Tubeworker's blog

Small Concession Shows We Must Fight On

Predictably enough, management made a little concession at yesterday's talks. Given that it was our preparation for a strike that got us this far, pressing ahead is the only way to win more.

Management's 5-year offer was rightly described by ASLEF as "too flippant to bother responding to", although...

Textback Flop

Remember LUL's silly idea of inviting passengers to text in their comments? Well, they spent £15,000 running a trial of this gimmick on the Rickmansworth group, only for hardly anyone to bother sending any texts. The trial was such a flop that they are quietly dropping the whole idea now.

Note: £15...

Take Action!

We’ve done it again! Another ‘yes’ vote. This time, with almost 86% in favour of strike action. With two ‘yes’ votes under our belt, we can show management beyond doubt that we are determined to fight. Despite management’s legal challenge and intensive ‘anti-strike’ campaign, we know our minds and...

CBS Outdoor Demand Safe Equipment for their Job

CBS Outdoor workers, who put posters up on the Tube, are being made to use a tool to smooth the posters out, which puts a lot of pressure on their hands and is causing them damage. The company recognise this, and has ordered some replacements from the USA. But as they say, the USA seems like a...

Defend Our Reps

When an employer wants to defeat a workforce - to hold back pay, force through job cuts, impose a regime of bullying an fear - then they have to minimise resistance, and that means attacking union reps.

Three RMT stations reps are currently suspended on various tenuous charges. The Vic line dispute...

Another Driver Sacked

Another driver has seen one mistake leave him out of work - this time, Bakerloo driver Kevin Dobinson.

You'd think management could accept that we all make mistakes occasionally, and that if someone puts their hands up to it and has mitigating circumstances, then a warning or re-training would be...

Vic Line strike even more solid

Belatedly, a quick report on last week's Vic line strike, which was even more solid than the last one! None only did - one again - no trains run, but fewer strike-breakers crawled in to work: just three this time.

Management made a sly attempt to disrupt the end of the strike by inventing duties...

Massive vote for strikes

RMT members on London Underground have voted by an even bigger majority than last time for strike action to defend jobs, pay and rights at work - up from 83% to 85+%, or from 5:1 to 6:1.

The slightly lower turnout is easily explained by the shorter balloting period and the necessity to reballot in...

Own Goal!

Once again, thanks to management for being the best campaigners for our union.

Their ten days of cancelling their meetings to spread their anti-strike propaganda in one-to-one and team 'briefings' has only galvinised support amongst staff. Even non-RMT members have been so pissed off by...

Where's Our London Living Wage?!

Boris Johnson has announced that the London Living Wage is going up 15p to £7.60. It's hardly a fortune, but many workers - including many of our own Tube cleaners - are not even on the old LLW rate, let alone the new one.

In light of the increase in the LLW, RMT should submit a new claim to the...

A Word, Please

Management are obviously rather rattled by staff's support for RMT's industrial action ballot. In fact, managers not usually seen around the workplace unless they are summoning you to a disciplinary are popping up all over the place. Their mission? To persuade us that the ballot is really unwise...

Victoria Line Strikes Again

Join the picket lines: Wednesday evening 9pm Seven Sisters; Thursday morning from start of traffic at Seven Sisters, Walthamstow Central, Victoria, Brixton and Northumberland Park. Mass picket at Seven Sisters at 12pm Thurasday.

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Management have refused to back down, and have upheld the...

Closing Windows

It seems that something is being lost in the Southfields station refurb - two ticket office windows, to be precise.

Southfields ticket office, one of the busier ones in that neck of the woods, has three windows. Or it did have. When the refurb's done, it will reopen with just one.

It's yet another...

OK, Just This Once ...

Avid readers of On The Move will have noticed that the latest trick up management's sleeve for pressuring ticket office staff is a range of attractive posters. Each shows a scenario, with a customer asking a question and the member of staff giving an answer together with a further suggestion that...

Swine flu- a threat to the service, but not the staff?

Just worth noting that all the London Underground communications during the Swine Flu threat have been to reassure us that they have plans in place to keep the service running. And there we were worrying about catching the deadly virus ourselves, with the Tube identified as an infection hot-spot!...

Cleaners overlooked - again

As part of the refurb at Tottenham Court Road, London Underground have recently taken over a subway that used to belong to Camden Council. There is no gate to block this subway from the street, so it is open all night long for people to pee in, sleep in and the rest of it. The subway used to be...

Leytonstone Drivers Face Displacement

Drivers at Leytonstone have had the spectre of threatened displacement hanging over them for a long time now, but it seems that management have finally decided to launch their attack.

LUL has delivered some kind of ultimatum, whereby the company kindly (not) gives us the 'choice' of who gets...

RCI Vacancies?

Rumours reach us of RCI vacancies being left unfilled by management. Whatever the reason (money, anyhone?), it certainly can't be lack of interest. The waiting list for RCI posts is so long that last year, LUL offered those on the list jobs checking tickets on the buses!

RPI? CPI? We Need a WCPI

Management insist on basing their pay 'offer' on the Retail Price Index (RPI). The unions argue (correctly) that at present, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) more accurately represents inflation as it affects working people.

RPI systematically under-estimates the inflation in our living costs...

Wot No Paid Special Leave?

LUL management's latest ruse to punish staff is to dock your pay if you have a family emergency.

Despite having a policy that employing managers can give you up to three days paid special leave to deal with death or illness of a close relative, management have now decided that if you did not give...

This Re-Ballot - And No More

We have still seen no sign of RMT's re-ballot, but can only assume that the ballot papers will be coming soon and every effort is being made to get the notification legally watertight.

But when a union is balloting members in hundreds of workplaces, in a company where people move grade and location...

Waterloo SAMF Jobs To Go?

Draft (or should we say 'daft'?) new rosters have appeared at Waterloo showing a loss of 4 SAMF posts.

Apparently, this is something to do with loss of business following the transfer of Eurostar from Waterloo to St Pancras. However, it should cause alarm to all ticket-selling staff, as management...

DLR: Vote Yes!

Docklands Light Railway have been trying for a while to impose new control room rosters that do away with 12-hour weekend shifts and 24 rest days per year. Unsurprisingly, DLR control room staff are in no mood to accept this.

They voted to strike earlier this year, but RMT suspended the strike when...

Vic Line Drivers' Strike Success

An overwhelming majority of drivers from Seven Sisters depot took part in the yesterday’s Victoria Line strike. It was a spectacular display of solidarity, the first time a strike has closed the Victoria Line in its history. Estimates say that only about five out of 180 drivers turned up to work...

Support the Vic Line Drivers' Strike!

Tuesday/Wednesday's Vic line drivers' strike looks like being pretty solid. ASLEF members have found themselves needing the protection of two unions at this time, so despite the Society's failure to ballot, all drivers can join in anyway!

Faced with solid action, LUL management will have to...

Know Our Strength - And Use It!

As we gear up for a re-ballot to defend our pay, jobs and rights, it is essential that we recognise our power as workers, and use it to its full extent.

We can expect a further legal challenge. LUL has already said that it is looking for more anomalies in the union's ballot notification. If...

Fingerprints Please

Carlisle Cleaning Services plan to make Eurostar cleaners book on duty with finger printing machines - but cleaners plan to strike to stop this humiliation.

Is the company celebrating the 25th anniversary of 1984 by trying to recreate Orwell's surveillance-obsessed society?! How would you like it...

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