Docklands Light Railway

The delights of driverless trains were plain for all to see as a DLR train got stuck in the tunnel under the river for over an hour yesterday.

It was undoubtedly a deeply unpleasant experience for the passengers, packed like sardines during the morning peak when it may have been freezing outside but it was sweltering in the train.

It took an hour for engineers to reach the stranded passengers and for a rescue train to get them out.

DLR management said that the rescue happened as quickly as it could have done, and we have no reason to doubt that. The point is that no amount of superhuman effort by other staff is going to make for a speedy rescue from a stalled train without a driver.

Back in October 2015, Picc Line drivers voted for strikes against an increasingly out-of-control management that was abusing its own disciplinary procedures. The unfair sacking of a driver was a particularly spectacular example.

After an 85% majority voted for strikes (undoubtedly a big factor in forcing the company to reinstate the driver, albeit as a CSA), things calmed down a bit. But they've now flared up again, with managers ripping up procedures and creating a culture of arbitrary and authoritarian discipline.

It's a sad state of affairs when we have to strike just to force management to stick to its own (usually inadequate) policies, but that's where we are.

RMT will ballot drivers for strikes from 22 February to 8 March. Make sure you vote yes. Aslef drivers should respect the picket lines.

Meanwhile, over on the Docklands Light Railway, RMT will be balloting Interserve cleaners for strikes against job cuts and unilateral changes to contracts and shifts. Tubeworker readers will be familiar with Interserve's many pleasant, worker-friendly practises on LU, like slashing jobs and routinely short-paying its staff. Strikes by Interserve workers on DLR already forced a 75p/hour pay increase; further strikes can force them to back off from their cuts plans.

RMT has announced not one, not two, but SEVENTEEN strike days on the DLR, including two four-day strikes, across the first four months of 2016.

DLR workers struck in November, bringing the network to a complete standstill. Now, instead of letting negotiations trundle on indefinitely, or announcing one or two more strikes of a day or two and seeing where that gets them, they've sent a very clear signal to management: multiple sets of strikes, all announced at once, escalating over several months.

Tubeworker would like to see similar tactics used in our disputes on LU. And as we're hopefully just about to put management's latest pay offer where it belongs (in the bin), maybe we could even coordinate our strikes with our brothers and sisters on the DLR?

Nothing is moving on the DLR this morning as workers hit back against their new employers' clampdown.

Pickets at Beckton and Poplar have kept the strike solid and cranked up the pressure on management to back off from their attacks on the workforce. Since taking over the contract, Keolis Amey Docklands (KAD) has stepped up disciplinary action against staff, casualised working conditions by using agencies, and risked safety by licensing managers to work in the control room.

But after a thumping ballot result and a determination not to settle for small movements by management in negotiations, RMT members are out on strike. The action is all the more effective because nearly all DLR staff are union members, and are in one union - RMT - rather than being divided into several.

Oh, and you know the right-wing's plan to defeat Tube strikes by bringing in driverless trains? That's looking rather silly this morning as the driverless DLR trains sit idle in their depots.

Two RMT ballots which closed last week have delivered huge votes for strikes.

Picc Line drivers have voted by an 85% majority for strikes, and by an even higher margin for action short of strikes, in their dispute over the breakdown of industrial relations with local management, brought to a head by the unjust sacking of a driver.

And DLR staff (those directly employed by contractor KAD, as opposed to outsourced staff such as the cleaners) have voted by 92% for strikes in a wide-ranging dispute over a variety of issues, including management bullying and harassment.

Strikes in these disputes should be coordinated to maximise impact... and how about a joint Picc Line drivers'/DLR strike day being the launchpad for reinstating action in our LU-wide disputes, too?