Women (and men) workers in Finland's transport industry

Submitted by Janine on 23 September, 2013 - 11:24

On the first day of the ETF Women's Committee meeting, several Finnish transport trade unionists attended as guests, including women from the logistics, shipping, rail and salaried sectors. We also had a presentation from Tapio Bergholm, who has written a history of Finnish transport workers. The Finnish member of the ETF Women's Committee is Satu, from the Finnish Seamen's Union, who was elected one of the two Vice-Chairs of the Committee.

RMT London Calling Newsletter September 2013

Submitted by Admin on 21 September, 2013 - 04:34

In this months newsletter:

  • We Will Unite & Fight to Stop Job Cuts
  • Why Can’t LU Keep Ticket Offices Open?
  • RMT Taxi Branch Resists Attempts to Loosen Rules on “Plying for Hire”
  • RMT will Demand Payment for all Staff Working on Boxing Day
  • Tube Lines Pension Dispute
  • Bombardier Pay And Conditions Talks Continue
  • RMT Push For Increased Representation at TfL
  • RMT will Demand Payment for all Staff Working on Boxing Day
  • Back Dated Pay Rises For Cleaners & Security Workers Still Short Of London Living Wage
  • STOP PRESS: CLEANERS VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY to refuse to use fingerprint scanners to book on for Duty

This article and the attached newsletter was updated on the 22nd of September to remove an outdated story about a member facing disciplinary

LU Still Refuses to Discuss Ticket Office Closures

Submitted by Jared on 20 September, 2013 - 13:38

Following the publication, in the Evening Standard, of a plan to close every ticket office on the tube we wrote to the COO demanding an urgent meeting of the stations & revenue functional council.
Having refused to discuss ticket office closure plans at previous meetings we were a little surprised when an ad-hoc meeting was arranged for 5th Sept.
We needn’t have been. Management came to the meeting and told us, again, that they have no plans at this stage and therefore cannot discuss the matter!

Resolution to September Regional Council meeting: Eastern European migrant workers

Submitted by Admin on 20 September, 2013 - 09:17

Proposed by the Regional Council Executive Committee

We note that from 1 January 2014, restrictions will be lifted on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens coming to the UK to live and work. Those people who do so are likely to find themselves in the lowest-paid, most insecure jobs. Many of these jobs will be in London Transport, for example in contracted-out cleaning, catering and engineering functions.

Driverless trains: a warning from Helsinki

Submitted by Janine on 19 September, 2013 - 15:17

The underground railway (Metro) in Finland's capital city Helsinki is due to go 'driverless' in 2016. I discussed this with Finnish trade unionists Jussi and Satu, and heard a story that has important lessons for London Underground workers and passengers trying to prevent the same calamity happening in London.

The proposal to introduce driverless operation on the Helsinki Metro was first raised in 2007. The trade unions opposed it (note that as city council employees, the Metro workers are members of the public sector trade union rather than a transport union).

City Link Workers To Strike For A Week Over Pay Cuts Of Up To £4000

Submitted by Admin on 19 September, 2013 - 04:22

This industrial action has been called off

Transport union RMT announced today that hundreds of staff working for City Link will be taking seven days of strike action in a dispute over pay, working conditions and an attempt by the company management to bulldoze through changes to contracts.

The workforce will strike for seven days from 00.01 hours on Tuesday 24th September to 12.59 hours on Monday 30th September 2013.

Elected Young Members 2013

Submitted by youngmember on 18 September, 2013 - 20:08

please see attached poster related to your 2013 elected young member representatives from the London transport region for your information and distribution.

Young members (members under 30 years old) visited their local branch and were voted for their names to be put forward.

Each region has their own young member representatives and together they make up the young members national advisory committee, who meet officially 3 times a year as well as organise a number of interesting activities throughout the year.

Bombardier Pay And Conditions Talks Update

Submitted by rmtlondon on 15 September, 2013 - 05:09

We note the report from our Regional Organiser. While we welcome the move from individual contracts to collective bargaining of pay and conditions for Train Service Technicians, the current offer is not acceptable to us because:
- for some members, this represents a below-inflation pay rise
- it removes the enhanced rate of pay for overtime
- it allocates annual leave in hours rather than days, which will result in a loss of leave

We therefore instruct our Regional Organiser to pursue this matter through the appropriate procedure, to secure an acceptable offer.