GENERAL NEWS

RMTnews :: december 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 4 E WS groundstaff members overwhelmingly rejected management’s restructuring proposals in a recent referendum with only nine members voting yes against a total of 419 voting no. Management are on record as saying that the whole idea of their proposal document was to “stimulate debate” on pay and conditions. The union has requested a meeting on this basis, however, at the time of writing EWS has not responded. The company has been very hostile to the union and effectively derecognising RMT reps by excluding them from the negotiating machinery. This has meant that the most trivial matters have to be dealt with by senior RMT officials and led to a lot of frustration. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the restructuring proposals would have spelt disaster for EWS staff. “We sincerely hope that the company will be responsive to requests for talks as there is no reason why they shouldn’t,” he said. In a direct mailing from the company, Gerry Skelton, Human Resources Director explained the reasoning behind the restructuring proposal document. “We are confident that when RMT responds with their views on our draft document and further discussions take place, we can agree a mutually satisfactory package of terms and conditions,” he wrote. The union has responded and is actively seeking to take management up on the further discussions allegedly on offer. L ifelong London underground worker John Leach has been elected president of RMT for the next three years after beating four other candidates for the post in a postal ballot. John, at 39 the union’s youngest president for many years, will succeed Tony Donaghey when his three-year term as president ends at the turn of the year. John Leach is currently a member of the RMT executive, representing members in the London region, and worked for London Underground most recently as a station supervisor. The final result, after the redistribution of the votes cast for the three eliminated candidates, was: John Leach 6,865 Ray Knight 5,141. “John has served twice on the RMT executive and is an experienced and respected trade unionist and I am sure he will make an excellent president,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. In other executive elections, Alex Gordon was elected unopposed to represent South Wales and West, Peter Gale was elected to represent the South West, Dave Gott was elected to represent Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and Robert Potts was elected to represent the North East. In addition, Peter Trend was elected to serve as the union’s full-time second northern relief organiser. S ignallers throughout Network Rail’s West Midlands area have backed strike action after the company failed to step back from the imposition of rosters at Madeley Junction box. RMT renewed its call on Network Rail to negotiate a settlement after signallers at Madeley Junction took three days of 24-hour strike action over the imposition of single staffing rosters. The dispute began when Network Rail refused to negotiate over new rosters for Madeley Junction as it took on the responsibility for work previously covered by the now closed Lightmoor, Cosford and Codsall boxes. Local reps made every effort to resolve the dispute by talking, but the company has insisted on going ahead with single staffing and simply refused to consider an alternative that would have provided essential relief. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Network Rail had ignored the need for operators to get adequate time away from their VDU workstations and that is completely unacceptable, not least on safety grounds. “If Network Rail can impose rosters in one box they will try to do it elsewhere and that holds serious implications for our operations members throughout the West Midlands,” he said. WEST MIDLANDS SIGNALLERS VOTE TO STRIKE JOHN LEACH ELECTED RMT PRESIDENT EWS MEMBERS REJECT RESTRUCTURING PROPOSALS www.rmt.org.uk :: december 2006 :: RMTnews 5 DON’T REWARD FAILURE AT GNER The next 100 members to join the RMT Credit Union will receive a free double press-up calculator and calendar. The Credit Union is there to provide financial help and support to members for all their savings and credit needs. Don’t forget your Credit Union Annual General Meeting at Unity House on December 13 at 2pm. R MT has argued that Sea Containers should not be rewarded with public money for effectively defaulting on its GNER contract. The government has agreed to tear up its £1.3 billion franchise agreement and re-let it to the company for two years on a new, fixed management basis. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Sea Containers’ disastrous tenure has destabilised a key part of Britain’s railway network, and it should now be run in the public sector to safeguard jobs and rail services. “Our members deserve some guarantees that GNER’s plans to slash staff across the franchise will not be allowed to proceed,” he said. The union said that it made no sense to allow Sea Containers to continue draining what amount to guaranteed, risk-free profits out of GNER on a management-fee contract when the franchise could be run more efficiently and for everyone’s benefit in the public sector. The government had previously adamant that it would not renegotiate the GNER franchise, but that is what they have now done. “How much better it would be simply to bring GNER operations back in-house and harnesss the revenue for the benefit of the whole industry. “Refranchising will cost millions for the paperwork