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 management agreed to talks at ACAS. Tubeworker has often criticised the idea that strikes should be suspended just for talks, and predictably enough the talks came to nothing.
At least this has given the union the opportunity to ballot all DLR members (and virtually every DLR worker is an RMT member) rather than just the control room staf as before.
Everyone should vote Yes - and everyone on the Underground and other TfL companies should give their full support.
Cats, mice and rats
Once again, there was a whopping Yes vote. Management are on the back foot again, promising not to impose the roster for at least three months.
But we smell a rat. DLR's top boss have been sidling up to control room staff for 1-to-1 chats, and rumour has it is floating the idea of a sweetener to buy off their opposition to the new roster.
And what's to say that the company won't come back and impose it when the three months is up and the union's strike mandate will have expired? Then we ballot again, then they back off again, and so it goes on and on ... Management may be playing a cat-and-mouse game, trying to wear us down into accepting their plan.