LUL Trains

The RMT has agreed to suspend the Bakerloo detrainment action with immediate effect. The full decision is below:

"We note our Regional Organiser’s report, the proposals from London Underground Ltd, and the views of our representatives.

We also note the letter from London Underground Ltd, which falsely claims that its contents have been agreed by RMT. We deplore LUL’s disregard for the safety of staff and passengers from the point at which the company first imposed its ‘flash and dash’ detrainment policy. We note that management is introducing a new procedure under which trains will be physically checked and confirmed as empty before they go into depots or sidings. We welcome this progress, which is the result of determined action by Bakerloo line drivers backed up by an active campaign of protests. However, we still have several serious concerns:

See the attached updated advice for dealing with Rainbow sickness processes.

Feb 2013-02-28

Update on Rainbow Sickness Process from Stations Functional Council Reps (SFC).

This update is overdue but we have been waiting for an agreed set of minutes from the last APC (Attendance, Performance & Conduct) meeting with management. The minutes are still in dispute but as the next meeting is not now scheduled until April and we are now getting more reports of the process kicking off again we are issuing this update to previous advice.

Triggers

The Bakerloo Branch agreed the following resolution for the attention of the RMT's General Grades Committee.

“This branch notes the appalling treatment of our young member and activist Brother Jayesh Patel at the hands of LU. Bro Patel was acting in the interests of safety when he requested ‘assisted despatch’ at two overcrowded stations on 1st of February 2013. This branch is amazed that as a result of carrying out these actions he was told to detrain and run out of service. Worse still he was instructed to attend a location away from his home depot to participate in a fact finding. Unfortunately the fact finding interview turned into a Gestapo interrogation where our member was denied the right to ask questions, denied the right to have physical break and denied to go home after his booking off time. Worse, this branch notes that since this time LU have added insult to injury and have stood down him down from that date.

We note the report from our Trains Council representatives, and note the following issues regarding
London Underground’s new S stock:

• the inadequate time allowance for the drivers’ train preparation
• cross-line working by C&H drivers on the Metropolitan line under the new timetable to be introduced in May
• the removal of train maintenance at Hammersmith depot and the impact of this on train movement
• the length of time between drivers being trained and actually driving the new trains
• the absence of Defective In Service Instructions (DISI) for the S stock

London Underground’s latest proposal to resolve the Bakerloo detrainment dispute has not been
accepted by RMT or Aslef. Their ‘Updated Detrainment Briefing’ being issued to drivers does not settle our dispute. This latest version of ‘flash and dash’ has not been properly negotiated with your union. If a driver detrained using this method of shutting the doors and walking down the train looking in windows and overcarried there would be formal action taken against them.

TUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that tube drivers on the Jubilee Line, working out of the Stratford and Greenwich depots, are to be balloted for industrial action in a dispute over bullying of staff through the misuse of procedures and an appalling decline in the standard of working conditions.

In a letter to London Underground setting out the reasons for the dispute, RMT has highlighted:

• The unfair and disproportionate treatment of Drivers in disciplinaries
• Many facilities on the Jubilee line being in a very poor and in some cases a “disgusting” state
  

We note the resolution from our Jubilee South branch, and the numerous problems being caused by management at North Greenwich and Stratford depots. Following thorough discussion with our representatives and in line with their expressed views, we instruct the General Secretary to ballot our train driver members at Stratford and North Greenwich depots for strike action, to a timescale that will enable co-ordinated action with ASLEF. A personal letter is to be sent to all members being balloted, strongly urging them to vote Yes.

We note with concern the correspondence from our Bakerloo branch that recently-recruited drivers did not have their pension contributions adjusted to the correct level until the first pay period of 2013 despite being in their new grade for many months.

We remind London Underground Ltd that the TFL Pension Fund rules are clear, and that a driver member is entitled to accrue his/her pension as a driver from the date of his/her appointment as a driver.

Attached is London Undergrounds 'Discipline at work procedure 2004' and the 'Discipline Support Pack.

TUBE DRIVERS involved in a five week dispute over staff and passenger safety on the Bakerloo Line will take their campaign out onto the streets this Friday as the union ramps up public support and pressure on London Underground.

The drivers and their supporters will be outside Queens Park station from 7.30am to 9.00am this Friday – 22ndFebruary – demanding an end to the spin and lies from LUL and serious talks to resolve the bitter dispute which continues to disrupt Bakerloo Line services on a daily basis despite a barrage of misinformation from Transport for London.