
- letter from Tube Lines - all offers withdrawn, advising us to talk to Gerry Duffy
DLR dispute
- strike suspended to put new offer to members in referendum
London Underground job cuts dispute
- initial balloting period was too short -> will now be extended
- we need a big Yes vote
- we also need a continuing political campaign
- the Budget and public services cuts reduce members' social wage
White City dispute re sacking
upcoming demonstrations on 29 September and 30 October

Steve Hedley reported on:

legal threats from London Underground re 'inducement to unofficial action' during Tube Lines dispute
LU ballot: has been a long time coming
cleaners: London Living Wage victory
National Shop Stewards Network Conference

Initial points made in discussion:

as Boris Johnson has finally kept one promise (London Living Wage), we should demand he keeps his others (eg. no cuts to frontline staffing!)
current political situation
extending ballot period = right decision in the circumstances; need time to catch up because delay in starting ballot has cost momentum

2. DOCKLANDS LIGHT RAILWAY DISPUTE

Darren Arnold (DLR branch secretary) reported:

strike dates co-ordinated with Tube Lines - sorry couldn't go ahead
suspending the strike was the right thing to do in the circumstances
new branch secretary, chair and reps elected this year
was told that 3-car was the weakest issue RMT had ever balloted on
thanks to Brian Whitehead for advice and for negotiating at ACAS
offer to be taken to hte members in a referendum; closes 12 July, expect members to reject

Points made in discussion:

DLR branch meeting was well-attended and lively
3-car is not a weak issue but a strong one
members may well reject offer that Executive has recommended
what happened to proposal for an all-grades ballot? reply: was advised that there were lots of obstacles to it
clarification: is there a £600 offer or not? reply: yes, but with strings, not on the issue we went into dispute about
report from RO and branch secretary to the CofE was: £600 on offer; suspend the strike; keep the ballot mandate; employer has agreed 28-day extension to mandate; should recommend acceptance in referendum
DLR members have been led up the garden path

2. TUBE LINES DISPUTE

Paul O'Brien (Tube Lines rep) reported:

all solid, including ERU
effect on service
how management 'covered' ERU
police called to picket lines five times
use of agency staff to 'cover' signals
535+ jobs under threat
threat to withdraw pay offer - but we'd rejected it anyway!
want to escalate with action short as well as strikes
thanks to LU members for support

Points made in discussion:

Tube Lines claim 100+ reports of picket line intimidation!
refusal to work by Arnos Grove drivers - elsewhere too, but patchy
head office failure to carry out AGM mandate and produce 'know your rights' guide on refusal to work on safety ground (disagreement as to significance of this)
need to build confidence and spread news of non-disciplining of Arnos Grove drivers
great strike; excellent level of organisation

A TSSA rep made a contribution. A delegate pointed out that guests should be notified in advance and their presence brought to the attention of the meeting at the start. The President confirmed this.

4. LONDON UNDERGROUND JOB CUTS DISPUTE

Janine Booth (Regional Council Secretary / stations rep) reported:

new leaflets produced - please distribute
stations functional council organising station visits along with local reps - other grades/functions, please do so too
advised by head office that title of ballot is 'London Underground job cuts', so not just about station staff
view on strategy:
- could be lengthy dispute: need serious strategy not token protests
- when union names first strike date, should name second strike date too
- should seriously consider providing strike hardship payments
- should use 'action short' creatively

Points made in discussion:

Is TSSA balloting? reply: yes, but a little behind us
should picket stations and try to close them
should try to close down network
issue is not just about stations job cuts; but station grades must be solid in order to bring in support of other grades
there are signs of weakness; there has not been a campaign in the workplace over the last few months; SOS campaign is not good enough, is more like a student union campaign
Steve Hedley responded to above point, disagreeing: SOS campaign has been excellent, lots of rank-and-file reps have worked hard on it; has boosted feeling in workplace; does not deserve this criticism here

Reply (Janine): proposed that existing campaign committee becomes strike committee and has 3 members each from engineering and fleet and one from trains added to it to give better cross-grades balance. Discussion followed. Confirmed that all meetings of the committee are open, and the purpose of the list of members is to encourage those branches/grades to ensure that they are represented. Agreed.

5. OTHER DISPUTES

Vaughan Thomas (Regional Council President / White City rep) reported on White City ballot re sacking.
Gary Lazell (East Ham group rep) reported on request for ballot re rostered staff being forced to work on other stations.

6. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lewis Peacock - joint health & safety machinery
Andy Izard - East Ham recruitment & organising day, Thursday
Janine Booth - please discuss at your next branch meeting what members think the next pay claim should be.