Contractor ISS is still trying to sneak in biometric booking-on systems for cleaners - but it is coming up against the power of all-grades trade unionism.
RMT has an agreement with Metronet that neither the Infraco nor any of its contractors will use such systems. They are an infringement of your civil liberties, and despite using new technology, are actually a return to Victorian methods of management.
ISS's latest machine at Hainault depot requires you to insert your hand when you book on and when you book off - the idea being that they can get away with paying you only for the exact time you were there, and get on your case if your work schedule in reality does not fit with their blueprint.
RMT cleaner members have been refusing to use the machine, and ISS has started disciplinary action against those it considers the 'ringleaders'. But train maintainers at the depot are backing the cleaners and have threatened Metronet with a dispute. The latest we hear is that the machine is now being dismantled!
Several train maintainers started out as cleaners. They have seen the line of promotion that they followed disappear with contracting-out. So not only do they back their workmates over biometric booking on, but also believe that cleaning should be brought back in-house so that the line of promotion can be restored. These workers will not stand by and see the ladder pulled up behind them.