alone, and the end result will be another privateer given a licence to drain public money out of the railway industry,” Bob said. The problem now is that other privateers looking at the GNER mess will be happy in the knowledge that if they get into financial difficulties they too will be bailed out with public money and rewarded with a cushy cost-plus management contract. Three of the country’s main intercity franchises are now being run on cost-plus contracts. “These contracts just shovel public money into private bank accounts for no good reason, and makes a complete nonsense of the entire franchising policy,” Bob Crow said. CREDIT UNION OFFER! N orthern Rail staff have told bosses that they must act to stop the growing problem of violence on trains and stations. More station and on-train staff, more visible police presence, a ban on alcohol on some services and a zero- tolerance approach to infringement of railway bylaws are at the heart of a programme demanded by Northern workers angered by the failure to deal with the problem. A petition, already signed by the vast majority of Northern Rail conductors and station staff, also calls for managers to be on hand late at night and at weekends to provide support and co-ordinate resources, and for stations to remain open until the departure of the last train. The RMT campaign is supported by MPs, who have tabled a commons motion calling on Northern Rail and the British Transport Police to respond positively. RMT organiser Stan Herschel said that there had already been 109 physical assaults and 230 cases of threats and verbal abuse on Northern Rail staff this year, but many more go unreported, and the worst period of the year is yet to come . “We also know that a quarter of accidents to Northern passengers aren’t accidents at all but assaults and we know that the vast majority of law-abiding passengers will support us,” he said. (see page 21) STOP ASSAULTS RMTnews :: december 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 6 M etronet consortium member Balfour Beatty took a “massive and unacceptable gamble with people’s lives” by taking two 54-kilo containers of highly flammable and unstable acetylene gas into the Victoria Line. An LUL investigation is under way into how and why the contractor – one of the firms contracted to build the East London Line extension – took what amounted to two massive potential bombs to track- replacement works on August 12. “Balfour Beatty appear to have broken just about every safety rule in the book by taking these potentially explosive cylinders onto the Victoria Line for 48 hours,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. Acetylene is extremely flammable, unstable and explosive, and is only allowed onto the Underground in half- litre containers under strict rules. It is understood that the company had no hot-works licence, no permission to take the cylinders underground and no method statement on transporting them – and it was not the first time they had done it. The incident underlines the case RMT has been making against plans to remove the Section 12 sub-surface fire- safety regulations that lay down strict rules. “The idea of giving employers the initiative on fire- safety sends a shiver up my spine, because where there’s a profit to be made the privateers can’t be trusted, and the sooner all Tube infrastructure work is brought back in-house, the better,” Bob said. C ampaigners against the East London Line sell-off urged line users to send postcards addressed to London mayor Ken Livingstone and MPs against plans to hand the East London Line over to the private sector. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that three quarters of people in London and the southeast want the East London Line kept in public hands. “They have all had a bellyfull of the disaster of rail privatisation and we don't want the same mistake made on the Tube," he said. TSSA assistant general secretary Manual Cortes said that it was a tough finding anyone who thinks that privatising the line was a good idea after the fortunes already being made out of the Tube by contractors. "As recently as March, London Underground were still in the frame to run the extended East London Line, but suddenly, without explanation or consultation, we've been told that it will be run by one of four private bidders, and that is just not right," he said. Around 25 MPs have signed Early-Day Motion 2398 calling for the service to remain in the public sector. *Bob Crow explains why Ken Livingstone has got it wrong on the East London Line on page 22. Since Stagecoach won the right to run the new South West Trains franchise from February 2007 it has announced a number of money-saving measures including downgrading the role of the guard. The company is already reducing the number of seats by 20 per cent to raise passenger numbers to pay £1.2 billion it is expected to pay the government over the ten-year period of the franchise. After ripping out thousands of seats, the company is now proposing that drivers release train doors on the basis of “performance and safety”. However, it goes on to say that guards “may get caught up in ticket sales”, suggesting that they want the guard to sell tickets and the driver to take over guard operations. RMT has already raised concerns about the removal of guards at SWT following a report in The Times January 9 2006 that stated “hundreds of guards at South West Trains also face dismissal as bidders for Britain’s largest rail franchise draw up plans to cut costs”. The Department of Transport has formally rejected Driver-Only Operation for the