At last week's online Tubeworker meeting (held jointly with Off The Rails), we learned about the history of 'colour bars' on the railways.
After the Second World War, there was a labour shortage in Britain, and thousands of black workers from Britain's former colonies came here to fill the jobs...
It might be a good idea to offer someone an opportunity to develop their skills - but that's not the same thing as getting them to do your job for you!
In particular, do remember that Planned General inspections (PGIs) are a management responsibility. A CSS might accompany a CSM - if they want to...
The audit and review of TfL's governance and finance, ordered by the Department for Transport (DfT) as part of the funding bailout provided in June, and led by accountancy firm KPMG, was due to make its initial report at the end of August.
As Tubeworker reported, language in the audit's terms of...
Aslef members on LU have voted by a 95% majority in favour of industrial action, on a 70% turnout. It's a thumping result on a high turnout, that easily smashes the arbitrary thresholds of the Tories' anti-union laws.
Aslef balloted over the demand that LU abide by all existing agreements - in...
A trains manager took it upon themselves to unilaterally remove a union newsletter from the depot booking-on point, apparently because they took exception to some of its contents - an article about the concept of gaslighting, especially in the context of racist discrimination.
A grievance has...
Sherelle Cadogan an I/O and Aslef member has been given a 12 month suspended dismissal for challenging racism!
A manager posted racist comments on social media, including disparaging Black Lives Matter. Sherelle and others quite rightly, challenged the comments. While the Manager was reported for...
It is no secret that conflict between RMT's National Executive and some of its officers has exploded dramatically over recent weeks.
Tubeworker's sister blog, Off The Rails, looks at the issues here.
Staff were left stranded on Monday night when taxi provider Gett's systems went down and so drivers did not know where they needed to go.
After a dead late, craving your bed, the last thing you need is to be standing in the street in the small hours not knowing when - or even whether - your ride...
The company wants to show us its appreciation for how we have kept London moving during the pandemic. Bless.
Of course, it would be inappropriate for this reward to be financial, what with the current cash crisis. So management are running a survey asking us whether we would prefer a personal...
Service Control workers are gearing up to ballot for action in two separate disputes.
RMT will ballot its SC members in the long-running fight to win decent conditions at the Hammersmith Service Control Centre (aka "HMP Hammersmith"), where workers are demanding conditions are brought up to...
London Mayor Sadiq Khan was questioned on LBC radio today (13 August) about conditions for Tube cleaners, particularly their lack of staff travel benefits. His non-committal remarks, which talked up an existing scheme whereby cleaners working across multiple sites don't have to pay to travel between...
With thanks to the RMT Service Control website
The first locations to feel the impact of the 4LM upgrade will be Baker Street SCC, with staff from there to be moved to HSCC. The company are proposing to move six people, which exceeds what previous management had agreed to. At the same time staff...
Reposted from the RMT Service Control website.
Prior to opening Hammersmith Service Control Centre was promised to be a breath of fresh air for Service Control and Technical staff with a state of the art control centre and facility for all. What came to light was a poorly designed concrete block...
Friday 14 August saw a vicious assault by a member of the public against station staff at Warren Street. The incident almost exactly mirrored an incident at West Ham in September 2019, where assailants attacked staff after kicking their way into the station control room.
LU has emphasised the...
On 5 August, ABM cleaner and chair of the RMT London Transport Region Cleaning Grades Committee Mohamed Said addressed a virtual strike rally for outsourced cleaners in HMRC offices in Merseyside, striking from 3-28 August to demand living wages and full sick pay. The cleaners are employed by ISS...
A recent email from an Area Manager calls for volunteers for a made-up local scheme based on LU stuff colluding with the cops to criminalise passengers and some of the vulnerable people we find in our stations. Apparently workers can build a good relationship with the local cops. You don't have to...
After nearly a week the air con in Brixton control room is still on the blink. Some staff are now refusing to work in these conditions, redirecting the calls to the CSM office and informing control that if an alarm goes off they'll evacuate the station.
Management need to get this fixed now and...
One of the demands in RMT's "Covid-19 Charter" is that station staff should work from behind glass as much as possible. It's a simple enough demand, and an important one for maximising distance and minimising contact.
Clearly not every CSA at a large station can work behind glass. But GLAPS...
Since the pandemic, confirmation cards have been left with the logbook in drivers' cabs to verify that the cab has been properly cleaned and disinfected with anti-viral cleaning solution.
But some drivers report finding these cards haven't been filled in. When they ring a manager, they're simply...
The terms of reference announced by the government for the review of TfL's governance and finance make the direction of travel clear: cuts and privatisation.
References to "alternative operating models" and alternative "structures and governance" are coded language for taking TfL out of local...
Aslef has announced an industrial action ballot of their LU membership, closing on 17 September.
They wrote to LU seeking "unequivocal commitment to adhering to the agreed Machinery of Negotiation and Health and Safety Machinery and to confirm that they will not impose any changes to our members...
Management continue to confuse workers and passengers alike with their confused guidance on social distancing.
Take these posters by lifts across the network. Clearly these are designed for stations without escalators where the lift is the main way to and from the platforms.
How the lifts in...
Boris Johnson's recent announcement that people should start using public transport again is a cause for concern. Although LU says it won't be changing its messaging, which encourages passengers to walk or cycle where possible, workmates on stations and trains are already anecdotally reporting...
The main four unions organising across Transport for London - RMT, Aslef, TSSA, and Unite - held a joint rally against cuts, via Zoom, on 15 July.
Officials from all unions spoke in favour of industrial action to resist cuts, albeit with varying degrees of emphasis and enthusiasm. Exactly how to...
A good news from Bakerloo North, the cover group encompassing all stations on the Bakerloo line north of Queen's Park, as union pressure over local staffing arrangements has yielded results.
Despite a network-wide agreement that all stations must implement local staffing arrangements to eliminate...
Ezra Christian, a Bakerloo driver unfairly sacked after an incident for which others involved only received corrective action plans, has been reinstated as a CSA.
This is a big win, not only for Ezra but for his workmates and union branch. It shows the power of solidarity. Bakerloo drivers...
Driverless trains, every union-hating Tory's favourite imagined panacea, are back in the news again.
Weeks after LU made a commitment to unions that the new stock on the Piccadilly Line, the next line to be refurbished, would have drivers' cabs fitted, the Prime Minister suggested in an interview...
Word reaches Tubeworker HQ that a manager in Stations Structural Maintenance has been appointed to conduct a "headcount review" of the entire department.
Is this is a taste of things to come across the combine? No doubt Tory-appointed auditors KPMG will be recommending similar reviews elsewhere....
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