'Line Reserve' is happening. Reserve station staff who used to only work on one group are being asked to work on other groups. As we have warned already, this will erode reserves' terms and conditions, who already get precious little notice of their work pattern. It has health and safety implications too. Staff need to know their stations. We had line reserve in the past but it was scrapped after the Kings Cross fire.
It has not come in with a bang. It seems to be the Northern and Met lines first, but others will surely follow. Management have been requesting people to cover duties elsewhere in a subtle way. They have asked people who tend to be most compliant with managers.
The framework agreement for station staff states that staff can be required to work on other groups occasionally. So, technically, management may be within their rights to be making these requests.
But they are using this part of the agreement now because a. the OSP has created an inbalance between groups' staffing levels: some groups are 'over establishment' while others have too few staff. And b. they almost seem to be proving a point: kicking us when we are already down.
The good news is that when staff have refused to go, management have not pushed the point. They are obviously not wanting to create huge fights over this.
So, if you are asked to work off your group, kick up a bit of a fuss. Even reserve station staff have a right to 28 days' notice of duties. They cannot change your rest days, and changes to duties should be by mutual agreement if possible. You do not have to be as flexible as they might make you believe.
But for those staff who lack the confidence, we may need to put a boycott in place, as action short of strike. We need not fear discipline for refusing if we are covered by official industrial action. Members, reps, branches and the unions need to get their membership records up to date so we can issue notice to LU of official industrial action and start resisting this, and other attacks, en masse.
I think you'll find that the
We think you'll find that the framework agreement doesn't mention the issue (although if you insist that it does, perhaps you could tell us the number of the clause concerned).
Rather, there is an agreement at functional level that it is good practice to have rest-day rosters for reserves and that if reps ask for it, management have to carry out a survey of the staff affected and implement such a roster for any grade of staff where the majority want it.
In other words, local reps can fight for a rest-day roster (or guaranteed weekends off, which is a version of a rest-day roster) if the staff want it and if the reps have the will to fight for it.
Experience tells us that where reps defer to management's "right" to withdraw from agreements rather than defend the agreements they have, then the effect is to give management a headstart on the issue, and workers will come off worse.