ATTENDANCE

• Bakerloo branch –
• Camden No.3 branch – Becky Crocker, Tony Gandolfi
• Central Line West branch – Vaughan Thomas (meeting chair), Stefan Melnyk
• DLR –
• East Ham – Andy Izard, Unjum Mirza
• Finsbury Park branch – Glenroy Watson
• Hammersmith & City branch –
• Jubilee South & East London Line branch –
• London Taxis branch – Dave Vigeon
• LU Engineering branch –
• LU Fleet branch – Anthony Beese
• Morden & Oval branch –
• Neasden branch – Nigel Eivers
• Piccadilly & District West branch – Brenda Sutton
• Retired Members branch –
• Stratford No.1 branch – Adrian Finney, Ash Malik, Janine Booth (meeting secretary)
• TfL No.1 branch – Carol Foster
• Thames Riverboats branch –
• In attendance – Steve Hedley (Regional Organiser), Olly New (Council of Executives member), Mike Barnard (UpRise), Mick Carty (Industrial Relations Dept)

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

John Kelly, Adrian Rowe, Brian Munro, Dean O'Hanlon, Dave Rayfield, Frank Curtis, Les Bruty, Paul Jackson, Jim McDaid, Jenny Rose, Linda Wiles, Gwyn Pugh, Lewis Peacock, Mac McKenna, Terry O'Neill

2. MINUTES OF LAST (JULY) MEETING

Proposed by Stratford no.1 branch; seconded by East Ham branch. Agreed as accurate.

3. MATTERS ARISING

Janine Booth raised the following issues regarding dispute publicity:

• 'RMT London Calling' for all grades published since last meeting
• Please provide any ideas for new publicity, to produced by the start of next week
• Leaflet for the public needed - if head office does not produce, Regional Council should - agreed
• Regional office (at head office) has started charging Regional Council for photocopying, without consultation or notice - will cost us thousands of pounds for essential work - Secretary to contact General Secretary to express our disappointment, and if necessary to request additional funding - agreed

Comments from London Taxis branch and Olly New.

At this point, the meeting suspended standing orders to hear a speaker: Mike Barnard from UpRise, who are organising an anti-racist festival to replace the one cancelled by Boris Johnson. Finsbury Park branch asked what the organisational structures are. Finsbury Park proposed, East Ham seconded: donation of £100. Also agreedto circulate an appeal to branches and to publicise the event around the region.

4. COUNCIL OF EXECUTIVES / REGIONAL ORGANISER'S REPORT

Olly New reported on:

• London Underground dispute
  • is unlike previous dispute ie. will not be one strike followed by compromise
  • management have asked for talks at ACAS
  • the Executive's decision, including the fact that it allows for the action to be added to and changed
  • need for a continuing political campaign
  • need to find ways of 'ramping up' action in the workplace
• LU Machinery of Negotiation
• Alstom pay dispute - strikes the days before LUL strikes
• Kevin Mortell ballot - strike on same day as first LUL strike, plus overtime ban
• DLR
  • accepted 3-car offer
  • requested ballot re sackings
• Tube Lines - offer accepted in referendum
• European demo, Brussels, 29 September
• Lobby of Parliament in support of John McDonnell's bill for trade union rights, 13 October

Steve Hedley report on:

• LU dispute - why recommended 6 x 1-day strikes
• LU machinery of negotiation - now we have named strikes, LU want to talk!
• London Overground - threat to cut jobs and use more agency staff
• cleaners - London Living Wage achieved, but Initial trying to withhold til October
• Alstom - 2% pay rise, despite making Northern and Jubilee lines more reliable
• Kevin Mortell - concerned about tactics
• printing charges - Regional Office should be a resource
• lobby of TUC, 12 September

Points raised in discussion:

• LU dispute
  • need to organise people (inc. friends and family) to email media and phone radio stations in support of strike
  • how do discussions on tactics move up the decision-making process?
  • some advocate revenue strike, others think it's impractical
  • why not boycott of £5 minimum?
  • why did members find out dates from media not from RMT?
  • some not convinced by 24-hour strike duration, wanted longer - others supported
  • disabled groups supporting our campaign
  • need political campaign; GLA majority against job cuts
  • contact unemployed groups
  • should functional-level talks go ahead? should our reps attend?
  • need to organise at work; organise picketing
  • circulate contact details of GLA members for our members to contact
  • trades council and other unions are supporting us
  • need to explain issues to members
  • current job cuts are the tip of the iceberg
  • need at least one picket on each station group
  • management are training scabs and asking for volunteers
  • management are considering clampdown on banking performance in ticket offices
  • voluntary severance may be made more widely available after 20 October
• cleaners - Brian Whitehead has paperwork for agreement with Initial

Olly's reply:

• yes, circulate media details
• there is no set mechanism for discussions feeding into decision-making; please pass on all ideas
• need to discuss and revise action short - may be problem with overtime banin some engineering grades
• should have been a text message re dates but wasn't - may need to include this explicitly in future decisions
• functional-level talks? management will use it against us if we don't go?
• possibility of further, grade-specific ballots for action short

Steve's reply:

• functional meetings? should turn up, but make no decisions or agreements
• 48-hour strikes? TSSA weren't up for it
• we want to win, not have glorious defeat
• we can escalate action when momentum builds
• must link with other groups: TUs, socialist groups, anti-cuts campaigns

5. RESOLUTIONS

The two resolutions from Neasden branch were referred to the next meeting, so that Neasden branch could consider the amendments.

London Underground 2011 pay claim, submitted by Stratford no.1 branch, with amendments submitted by Finsbury Park branch:

This Regional Council believes that RMT's pay claim to London Underground for 2011 should include:

• a flat-rate pay rise for all grades ie. a sum of money (say, £3,000) rather than a percentage figure. Amendment from Finsbury Park branch: This should not be less than would have been achieved by an RPI pay rise for 2011.
• a rise sufficient to fund workers having to pay an additional 2.5% VAT from 2011. Amendment from Finsbury Park branch:
• A range of other condition benefits to be prioritised by Branches and submitted by them by November 2010 at the latest.

Stratford no.1 branch accepted the amendments.

Following extensive discussion, the resolution was carried unanimously.

6. CORRESPONDENCE

Correspondence file circulated. Nothing raised.

7. OTHER REPORTS

None.

8. REPORTS ON PROGRESS OF PREVIOUS RESOLUTIONS

Janine Booth reported that all resolutions from the previous meeting had been submitted to the General Secretary. He had accepted all but two, which he said were too similar to resolutions already passed by the union's AGM to warrant separate consideration. The Regional Executive had asked what progress had been made with implementing these AGM resolutions. The General Secretary had replied that they were in the relevant sub-committees.

9. OTHER BUSINESS

• Meeting venue - Janine Booth reminded the meeting that the Executive had invited suggestions for alternative venues. None had yet been received. Dave Vigeon suggested the venue used by the London Taxis branch. All suggestions to be forwarded to the Executive
• Cleaners - Glenroy Watson appealed for people to volunteer to represent cleaners, and advised that cleaner reps' training would be organised
• London Taxi branch resolution - Dave Vigeon asked about progress with the resolution passed at RMT AGM. Olly New replied that it is currently being considered by the Council of Executives' political sub-committee

Meeting closed at 18:30.