DELIVERING AT DOCKLANDS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2013 :: RMTnews 22 Branches from London Transport Region and RMT members working on Docklands Light Railway (DLR) successfully nominated branch secretary Darren Arnold for the TUC organiser award last year in recognition of the hard work he has put in turning around the fortunes of the workforce. And they have a lot to thank him for including decent pay rises, reopening the pension fund to some members, the best Olympic deal around and overturning a legal judgment on appeal against an attempt to ban on strike action to name but a few. In all cases the branch never had to resort to industrial action in the end due in no small part to local negotiating skills and the membership understanding unity is strength! But it wasn’t easy and involved three years of building the branch, the confidence of the members and creating unity among the workforce. Darren spent many hours visiting depots and workplaces talking to members in all grades including those in PSA department, P-Way, rolling stock and the station staff to build unity between grades. “As an all-grades union we were able to build that ethos from the bottom up”, he says. Darren was elected unopposed as branch secretary in January 2010 with the involvement of the regional relief organiser Peter Skelly and a considerable amount of members. The branch had been in a state of disarray, with no leadership, focus or unity. “I was reading articles in RMT News about what some branches were achieving for their members and I thought ‘ if they can do it, so can we’”, says Darren. As a result by the end of the year all branch posts had been filled and elections had taken place for the first time ever. “I listened to all the complaints and criticisms that were raised and agreed with most, explaining that sorting them out was the motivation for my involvement,” he said. As part of the process four strike ballots took place, all returning growing, positive turnouts and giving the union a mandate to successfully argue for better deals. “All the ballots resulted in victories for the members and were accepted by the majority on each occasion,” he says. The union also increased the number of grades balloted on each occasion building to the final ballot to date which included all members in all grades and resulted in the media confirming that DLR would only be able to run a tiny service from Mudchute station to Tower gateway station. This revealed that RMT now had the ability to seriously affect the railway if not closing it completely during industrial action if necessary. The branch then made national headlines when the union secured a major victory in the Court of Appeal over UK strike laws that paved the way for millions to take action over cuts to jobs and services in the months ahead. RMT had appealed an injunction granted in the High Court in January 2011 preventing a 48 hour strike on DLR but that injunction - which would have taken the anti-trade union laws in this country to within a whisker of effectively banning the right to strike - was overturned on appeal. The company had been stalling on meetings as the first application to the courts was upheld in their favour effectively banning legal industrial action of strike taking place. The branch aided preparations for the legal case with Thomson solicitors which proved that all anti-union laws had been met, resulting in the union winning the appeal and forcing the company to ISSUE NUMBER 3, VOLUME 13 Essential reading for today’s transport worker MARCH 2011 www.rmt.org.uk www rmt org uk w rm RMT WINS RIGHT TO STRIKE FOR MILLIONS Historic court victory paves the way for workers to take action over cuts to jobs and services INSIDE THIS ISSUE NO TO RAILTRACK MARK TWO! PAGE 7 SCOTTISH FERRIES CAMPAIGN HITS BARRA PAGE 10 HEALTH AND SAFETY CONFERENCE PAGE 12 Members at Docklands Light Railway are winning remarkable victories and even making legal history, RMT News went to find out how DELIVERING AT DOCKLANDS