franchise (Rail Business Intelligence Oct 5 2006) due to a policy of improving the personal safety of passengers. However, under the new ‘cap- and-collar’ regime excessive profits must be repaid to the government over the ten-year life of the franchise. Profits in the early years of the franchise will range from between £15 million and £20 million but guaranteed annual income will drop to around £3 million in later years. As a result, pressure is mounting to cut costs now to harvest greater profit later. RMT regional organiser Phil Biayck made clear that “this union will not accept any dilution of the role and responsibility of the guard”. SOLIDARITY: Rail workers, RMT general secretary Bob Crow, TSSA assistant general secretary Manuel Cortes and TUC southeast regional secretary Megan Dobney leaflet commuters at Canada Water station urging East London Line users to tell Mayor Ken Livingstone to scrap privatisation plans. LABOUR MOVEMENT JOINS EAST LONDON LINE BATTLE Balfour Beatty took ‘massive and unacceptable’ Tube blast risk SOUTH WEST TRAINS GUARDS UNDER THREAT Survivors and relatives of those killed in the Marchioness tragedy joined an RMT protest to urge MPs to retain stringent safety standards for the training of licenced watermen and lightermen on the Thames. The safety rules were introduced after the 1989 Marchioness tragedy and are threatened by a generic boatmaster’s licence being introduced by an EU directive which would harmonise lower standards across Europe. Margaret Lockwood-Croft – whose son Shaun was among the 51 who died when the Marchioness was hit by the dredger Bowbelle – said that lowering standards for training boatmasters on the dangerous tidal waters of the Thames should not be even considered. “With even more traffic and bigger vessels it would be courting an even bigger disaster than the Marchioness if these changes are allowed to happen. “The motto of the Marchioness Action group is Cicero’s words, ‘the safety of the people shall be the highest law’, and the government has the chance to show that it agrees by at least maintaining the existing standards,” she said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow warned that if the proposals become law the qualifying service time to gain a Thames boatmaster licence will be slashed from five years to two. “That is bad enough on its own, but it is also proposed to cut the length of service required to pick up local Thames knowledge by three-quarters, from two years to just six months, and to eliminate the requirement for any local knowledge above Putney or below Woolwich. “It is even proposed to do away with the current mandatory college-based training and to reduce the qualifying age for a licence from 21 to 18 for cargo vessels up to 40 metres long. “Our experienced members believe that is a recipe for disaster and that the current standards and qualifying service required for a Thames licence should be retained,” Bob said. “MPs of all parties are calling on the government to step back from this foolhardy proposal which could undermine the advances that we've made in recent years to improve safety on the Thames,” RMT parliamentary convenor John McDonnell MP said. Around 55 MPs have already Early Day Motion 2266 which urges the government to ensure that competency standards and qualifying service time for boatmasters operating on the Thames are no less than the current standards for time- served watermen and lightermen. A number of London MPs have also written collectively to the transport minister Stephen Ladyman MP to outline their concerns over safety on the River Thames. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that currently watermen and Lightermen undertake mandatory college based courses at Denton Sea School. “Under these rules there will be no mandatory college-based training,” he said. To read RMT’s submission to the Marine and Coastguard Agency on the subject, visit http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Int ernal.asp?NodeId=98424 www.rmt.org.uk :: december 2006 :: RMTnews 7 Cleaners working for OCS on its Eurostar contract voted for industrial action recently following the company’s refusal to improve a pay offer that fails to eradicate poverty pay rates. Members voted to strike and for action short of strike to back their campaign for a minimum pay rate that matches London mayor Ken Livingstone’s recommendation of a living wage of at least £7.05 an hour. “OCS is paying cleaners as little as £5.50 an hour, even for nights, Sundays and bank- holiday work, and that is simply not good enough,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. “The paltry increase they are offering includes consolidation of a £10 weekly attendance bonus and boils down to an insult of 20p an hour and would still leave pay rates around £1 an hour below a living wage. “I am sure that Eurostar passengers will be horrified to learn that the people who clean their trains and stations are paid at such miserable rates,” he said. The union argued that if OCS can pay their top director £175,000 a year and sponsor a stand at the Oval they can afford to pay a decent wage to the people who actually make their money. “Poverty wages are being paid to cleaners working on their railway, and Eurostar have a responsibility to stop it. “If OCS want to avoid industrial action it is up to them to come back to the talks table and negotiate decent pay rates,” Bob said. EUROSTAR CLEANERS VOTE TO STRIKE AGAINST LOW PAY THE BOATMAN’S CALL RMT Thames boatmen demonstrated last month against plans to drastically reduce boatmaster training standards on the river