It seems that with the mere threat of a strike, Metronet management have suddenly decided that they are able to give guarantees after all, or at least to get their puppeteers at TfL to do so. It’s amazing how many ‘final offers’ are not so final after all when a union is serious about taking industrial action, something that RMT could do well to realise in other disputes [1].

The proposed wording to settle the dispute is as follows:

Heads of Agreement

In respect of the mayor's assurances, it is confirmed that once Metronet come out of administration, Metronet Staff not in the TfL Pension Fund will be entitled to join this fund and that Metronet staff will have equal travel facilities as currently enjoyed by LUL Staff. It is also confirmed that London Underground/ TfL and the Trade Unions will work to implement these equal arrangements as soon as practicable after Metronet comes out of administration.

Tubeworker is concerned that while this says that Metronet workers can join the TfL Pension Fund, it does not explicitly say that they will get the same benefits as other Tube workers rather than being parked in a section of their own with worse terms; neither does it explicitly say that all future Metronet workers will also be able to join the Fund. And since the date for coming out of administration keeps being put back, we can’t help but wonder how long Metronet workers will have to wait for these guarantees to become reality.

Further, there is no mention here of the possibility of Metronet employees being transferred to other, private employers.

Nevertheless, RMT has felt able to tell the press [2] that Bob Crow will personally be recommending that the strike be called off. We hope he is right and that management have completely capitulated, but Metronet’s rank-and-file union reps and activists are best placed to judge this, so it is important that the Strike Committee delivers its verdict before the Executive makes a definite decision on Monday.

The union has made the mistake in the past of declaring its judgement on a offer before reps have had the chance to discuss it, for example in the Network Rail operational 35-hour week [3], when head office declared the employer’s offer to be great, only for reps to decide it was crap. We don't want that happening again!