ACTION AGAINST RACISM

RMTnews :: december 2005 6 R MT demanded safety assurances after a London Tube Victoria Line train travelled with open doors between stations following modifications carried out by sub-contractors. The union also restated that it would support all drivers exercising their right to refuse to move trains on safety grounds. Private Tube maintenance consortium Metronet sub- contracted another company to increase air pressure to speed up door-closing operations on Victoria Line trains – modifications that led to a door remaining open near Oxford Circus on October 20 at around 19.00 hours. The increased air pressure has damaged door guides and led to one train door staying open by around 15 inches, yet all the train drivers’ safety lights indicated that all doors were shut on the moving train. This incident followed a similar debacle on the Northern Line in October when the failure of the emergency braking system led to the shutdown of the line. Another private Tube maintenance consortium Tube Lines, created under the PPP privatisation of Tube infrastructure, sub-contracted maintenance work on Northern Line trains to Alstom under a PFI contract. “Shoddy modifications carried out by sub-contractors has led to another safety crisis on the Tube network,” London regional organiser Bobby Law said. Since the incident fully- licensed Metronet staff, formerly employed directly by London Underground, have found numerous other door faults and trains modified by sub-contractors are still in service. “If these private companies cannot find and rectify faults properly, the work should simply be brought back in- house,” Bobby said. Y oung black London Underground customer service assistant Trina John- Charles expected support if she suffered any form of abuse at work. However, Trina was left shocked and appalled after being severely racially abused and threatened by two known undesirables, yet a manager intervened only to allow the pair onto the network without tickets. The two clearly intoxicated individuals, a man and a woman, had demanded that Trina let them through the barriers. When Trina asked to see tickets the woman launched into a tirade of vile racist abuse in front of other staff including the station supervisor, who said he was calling the police. At this point the general line manager intervened and, ignoring the advice of the supervisor, opened the manual gate and escorted the pair onto the platform and the network without tickets. When confronted about his behaviour, the manager advised Trina if she wanted to talk to him to make an appointment with his secretary. He also made clear to other staff that he would do the same thing if such an incident occurred again. London regional organiser Bobby Law pointed out that, aside from the unacceptable racist abuse inflicted upon Trina, travelling on the Tube network without a ticket is illegal and conditions of carriage also made clear that you must be fit to travel, i.e. not intoxicated. “It appears that senior staff can assist abusive and drunken passengers in such illegal activity but other staff face being disciplined if they take similar action,” he said. He also said that that other unsuspecting staff may suffer the same treatment somewhere else as a result of letting abusive passengers on the network. Trina’s RMT rep Jon Abdullah said that management had a duty of care to provide a safe working environment for staff. “LUL management claim zero tolerance towards racist and threatening behaviour but here we are defending members against exposure to these very things,” he said. After receiving an unsatisfactory letter from LUL managing director Tim O’ Toole, Trina has written to demand a meeting with him, accompanied by her union reps, to discuss the matter further. “Lack of action against racist abuse against staff can only lead to a climate of fear and low morale, so we are demanding that it is taken seriously,” said Bobby Law. S ince the logistics company Lynx Express was sold to UPS in September, RMT have held meetings with management to protect members’ jobs, pensions, pay and conditions, tackled UPS about their future plans and improved RMT organisation across the new Lynx/UPS parcels division. RMT has had some success and UPS has confirmed that members’ terms and conditions will remain the same. The union has also tabled a pay claim for 2006 which points out that as UPS is a global parcels leader, RMT expects it to be a leader in the pay market. The union wants to build on the above-inflation pay award negotiated last year. As a result of RMT reps and activists visiting Lynx branches across the country there has been a 10 per cent increase in membership, with many former members rejoining. Assistant general secretary Mick Cash said that members know that they can only defend employees’ jobs, pensions pay and conditions if everyone is in RMT. “We have still not received a clear indication from UPS about their future plans other than that the Tamworth site project has been put on hold, but we continue to seek assurances about jobs, branch closures and pensions. “We have made good start to our campaign to defend Lynx/UPS workers but there is more to do,” he said. UNION DEMANDS ACTION AGAINST RACIST ABUSE Victoria Tube train door fails to shut FIGHTING FOR A FUTURE AT LYNX EXPRESS ABUSE: RMT rep Jon Abdullah with Trina and regional organiser Bobby Law