The Great Olympics Giveaway?

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

The Olympics has put us in a position of relative strength. London Underground need our co-operation for this high profile event.

They want us to work harder, to deal with unprecedented passenger numbers and extend the Tube's opening hours til 2 or 3am.

In return for the increase and importance of our work, we're asking for a bonus.

As one rep recently said: 'The word bonus means an award to show gratitude for an employee'. In the dictionary, 'bonus' is defined as 'something paid over and above what is due', 'a sum of money granted in appreciation of work done' or 'something extra or additional given freely'.

Our employers should be giving to us. We should not be giving to them.
So why would we ever dream of giving away our working agreements in return for a sum of money?

With their Olympics offer, London Underground hoped to blind us with pound signs into forgetting long-term consequences. They have offered £350 to stations, service control, operational managers, revenue and maintenance staff in return for a 'one off' dilution of agreements.

On stations, this includes rostered staff working away from their rostered station; duties being moved by more than two hours; unpaid meal breaks being taken compulsorily on the station premises; and lifting restrictions on which zones Special Requirements Team staff can work.

For Service Control, this includes an obligation to stay behind at the end of shift for two hours if there are delays, plus a six day working week.

We are not blind to the long-term consequences. The ‘leaked strategy document’ last year made it plain that LU would love us to be more flexible on their terms. If we settle this ‘one off’ agreement, it will make it so much harder to defend our conditions when LU come for them after the Olympics. Why would we give them a helping hand on the road to casualisation?

Unfortunately, some within the unions seem to feel we need to ‘barter’ away our conditions as the only way of achieving a bonus. It’s understandable that the unions want to win money for members.

But we want a bonus for the additional work we will do within our agreements. If we sell our conditions, it is us, and not management, that will be giving too much away.

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