TUBE DISPUTE ROLLS ON

TUBE DISPUTE ROLLS ON Unions stand united and solid for workplace justice on London Underground RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2015 :: RMTnews 6 Over 20,000 members of all four Tube unions stood united, solid and determined to fight for workplace justice by taking strike action in July, shutting down the entire combine. All four unions representing workers on London Underground overwhelmingly voted for strike action with RMT delivering a mandate of over 91 per cent. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that they were a credit to the entire trade union movement. “Tube management has managed to alienate and anger their entire workforce across all grades with the way they have approached the issue of night running. “Instead of macho, death-or- glory posturing over take-it-or- leave offers now is the time for serious and mature negotiations which address the issues at the heart of this dispute. “Bulldozing through the new rosters without discussion and outside of the long-standing agreements was always a disaster waiting to happen. “Staff feel angry that they are being bullied into accepting new patterns that would wreck work life balance and LU has to wake up and understand that grievance instead of pretending that it doesn't exist. "The company also needs to remember that we remain in dispute with them over the parallel issue of 850 station staff jobs losses - job losses that would make a mockery of delivering passenger and staff safety on the night tube. “The ball is now in firmly in LU's court,” he said. A new wave of industrial action has already hitting services as drivers were threatened with being sent home for refusing to drive unsafe trains. Tube services are already being hit as staff refusing to take out trains that have not been prepped in the previous 24 hours and also refusing to train up staff who have been shunted around the network, outside of their normal jobs and locations, to try and plug gaps created by the ongoing overtime ban. Within hours services on the District Line were disrupted due to a shortage of trains. Staff refusing to take out unsafe trains have been threatened with being sent home and having their pay docked in a move that will inflame the current situation even further and which makes a mockery of the safety culture on London Underground. RMT has also been called in for an emergency meeting with the safety regulator the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) following a series of serious breaches of safety protocols directly linked to the overtime ban. "Instead of addressing the issues at the heart of the night tube dispute LU are instead ignoring safety concerns and threatening drivers who refuse to take out trains that have not been properly prepared. “That is outrageous and deliberately inflammatory,” he said. London MPs have also condemned the “disgraceful” treatment of tube workers and called the London Mayor to withdraw the arbitrary imposition of night working. Jeremy Corbyn MP and others have tabled a motion pointing out that uncontrolled and unmanaged night work can have a serious impact on the physical and mental health of employees and detrimental to family and social life. The motion expresses concern that night running was being rushed in on the back of massive cuts to staffing and strains on the existing infrastructure, raising genuine concerns amongst the workforce that the safety and service to passengers and workers will be jeopardised. The problem at the heart of this dispute is also the current pay offer of 0.75 per cent is effectively a pay cut at a time when living costs in London have continued to rise dramatically. This is at a time when the Mayor wants to ram through night running without any consultation whatsoever. RMT regional organiser John Leach said that was not opposed to night running but will not agree to more night working for staff with no compensatory time off or improvements in pay, not just a one off payment of just £750. “The slash and burn antics of the Mayor and his cuts-led agenda will be met with resistance by staff that want to deliver a decent public service in return for dignity and respect at work, is that really too much to ask?,” he said.