Service control

Management having given lots of people severance and displaced some ex-apprentices to the stations, there are now incidents where shifts in service operator grade can't be covered (as Tubeworker predicted back in September).

Remember: you don't have to work overtime, and you don't have to give any...

(Melman is a comic giraffe character in the kids' film, 'Madagascar'. The character is a very nice idea, but blunders and splutters, and is not really up to the tasks that face him. Unlike Manual Electronic Logging (MEL) in LUL signal cabins, which is, erm, not like that at all.)

More and more...

Managers are being "trained" to operate signalling equipment on the simulator at Griffith House, and being qualified and licensed without actually operating the equipment for real. They are then going on to operate signalling desks in control rooms. Recently, one manager took 14 minutes to take a...

The introduction of MEL (Manual Electronic Logging) to signal cabins is sputtering and stumbling its way forwards. In some cabins (especially the busier ones) using MEL is adding a significant extra work-load to the signal operator's job, as it is more time-consuming to use than paper sheets.

The...

Service control review ... We are still waiting for news on the mapping (ie. who's going where) and the promotional positions. Why is it taking so long? Why is the union not keeping people better informed about what is happening?

Uncertainty is very stressful, and although no-one is going to be...

Ruislip depot ballot result - Service Control grades committee - SPAD wristbands

• Ruislip depot Balfour Beatty. The result of the ballot for industrial action short of strike was 100%. This will enable the Tube Recon Gangs to refuse to comply with management's new rules for Friday working....

The introduction of MEL (Manual Electronic Logging) into some of the Met and District Line signal cabins is reportedly imminent. So we might be forgiven for wondering why the MEL team (extra staff seconded to work at Harrow-on-the-Hill cabin to assist with MEL), which had been kicking its heels...