REINSTATEMENT OF HEATHROW EXPRESS DRIVER AVERTS STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: june 2009 :: RMTnews 5 R MT driver Omono Edokpayi has been reinstated in his job, averting a ballot for strike action. All driver members on Heathrow Express were due to be balloted for strike action this month in support of a call for Omono to get his driver’s job back, following what the union believed was his unfair dismissal. Heathrow Express initially refused to reinstate Omono back into his driver’s job following an incident at work. Omono had given formal notice that he was leaving to take a driver’s job with another company. However, following the incident the other company withdrew their offer of employment and Omono sought to withdraw his letter of resignation from Heathrow Express. Heathrow Express had refused to accept him back into the driver’s position he held for 5 years, a decision that RMT found unacceptable bearing in mind that Omono has not been subject to any disciplinary sanctions. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “We are pleased to see that our demand for the full reinstatement of Omono Edokpayi has been met. I have written to Heathrow Express informing them that our two organisations are no longer in dispute and that I will not be balloting my members for strike action. R MT began a referendum ballot on June 5 of over 11,000 engineering and administrative maintenance staff at Network Rail calling for a rejection of the management’s terms and conditions of harmonisation proposals. Harmonisation talks have been ongoing between RMT and Network Rail for three years but the union has now decided that enough is enough, accusing Network Rail of hijacking the process in order to try and force through attacks on working conditions. A “no” vote in the referendum ballot will halt the harmonisation discussions and staff will retain their current terms and conditions of service. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “RMT entered discussions on harmonisation three years ago with the intention of securing a positive package acceptable to our members. The failure to achieve this lies with management, who at every stage of the process have either backtracked, obstructed real progress or vetoed positive agreements made by the negotiators. “Enough is enough. We are calling for a ‘no’ vote in this referendum which will bring the process to an end,” Bob Crow said. F irst Group is still raking in enormous profits at the expense of passengers and rail workers, as the transport giant revealed interim rail profits of £94 million. Against the background of a gathering crisis in the rail industry RMT said that a ten per cent increase in First shareholders’ dividend was an ‘obscenity’ that would be seen as sticking two fingers up at passengers and staff. “When rail franchising is in meltdown, some 7,000 rail workers’ jobs are under threat and services are being cut it is nothing short of an obscenity to see the fat-cats increasing their rake-off. Franchising has failed, and the sooner all rail services are returned to the public sector the better,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. R MT today broadly welcomed a commitment from the government to keep Eurostar in public ownership, calling an announcement by Minister of State Sadiq Khan “good news for rail workers and passengers alike.” RMT is also calling for further commitments from the government which would ensure that: • High Speed 1, the UK end of the Eurostar track, should be owned and maintained by Network Rail. • The UK government should continue to work in partnership with the French and Belgian railways. • New routes should be planned on a co-operative basis with these other state- owned railways for the benefit of passengers and railways and not on the basis of competition. • The proceeds from the sale of the Eurostar property portfolio, currently held by London and Continental Railways, should be used for the benefit of the whole community with the emphasis on regeneration and social housing. R MT slammed senior tube bosses for “rank hypocrisy” on pay as figures from Transport For London’s annual report showed that 123 managers are now earning more than £100,000 a year. Those same managers have been leading the assault on RMT members who have voted to strike over a five year pay deal which would almost certainly amount to a pay cut well into the next decade and over plans to impose compulsory redundancies. The pay figures show that five TfL/LUL chiefs earn more than a quarter of a million pounds a year plus bonuses. Fifteen TfL bosses earn more than the prime minister. “Those same managers who have been attacking our members over pay and job security, and who turned a blind eye to the bullying culture now rife on the Underground, have scooped the jackpot when it comes to their own pay and bonuses,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. REINSTATEMENT OF HEATHROW EXPRESS DRIVER AVERTS STRIKE REFERENDUM BALLOT ON NETWORK RAIL MAINTENANCE HARMONISATION NEGOTIATIONS RMT WELCOMES PLEDGE TO KEEP EUROSTAR IN PUBLIC OWNERSHIP FIRST GROUP DIVIDEND INCREASE AN ‘OBSCENITY’ RMT SLAMS TFL AND LUL FOR HYPOCRISY AS MANAGERS SCOOP OVER £100,000