Trainpeople Workers Ballot For Strike

TUBE UNION RMT said today that it is to ballot all staff working on London Underground’s “Trainpeople” agency contract for strike action over the termination of a deal which will dump dozens of staff on the dole and which makes a mockery of regulations which were supposed to protect the employment rights of agency staff.

Today, RMT London Underground “Trainpeople” staff – who face the prospect of dismissal this week - are taking their demo right to the heart of the company that treated them so appallingly this Tuesday.

RMT Awaits Met Line Upgrade Letter Response

We note the report from our Regional Organiser, attaching a report from our LU Trains Upgrades representative.

We instruct the General Secretary to seek confirmation that the letter to London Underground Ltd instructed by our decision Gww 18 December 2012 has been sent, and to place any reply in front of us.

We link this file with LUL/0005 MACHINERY OF NEGOTIATION AND CONSULTATION – LONDON UNDERGROUND

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised.

Transport Minister Handed 'Justice For The 33' Leaflet

London Underground inherited a contract with the Trainpeople agency from Silverlink in 2007. In breach of agreements with unions, for five years LU continued to use agency staff in LU uniform while Trainpeople paid them as little as £6.75 per hour. Trainpeople staff joined RMT and organised for equal rights with permanent staff as stipulated in the 2010 Agency Worker Regulations. Then, without warning, LU terminated its contract with the Trainpeople Agency a year early!

Read on to watch the video

RMT London Calling Newsletter January 2013

33 RMT Members Sacked by Trainpeople Agency
On the 19th December 2012, all 33 Trainpeople agency staff working on the Wembley Central group received an early Christmas present. Trainpeople informed them that their contract with London Underground would be terminated on the 16th January, with no further work on the stations after that. This allowed them only four weeks to find new jobs over Christmas, some had worked on stations for over five years.

“Agency staff should be brought back in house and paid the rate for the job. It is intolerable that staff wearing LU uniform and doing the same job as other staff on the network have not got identical terms and conditions. We must rid our industry of the exploitative agency companies”. John Reid LTRC Secretary.

TfL Market Testing Explained

RMT National Policy Department briefing – What is market testing?

In the early 1990s, the Conservative government introduced a policy of market testing public services in central government, testing their efficiency by exposing them to competition from external providers. It was less relevant whether the service was actually contracted to the private sector, but rather that it was subjected to competitive challenge.

However, it is typically used to open the door to privatisation.

Justice for the 33. The fight goes on. Soup kitchen outside Broadway Jan 15 0800

J33 Campaign

We told you we aren’t going away and we mean it
Following 3 well attended demos at Wembley Central and Broadway these last 7 days, the fight continues tomorrow, Jan 15 at 0800 where a soup kitchen will be set up outside the head offices of London Underground in Broadway SW1

Tory minister Chris Grayling offered support for our member’s at todays demo and was asked to intervene in preventing 33 workers wanting to work being sent to sign on at the jobcentre.