Blog posts

BBC News reported on 22 January that "a source" said Train Operating Company LNER had told the Aslef train drivers' union that it no longer intends to put minimum service levels (MSLs) in place.

It was another autumn/winter of flats on the Piccadilly line, with some days seeing multiple trains being pulled out of service due to the noise.

Management still seem in denial about the scale of any problem. The controllers never suffer from the noise so they won't ever tell us to take a train...

In news that came as a shock to no one, the date for the new Piccadilly line trains entering full service has been pushed back.

While the first train is still due before the end of 2025 (original date: 2014), the company say that with only half the money promised by government, they've had to push...

LUL's restructure for Customer Service Managers on stations "went live" on 8 January, prompting some angry responses from workers who felt they hadn't been kept adequately informed of the developments and their implications.

Under the new structure, CSMs can choose between applying for an entirely...

RMT has suspended an industrial action ballot of ABM cleaner members on LUL, after the company agreed to a review of the controversial "Project Lean", which has seen many cleaners face increased workloads.

ABM has now committed to reviewing the workload of any cleaner who was forced to take on...

RMT is re-balloting driver members on the Bakerloo, Central, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, and Victoria lines to renew an industrial action mandate in the dispute over the imposition of "flash-and-dash", the unsafe detrainment method whereby drivers are expected to simply flash in-car...

Tubeworker is a pro-union publication, but we are not affiliated with any particular union on London Underground/TfL. However, we do support industrial unionism - the idea that workers in a particular industry/workplace should be in the same union, rather than organising in separate unions on the...

Since Aslef called its week of rolling one-day strikes on the 16 TOCs in the national pay dispute, the union has been waiting to see if any of the companies would actually use the Minimum Service Level legislation to compel union members to work.

So far one, Transpennine Express, has announced...

Aslef has announced more strikes on pay, alongside nine days of a rest-day working ban. It is not clear whether TOCs will actually issue "work notices". It would be foolish, though, to assume that TOCs will hold off forever.

All four LUL unions have now re-entered pay talks with the company, with Mayor Khan's promise of £30m extra funding now on the table. To ensure we get the best outcome possible, we need the maximum possible transparency in those talks.