METRONET FORCED TO DROP OUTSOURCING THREAT

S trike action by more than 2,000 Metronet Tube maintenance workers was called off last month at the eleventh hour after the company withdrew plans to transfer RMT members and jobs to other companies. In a dramatic about-turn, Metronet informed RMT that posts and individuals it had intended to transfer to Bombardier would now remain in-house and it had abandoned any further plans for outsourcing. The struggling private consortium, which faces a £750 million fine for poor performance, had planned to transfer 250 staff to one of its consortium’s companies, Bombardier Transportation. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that members had made it clear with a yes vote of over 90 per cent in a strike ballot that they were not prepared to see agreements torn up and their pay, conditions and organisation trampled over or accept more dangerous fragmentation. "This is the sensible outcome we sought for from the start, and it means quite simply that there will be no outsourcing of Metronet members’ jobs,” Bob Crow said. The company also agreed that lift refurbishment would be brought back in house and talks have begun to bring cleaning contracts back in-house, and the ending of all biometric booking on and off. "Our Metronet members deserve congratulating for standing solidly together to defend their organisation, jobs and conditions and prevent this further dangerous fragmentation. "Their stand, in the face of hostile media attention, has been vindicated by the outcome of this dispute. "I would also like to thank the other Tube grades who stood shoulder to shoulder with their engineering colleagues," Bob said. The London newspaper The Evening Standard was incensed by the RMT victory, not least because it missed the story and told readers the strike was on. The anti-union paper hurriedly put out another issue castigating Metronet bosses for “caving in” and ran an editorial which revealed its rabid support for the further fragmentation of London Underground Tube maintenance under PPP. RMTnews :: may 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 4 METRONET FORCED TO DROP OUTSOURCING THREAT O n-Train catering members at Liverpool Lime Street took solid 24-hour strike action last month in support of the reinstatement of three colleagues, Karen Kaufman, Jackie Ross and RMT rep John Murphy, who were dismissed in spurious circumstances. The three were dismissed after being suspended for almost six months while the company put together cases against them. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that despite the union conveying to management how seriously RMT viewed the situation, rather than take the opportunity to remedy things, management instead provoked matters further. “Knowing full well that members were more than willing to take strike action for their three dismissed colleagues, management could have held an early appeal hearing, made good their mistake by overturning the dismissals and let everybody get on with their lives,” he said. Instead the company deliberately prevaricated and would not convene the appeal hearings until April 30 in the knowledge that, under anti- union laws, the last day RMT could take strike action was April 24. VIRGIN CATERING STAFF TAKE STRIKE ACTION INCENSED: The Evening Standard spells out the result, highlighting its support for Tube fragmentation