LUL Trains

We note the correspondence from London Underground Ltd concerning Boxing Day working arrangements for drivers. We strongly oppose the company’s position, as it seeks to establish the principle of drivers being able to, in effect, sell their annual leave entitlement.

We instruct the General Secretary to obtain a report on the views of our trains representatives concerning ASLEF’s dispute with LUL on Boxing Day working.

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised.

Please download the original newsletter below, and distribute amongst union members.

Annual elections for Reps and branch officials at this months Branch AGM
The time of year has come where RMT members of the Jubilee South Branch get to choose who represents them. This takes place at the Annual General Meeting of the branch which this year takes place on 28th November at the Spice Lounge above the Blue Eyed Maid on Borough High St Starting 16.00hrs All workplace Rep positions on Stations and Trains both Industrial relations & Heath and Safety are due for election.

We note the resolution from our London Transport Regional Council.

We deplore the way that London Underground Ltd has treated our representative, Brother Moriarty, and instruct the General Secretary to provide him with full support in pursuing this matter.

We also note that the issue of RMT representation at North Greenwich and Stratford train crew depots has now been resolved to our satisfaction, and congratulate our members, branch and representatives for their steadfastness on this matter.

London Transport Regional Council and branches to be advised.

We note the report of a meeting that took place yesterday with two Directors of London Underground Ltd. It appears that this meeting did not take place in line with our previous decision of 25 October 2012, and instruct the General Secretary to obtain an explanation of this and to place it in front of us.

We note that in the meeting, LUL stated that:

• there will be no driverless trains in the near future
• the Bakerloo line upgrade due in 2020 as yet has no agreed funding
• it anticipates employing more station staff as the service frequency increases
  

That we note the result of ballot for strike action is:-

Total votes cast - 5

Number voting “Yes” - 4

Number voting “No” - 1

That we note the result of ballot for action short of strike action is:-

Total votes cast 5

Number voting “Yes” - 5

Number voting “No” - 0

We congratulate our members for taking this firm stance against the development of ‘driverless trains’, and note that London Underground Ltd states that it is not proceeding with these tests.

Following the de-recognition of trains side rep Jason Moriarty the RMT has once again had fantastic success. Before the de recognition there was only one RMT train rep position for the east end of the Jubilee line, now there is TWO!

We now have

• 1 Rep position at North Greenwich AND 1 Rep position at Stratford
• 1 rep + 1 rep = 2 reps

There is an increase of RMT Train IR rep numbers from 33 to 34.

For some time now RMT Trains Health & Safety Council (THSC) representatives have been seeking a process for the retention of manual handling / operation skills on automatic lines. With more lines moving to automatic operation it is vital that Train Operators retain their manual handling skills. These skills will be required during degraded working, or be it problems with your train, signalling or some other factor and also form part of your CMS.

At the London Transport Regional council on 25 Oct the following emergency resolution from Jubilee South branch was put before the Region:

Right to elect workplace representatives
This branch is disgusted with the attacks being made by management and the devious methods they are using to try not to recognize our rep for Stratford/North Greenwich depots.

Jason Moriarty, elected for this position by members of the branch, has refused to be recognized by LUL despite him previously being the rep and having full recognition.

“No plans in relation to preparing for the introduction of driverless train on London Underground” - Tube Lines

We note the correspondence from Tube Lines, stating that it has “no plans in relation to preparing for the introduction of driverless train on London Underground” and that “This is a matter for London Underground to determine”. We instruct the General Secretary to continue to press Tube Lines for information concerning its involvement in developing technology that may facilitate driverless trains or a reduction in the driver’s role.

We note the report from our Regional Organiser, that in practice, our level 2 and tier 2 reps for stations and revenue control (10 reps) and trains (6 reps) have full-time release; we note that additionally, there is a full-time-release representative for Upgrades for trains and for service control. In all other functions – engineering, fleet, MATS, and service control – level 2 and tier 2 representatives are released on an “as and when basis” which can amount to nearly full-time release in practice in some, but not all, cases.