This bulletin has been issued jointly by RMT and the other five recognised unions in TfL. Click '1 attachment / file name to download it. Read the text below.

Get The Facts Right!

Warning! Don’t believe everything you hear from TfL. Managers have been telling staff that they will not receive the 75% Reimbursement after April 1st 2010 if they don’t sign the pay award acceptance form. This is untrue. Reimbursement will continue for the full length of your current season ticket, even if it expires after April 1st 2010. Maybe this was meant as an early April Fool, but it’s more likely yet another mistake from management that don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing.

There are worrying reports of managers marching staff into rooms and intimidating them into signing the acceptance form. Staff are being told they will miss out on the pay offer if they don’t sign by the 18th December ‘deadline’. This is also untrue. Not signing by the ‘deadline’ just means you won’t get the increase in your February pay packet. This is a deliberate tactic by management to pressurise staff into accepting the offer. Managers are free to offer advice, but don’t accept intimidation and make sure that the facts are right. Whether you are a member of a Trade Union or not, talk to your local rep if you have any doubts about the accuracy of management bulletins.

These are the facts that aren’t made clear in management communications:

• The Season Ticket Loan is still available to all staff and is unaffected by the pay dispute.

• TfL have withdrawn renewal of the 75% reimbursement scheme for anyone who does not sign up to the new deal. This has been the case since December 2nd, when the ACAS talks broke down due to management’s refusal to agree to any of the three options put to them.

• If your season ticket ran out and you submitted your forms before December 2nd, you will still be eligible for the 75% reimbursement scheme under the transitional arrangements which were in place from April 1st 2009 - December 2nd.

• As mentioned earlier, the December 18th deadline is only in respect of staff wishing to be paid the 1.5% increase and arrears in their February pay packet. It will still be possible to sign up after this date, although the TUs would urge staff to show solidarity and wait for a negotiated settlement. When a settlement is reached, it will be backdated to April 1st 2009, including the rail reimbursement money, and therefore nobody will lose out.

• If management try to apply pressure to anyone to sign up, this could be illegal and we will want to know about it.

Company Council

After attempting to impose an offer which hadn’t been agreed by the Trade Unions, and refusing to go to ACAS for an independent view, TfL continue to treat their staff with contempt. At Thursday’s Company Council, TfL refused to extend the meeting to allow time to discuss the urgent issues around the pay offer. We were forced to sit through almost two hours of pre-prepared slides regarding non-urgent matters which conveniently left just 5 minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss other business. We then aked to increase the length of the next meeting from 2 hours to 4 hours, but were told by Jeroen Weimar that he would only consider increasing it to 3 hours. When we repeated the request for 4 hours, he sniffily threatened to withdraw the offer of 3 hours and revert to 2 hours. Sound familiar? Just like the pay talks: if we say shorter, they say longer; if we say longer, they say shorter. As the clock ticked towards the end of the meeting, Jeroen was asked an important question on pay but refused to answer and left the room.

Company Council is the main forum for Trade Unions to communicate your concerns to management. The Framework for Collective Bargaining clearly states that “TfL will give time to discuss all matters”. Their refusal to do so is symptomatic of their intent to dishonour the agreement and their fear of reasonable arguments. TfL are now taking the same line with Company Council as they took with the pay talks: Pretend to Listen. Ignore. Impose.

Pre-Budget Report

Despite the truth coming out in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report that there will be a 1% cap on public sector pay in 2011, TfL’s position regarding the length of the deal is still the same as before. We knew this pay cap was likely to happen all along and that is why we want to negotiate afresh in 2011 after a two-year deal.

Joint Organising Committee

The six recognised Trade Unions in TfL have set up a committee to co-ordinate our campaign so we can effectively organise as one. Please continue to contact your TU as usual and all information will be fed through to the JOC. We believe that TfL’s implementation of the pay offer could be illegal and we are consulting with our solicitors on a possible legal challenge.

Remember – we are not asking for more money. We are simply asking for the same two year deal that is being offered to our colleagues in LU. If we meekly accept the offer they are trying to impose, we are giving Johnson & Hendy the green light to do whatever they want to TfL staff without Trade Union consultation. If this is the way they’re dealing with the pay offer, imagine how they’ll manage the proposed £5 billion of cuts. They are assuming that TfL staff aren’t prepared to stand up for themselves and will take whatever they’re given.

We urge you not to sign the pay award acceptance form. The more of us that don’t sign, the stronger our position.

JOC, Monday 14th December 2009