As we know, management are constantly figuring out way of reducing SPADs. They have expert analysts on the case, and no stone is left unturned in their efforts to deploy the latest scientific strategies. So a prize for innovation, please, to Bakerloo line management, for coming up with this...
Traffic Circular 38 contained a rather odd recruitment advert. Service Controllers wanted, should have a 'bit of magic' and the ability to 'make problems disappear'!
Could this be an admission by management that mere Muggles can not operate their system? Could that be because of impractical...
The Circle and Hammersmith & City lines and the District line's Wimbledon branch have come to a halt this evening as drivers refuse to go along with management's wish to operate trains that may be fatally unsafe.
'C' Stock trains seem to have a problem with the 'deadman's handle', the kit that...
King's Cross station closed due to overcrowding in the middle of the evening rush hour on the night that Arsenal played Newcastle. Euston became packed with their traffic so had to close as well. Fuming passengers took their aggression out on staff, refusing to evacuate, saying we 'don't deserve our...
Management have revealed their plans for the transfer of staff when LUL takes over parts of the Bakerloo and District lines from Silverlink.
We already knew that management were looking for a way to avoid levelling up their pay and conditions and thus save themselves some dosh. Now we know their...
Following management's decision to put back the implementation date for the ticket office closures, RMT's Executive has responded by ... suspending its dispute!
This is a mistake. Although the implementation date has been put back - probably as a favour to Ken Livingstone and his re-election...
Cleaners at Morden depot have prevented their management imposing anti-social new rosters.
The cleaners' union reps did not agree to the new roster, but ISS went ahead and imposed it anyway. The cleaners refused to work it, and management threatened to send them home. But the cleaners stood their...
In Queen's Park depot, chemicals are used to clean graffiti off trains in safe area 'A', but not in area 'B', where there is live electric current. It's a simple rule to protect cleaners' health and safety! But managemenst would rather order them to risk their safety by cleaning trains in B.
C...
At Upminster, the cleaners' mess room is cold and has no facilities. At Ealing Broadway, the mess room is more like a cupboard where you can't even stand up straight! At Euston, the room is so hot and airless you can't breathe ... and there are other stations where cleaners have no mess room at all...
Thousands of people have been scared that all their savings would disappear with the collapse of Northern Rock. The Government has now given guarantees to help the savers (and the shareholders!) But they couldn't know that would happen. No-one knows whether other banks will go bust, or which ones.
T...
Management have put back the implementation date for the ticket office cuts and closures from March 2008 to 'at least' next Summer. This follows a letter from RMT demanding that unless LUL shelve the plans, the union would be in dispute. Well, if one stiff letter can cause a delay to the plans, then...
Tubeworker has told readers before about dynamic risk assessments - otherwise known as 'management making up safety procedures as they go along'.
Recently, the Bakerloo train radio failed (again) between Queen’s Park and Stonebridge Park. LUL could have followed their own rules and sent some hand...
Piccadilly line drivers are getting well naffed off with the regime on the line following the recent-ish arrival of a new performance manager.
One driver's employment was terminated after less than two months off sick. Another was sacked - upheld on appeal - following a driving error which was...
Q: There is a poster in Euston station, saying, 'this passage has been closed due to the safe removal of asbestos'. When enquiring, we were assured there was nothing to worry about. But can we trust them?
A: There are two types of work which deal with asbestos: complete removal, where the...
Wednesday on the Central line saw more evidence of the failures of Metronet - but also an inspiring example of Tube workers acting to defend their own and passengers' safety.
At 9am, an eastbound train became defective at Holland Park. After initially fearing a possible derailment, it then became...
Given the pig's ear that Metronet has made of the stuff it is in charge of already, you'd think that no-one in their right mind would consider giving the bankrupt company any extra responsibilities, wouldn't you?
Fortunately, LUL has finally seen sense and abandoned its plan to transfer...
It seems that some cleaning supervisors think they can pore over the station's Visitors Register to check exactly what time the cleaners are coming and going.
They need to be reminded: The Visitors Register - like the Staff Evacuation Register - is for one purpose alone. That is not to spy on...
Management want to introduce a joint 9-week roster for Supervisors at Farringdon and Barbican station.
Their 'carrot' is that Barbican will thus be upgraded and its rostered Supervisors get a bit of a pay rise. But no-one should accept this bribe, and should instead recognise the danger of this...
Down at Kings Cross, platform 2 is crumbling beneath the feet.
It seems that to avoid raising the nosing stones, and thus save some dosh, Metronet decided to use 8mm tiles, less than half the usual thickness.
Result? Lots of cracked tiles. Reason? PPPrivatisation Puts Profits before safety...
With a person on the track near Paddington, a driver was told by the Line Controller to remain at Royal Oak. The driver then got another call on the Connect system - which shows an 8-digit code rather than a caller ID - telling him to reform and giving authority to proceed, which he did...
RMT and TSSA are jointly hosting a rally to protest at London Underground's ticket office cuts and closures plan. The rally is open to everyone, and will be an opportunity for Tube workers and passengers to show their determination to save our ticket offices.
Thursday 20th September, 6.30pm...
As management fell over themselves to get the train service running after the Metronet strike was called off, it appears that they may have been prepared to cut some corners when it came to safety standards. Yes, really.
By the end of the strike, a section of track near Plaistow had not been...
END TUBE PRIVATISATION
LOBBY THE TUC
12.00, TUESDAY 11th SEPTEMBER
The Brighton Centre, Kings Road entrance. Map here.
Called by RMT
After the collapse of Metronet, the RMT ICM Poll of a thousand Londoners has found that 76% of Londoners believe London Underground should be responsible for...
The phoney war is over - now for the real thing.
Faced with two resolutions from the RMT London Transport Regional Council - one which demanded a ballot to bring Metronet immediately under TfL control and the other a demand for a campaign to lobby politicians and pursue guarantees over...
Drivers arrived at work on Wednesday and rightly insisted on proof that the trains had been prepared properly after the absence of fleet staff during the Metronet strike.
At the Central line's Leytonstone depot, a union rep discovered that his train had been prepped by someone who did not have all...
In a Radio 4 interview, Gerry Doherty (TSSA General Secretary) tried to explain TSSA's position: they are still in dispute but have suspended their strike because they have received assurances over two of their three aims.
The interviewer tried to press Gerry to condemn the RMT for continuing its...
Just when we were being encouraged to believe that there is nothing wrong with PPP as a concept, just that Metronet are a particularly dodgy company, along comes a reminder that Tubelines, also, are capable of fouling things up.
They are responsible for upgrading the ticket hall at Euston station...
Listening to the news, we are told that Ken is secretly cheering that this strike is calling into question the Public Private Partnership. We are told that he opposed PPP from the outset and that his hands are itching to get hold of the Metronet contract.
But Ken has not mounted any form of...
Dear Tubeworker
Working on a station where the Northern Line was running, although other lines were suspended, the strike was a rather dispiriting experience. Passengers were not as abusive as expected, but this was less in a spirit of solidarity with the strikers' aims, and more because they were...
Late last night, RMT suspended its strike on Metronet, claiming 'progress' in talks with management. Next week's 3-day strike remains on and no deal has yet been signed.
Some progress does appear to have been made:
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