A strike ballot is imminent for RMT members on fleet, as they resist the company's breaches of the Core Work Agreement.
This agreement, hard won in struggle, places clear restrictions on the amount of agency labour the company can use, and guarantees that all the integral work will be done by directly-employed LU staff. Management have been cutting corners with the agreement for some time: it has to stop.
This issue doesn't just affect workers on fleet. If management get away with flagrant breaches of this agreement, they'll try their luck elsewhere. Unions should fight to extent the principle of the Core Work Agreement to other parts of the job, especially engineering and cleaning, where the use of agency labour is rife.
This isn't about kicking the agency workers off the job. As always, the principle should be: "sack the agencies, not the workers!" We want all workers currently working on LU to be directly employed, with the same rights and benefits.
Strikes to defend the Core Work Agreement on fleet could be a launchpad for a wider campaign for direct employment elsewhere.
