LU management plan that when the stations job cuts come in, staff who are not displaced into a rostered position will be displaced off a roster onto the group reserve. Station groups' reserves will swell to more than the official numbers, what LU calls 'over establishment'.
When LU says it's skint, how does it make sense for it to pay people to do jobs that no longer exist?
Well, one thing is that LU do not expect this excess of staff to last long. The company will whittle the number down through 'natural wastage': given LU's current form, does that mean increasingly harsh disciplinary measures?
Management have also hinted that 'over-establishment' staff will be 'line cover'. Rather than working on your own group, you will be expected to work like that old Martini advert: 'any place, any time, anywhere'. With such long-dreamed-of flexibility, LU will have no trouble keeping their stations open.
This threatens to worsen reserve staffs' conditions. As if it's not bad enough with only 28 days' notice for shifts and often no set rest days.
LU has been pushing for casualisation. Management are trying to claim that the reference to 'business area' in the framework agreement allows for off-group working along the whole line. And they are trying to impose a new framework agreement (impose an agreement? A contradiction, surely?) Which allows them to make rostered staff work at other stations on the group whether it is an unanticipated situation or not. LU is also pushing for the Special Requirements Team to be allowed to cover station duties, rather than being additional staff.
We can't let LU get away with this. It will turn LU's reorganisation into a '2 for 1' for LU: job cuts and casualisation.
How can we stop it? Use the official channels between unions and management to register our disagreement. But LU doesn't care about our opposition on paper unless we can back it up with action. Every member of station staff should be armed with their rights according to the Stations Framework Agreement. Staff should be given the confidence to refuse en masse before it becomes common practice to work off your group. The stations unions could also put on action short of a strike to refuse to comply with off-group working to bolster our confidence to refuse.