Tubeworker's blog

LUL: strike to win a decent pay rise!

Our week of action is now underway, after an RMT reps' meeting rightly decided that some crumbs from the bosses' table weren't enough to cancel our strikes.

With no movement on the basic pay element of management's offer, which remains at 5%, and no flat-rate minimum for the lowest-paid, it's...

New edition of Tubeworker bulletin now online!

The final edition of Tubeworker bulletin of 2023 is now online.

Click here to read the bulletin.

This edition looks forwards to strike over LUL pay in January, and encourages all readers to support ABM cleaners' industrial action ballot.

Why directly-employed staff must help the cleaners' fight

Everyone on LU, directly-employed or outsourced, is part of a collective. We all contribute our labour to ensure the system can run. If any group of workers face unsafe or exploitative conditions, that’s a problem for all of us.

Station staff, drivers, train maintainers, engineers and office...

Inequality Street

Being a cleaner is one of the most difficult and frequently unpleasant jobs on the Tube, as well as one of the lowest paid.

So it’s always nice to get some reward and recognition, especially at this time of year. So you can imagine the joy felt by ABM staff across the combine upon discovering the delivery of small cellophane bags containing seven — yes, seven — Quality Street chocolates in various mess rooms.

Don't fall for divide-and-rule on pay

Senior LUL manager Nick Dent has written to Aslef thanking them for accepting the company's 5% pay offer (i.e., a pay cut). Scandalously, the letter also says that, unless the three other unions have accepted the cut by 31 December, LUL will being the process of imposing it.

LUL pay: what should we "settle for"?

As voting papers land on doormats in RMT's ballot for industrial action over LUL pay, there's plenty of discussion in mess rooms across the job about the issue.

Aslef is recommending acceptance, but even the most union-loyal Aslef drivers typically concede that, given inflation in April 2023 was 11...

New edition of Tubeworker bulletin now online!

The new edition of our bulletin is now online.

We discuss the Tories' "Minimum Service Levels" anti-strike law, and encourage readers in RMT to vote yes in the ballot for industrial action over LUL pay.

Click here to download the bulletin.

Nice work if you can get it?!

A little bit of LinkedIn digging has discovered that our TfL Commissioner Andy Lord (or "Lord Andy", to give him his correct and full title) has two jobs.

Get ready to ballot on ABM

RMT cleaner reps are working hard to prepare for an upcoming industrial action ballot.

Cleaning contractor ABM has displaced dozens of cleaners via its "Project Lean" restructure, and is yet to respond to an RMT pay claim demanding a pay rise and company sick pay. Meanwhile, the value of cleaners'...

Minimum Service Level set: prepare defiance!

The government has set the minimum service level, which must be provided during strikes under the terms of a new law, for the railway.

It's been set at 40% of timetabled services for passenger rail (mainline service) and light rail, which would include LU and the DLR. Anyone who knows the first...

LUL pay: RMT rejects offer, prepares ballot

Following a reps' assembly on 3 November, RMT has announced it is rejected LUL's latest pay offer of 5% for 2023-4, and will prepare for an industrial action ballot to win a better offer.

That ballot needs to be organised with urgency, and accompanied by a vibrant, energetic campaign that harnesses...

LUL dispute: mandate renewed, now let's escalate!

We've renewed our industrial action mandate in the jobs, pensions, and agreements dispute with LUL for the fifth time. Members voted by a 95.92% majority for continued action, on a 54.74% turnout.

This shows a clear will to continue fighting over these issues, and is a testament to the hard work of...

DLR workers to strike

DLR workers will strike on 7 and 8 November as they attempt to win a decent settlement on pay and conditions.

They’re employed by Keolis Amey Docklands, the private consortium that runs the DLR on a contract from TfL.

The company’s latest pay offer, for a 5% increase with a one-off £1,000 bonus...

New edition of Tubeworker bulletin now online!

The latest edition of our bulletin is now online.

This edition encourages readers to vote yes in the RMT's re-ballot for action over jobs, pensions, and agreements, and argues for a dispute/ballot on LUL pay. Plus an article on the war in Israel/Palestine, and news on local and workplaces disputes...

Outsourced track protection workers punished for LUL's mistakes

Outsourced track protection workers, many working as self-employed contractors for companies like Cleshar and Morsons, face unemployment and poverty due to LUL's failure to procure proper equipment.

LUL failed to provide adequate supplies of new Current Rail Indicator Devices (CRIDs), devices for...

Thales pay fight

RMT reps are in pay negotiations with Thales, a signalling and communications system contractor with numerous contracts on TfL/LUL. The company's pay offer is 7% for 2023, or 8% for those earning £30k, and 5.5% for 2024.

The union has rightly told Thales the offer is not good enough, and strikes...

RMT moves to ballot in ABM

RMT has declared a dispute with cleaning contractor ABM over its failure to follow the collective bargaining machinery agreed with the union. Part of this relates to ABM's imposition of "Project Lean", a restructure that has seen dozens of cleaners displaced from their work locations.

Although...

Cleshar workers suspend strikes (for now) as bosses budge

Engineering workers employed by the contractor Cleshar on the East London Line, part of London Overground, suspended a strike planned for 12 October, after Cleshar upped its pay offer and made proposals for reducing working hours.

The revised offer doesn't fully meet union demands, though, so the...

Running for cover

There seems to be a bit of an epidemic across stations recently of managers refusing to cover all duties, with some going as far as to designate certain duties "non-critical" and therefore not requiring coverage at all!

With the cuts made since the start of the year, many stations are already...

5%? No way!

LUL has now made its "full and final offer" for 2023-4 pay to the unions. It's a 5% increase, backdated to April 2023. The offer contains no concessions on any of the unions' wider claims around terms and conditions, most of which LUL has dismissed as "unaffordable".

The company also proposes to...

LUL reballot: vote yes, push for strikes

It's that time again, when we're required by anti-strike legislation to re-ballot, by post, to renew our mandate for industrial action. RMT is re-balloting LUL members in the "jobs, pensions, and agreements" dispute.

Tubeworker encourages all readers who are RMT members to vote yes/yes to strikes...

VIDEO: Why LGBT+ equality is a union issue

At our June meeting, co-hosted with our sister publication Off the Rails, we were joined by Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) activist and screenwriter Clive Bradley and RMT rep Cat Cray to discuss “why LGBT+ equality is a union issue.”

New edition of Tubeworker bulletin now online!

This month’s edition of Tubeworker looks ahead to strikes by LUL station and revenue staff in RMT on 4 and 6 October, whilst arguing for further all-grades action.

Download the bulletin here.

Resist Fleet job cuts!

LUL has informed reps in Fleet of plans for major job cuts. The company wants to close all call-points, affecting 67 call-point/SST roles. They plan some redeployments, but with a shortfall of 27 jobs.

They also want to “consult” on changes to minimum staffing levels and rostering, almost certainly...

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