DEFEND GUARDS ON LONDON OVERGROUND

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: june 2010 :: RMTnews 7 R MT guards on the East Coast Mainline voted overwhelming for an improved package to compensate guards for the loss of commission income arising from the introduction of automated ticket barriers. The improved offer came after a threat to ballot for strike action following the automation which meant that the commission from the collection of on-board fares has dropped right off leaving guards seriously out of pocket and driving down their income levels. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that members had made it clear that the union was not prepared to see key staff reduced to become amongst the lowest paid guards in the country. The agreement is: • To consolidate £1,000 of commission earnings into the current Guards’ basic salary effective from May 30 2010 and the £1,000 will be increased in line with the agreed 2010 pay review from that date. • Commission on individual Guard’s ticket sales will be calculated weekly and will be payable at three per cent on sales up to £400. All sales above this figure will be paid at a commission rate of four per cent. In the event that there has been a further reduction in the total of commission payments made to Guards’ after reflecting the £1,000 partial consolidation payable in May 2010, then a further £300 will be consolidated into the Guards’ basic salary from May 2011. PROTEST: RMT held a protest when the extended East London Line formally re-open, as part of private company London Overground (LOROL), calling for the line to be tak en back into the public sector. RMT is extremely concerned that LOROL’s first priority is to shareholders and not to passengers or communities, repeating the m istakes of rail privatisation and the disastrous PPP on the tube. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said that £1billion had been spent on the upgrade and every single penny of taxpayer subsidy and fare revenue should be invested to improve services and not be removed from the industry in shareholder dividends. An Early Day Motion was also tabled on that day by the RMT’s P arliamentary Group of MPs. L ondon Overground is set to become the latest battleground in RMT's campaign to defend the safety role of the guard. On LOROL's current 378 and 172 stock the guard has full control of the closing of power- operated doors. However, the company wants to pass control of closing doors to drivers when it takes delivery of 165s that are to be used as stop-gap stock thanks to the late arrival of additional 172s. LOROL insists that guards will signal the closure of the doors with a ten-bell code, but RMT has rejected the plan as the thin end of the wedge that would result in all the 172 stock being configured in the same way. “LOROL's plan is the first step towards eroding the safety role of guard out of existence, and RMT has not agreed to allow control over closing of doors to be passed to drivers,” the union’s general secretary, Bob Crow, said. “This is further evidence that the essential safety role of guards is under attack across the industry, and it is crucial to resist wherever and whenever it is threatened. “We have made it clear to TOCs across the network that we expect them to make clear that they will maintain the full safety role of the guard and that if they do not RMT will defend it,” he said. EAST COAST MAINLINE GUARDS WIN IMPROVED OFFER DEFEND GUARDS ON LONDON OVERGROUND