Defending jobs

Transport union RMT today slammed leaked reports that venture capitalist, Tory-funder and Cameron oppo Adrian Beecroft is preparing to publish a study recommending a full-frontal attack on workplace rights.

Beecroft, who has funded the Tories to the tune of a half a million pounds, has been set up by Cameron to be his out-rider for attacking worker’s rights in the same way that McNulty was tasked with doing a similar number on the railways.

RMT is fighting against London underground's 'rainbow' procedure for sickness.

It seems an odd choice of name. Rainbows are caused when the sun shines through the rain. If you have a few rainy days, there may well be no sunshine from the bosses at LU - just the sack.

There are many scenarios where you could fall foul of the new procedure and potentially lose your job.

Here are a few:

• You had a few odd days off sick and then needed to care for a sick family member.

In line with the recommendation of our representatives and previous decisions, we instruct the
General Secretary to ballot our London Underground service control members on the Piccadilly Line
and Sub-Surface Railway (SSR) for strike and action short of strike.

London Transport Regional Council, branches London Underground service control representatives to
be advised.

We note the correspondence from ASLEF. We instruct the General Secretary to reply, advising ASLEF that RMT is campaigning against the introduction of Automatic Door Opening on the Victoria Line and urging ASLEF to join us in this campaign. Any further correspondence from ASLEF, and reports of local contact with ASLEF on this matter, is to be placed in front of us.

LU has announced plans to have Supervisors covering several stations from 7am to 11pm only. These stations would be opened and closed by security guards.

These plans relate to stations transferred from Silverlink, but RMT believes they are a precursor to wider de-staffing of London Underground stations.

The General Grades Committee has made the following decision:

We note that our London Underground service control representatives and members met on
Wednesday 18 April. They feel strongly that London Underground Ltd has not responded adequately
to their concerns, and wish RMT to begin a ballot for strike action and action short of strike forthwith.

We therefore instruct the General Secretary to:

• commence this ballot
• set timescales for it which co-ordinate with other disputes in the London Transport region, so
  long as this is practical and does not unnecessarily delay action in any dispute

View the poster by clicking the image or hitting 'download attachment' below.

It has been raised by the RMT Union that handing over the control of signalling equipment or control to an unqualified member of staff who doesn’t have the right paperwork, knowledge or regular work of signalling in that area can put the safety of the railway in jeopardy!

RMT is organising to recruit more members who work as Cleaners and Canteen staff. We have a ballot coming up for ISS cleaners who's pay and benefits are woefully low for the hard work they do. At Sodexo the RMT is working hard to get recognition for the RMT,

This all depends on getting as many people signed up as possible. Remember cleaners and canteen staff can currently join the RMT for £1 a week.

London Underground has finally supplied RMT with projected figures for Hammersmith SCC. These figures confirm a 50% cut for all Service Operators and Service Controllers Level 1 & 2, which will now all be rebranded to Area Controllers and Regional Controllers. All staff will have to apply for positions in the new control room, that includes management!

Click 'read more' to see the April edition of SC News, or download it below and distribute amongst your colleagues.