Jobs/Pay/Justice Dispute 2009

Tonight at midnight, ASLEF - along with RMT - starts its second 48-hour strike on National Express East Anglia over pay, jobs, and a generally crap industrial relations situation. Very much like the issues we face, then. So why on earth doesn't ASLEF do the same on the Tube?!

ASLEF should be doing...

RMT declared a deadline of 29 July for London Underground and TfL to come up with improvements to their appalling stances on jobs, pay and justice. The union said that if there were no progress, further strike dates would be named. Well, that deadline came and went a week ago, so the union should...

Management's claims that there will be no compulsory redundancies simply do not match up. They are waving around a list of people in the firing line and a list of vacancies which is bigger. But you can't tell someone in a clerical grade to suddenly apply for a job as a project manager or engineer...

Management's 'Heads Up' document last week repeated the falsehoood that LU's contribution to our pension fund is becoming unsustainable. Gerry Duffy is using alarmist talk hoping that we won't 'rock the boat' any further and carry on with our dispute.

Thankfully, we don't have to rely on Gerry's...

London Underground are really scraping the barrel now to make cuts. Unclaimed lost property used to be auctioned off once a year to raise money for the widows and orphans fund. Now they have decided they can't afford to do their bit for charity, and will instead sell off the items to fund the...

Management's latest 'Heads Up' bulletin introduces the possibility that by asking for too much pay, the unions could be putting the pension fund at risk. Each pay increase, it argues, increases the pressure on our pension fund, which is already struggling in this economic climate. This completely...

We are in the thick of a dispute which is partly about defending agreements. Many ordinary workers do not understand why union officials keep going on about the importance of agreements; it can even come across as though it is just a union officials vs management squabble of little relevance in the...

It was clear from today's RMT meetings that the majority of reps recognise the need for more strike action, and believe that rank-and-file members are up for it so long as they are kept informed about the issues.

There are undoubtedly areas where support for action is not 100%, but dropping the...

After hours of talks and of course our two days of strike action, management have improved their pay offer. We are now looking at a two year deal: 1.5% this year and RPI plus 0.5% for year two. Good to see that our action has produced some results: scuppering the 5 year nightmare and getting us an...

Funnily enough, talks seem to slow down to a snail's pace when industrial action is finished and no further action is yet called. In the couple of days running up to our excellent two-day strike, management were prepared to sit down with union negotiators for so many hours each day it would break...