Tubeworker's blog

LU has announced in an employee bulletin that it plans to reopen seven of the 37 stations that have been shut during the pandemic - Mansion House, Pimlico, Blackhorse Road, Bounds Green, Bow Road, Bayswater, and Warwick Avenue. It is suggested that this might help relieve congestion at other...

After weeks of dithering on the issue of masks, TfL has now issued a bulletin stating "there will be a face covering available to all front line colleagues, cleaners and bus drivers who are attending work and would like to wear one."

We can help but note the disparity between this and their...

Across the combine many stations use communal key docks and most station staff don't have their own radio. Without issuing any guidance on this the company still expects us to be alright with it.

Drivers and SRT already have their own radios as do others. Now is the time for LU to give everyone...

Reports reach Tubeworker that some CSS and CSMs are asking CSAs to sit in the GLAP ("Gate Line Assistance Point") on rotation, in stations where the size of the control room and staff numbers mean staff can perfectly safely work from the control room whilst maintaining safe distancing from their...

LU have today announced via a bulletin that, from 17 May, they will be reverting back to pre-pandemic duty schedules on trains. This is clearly part of a wider plan to ramp the service back up from 18 May, as part of an anticipated easing of lockdown measures.

The announcement says: "We have [...

We were due a new pay settlement in April 2019. Consequently we're now all owed more than a year's back pay, following the agreement of a new deal in late March, amounting to RPI+0.2% for four years (2.7% in year one). The company is currently saying that the back pay will be paid in June or July's...

In a 30 April presentation to the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), an international umbrella body for public transport providers, TfL director Grant Hobbs stated that, if the 2m guidance on social distancing remains in place, London Underground could only accommodate 13% of its...

Station areas on the east end of the Jubilee Line, including Waterloo, Canary Wharf, West Ham, and Canning Town, seem to be hot-spots for reckless behaviour by managers, seemingly intent on maintaining non-essential work.

Despite the whole job working to Sunday's minimum staffing numbers, revised...

We all know TfL and LU have a penchant for outsourcing, with cleaning, security and building maintenance, catering, and various aspects of protection and track work all outsourced to exploitative private companies.

Now outsourcing is apparently creeping into Service Control. LU has used an...

Cleaning contractor ABM has informed RMT reps that will be furloughing some cleaners, possibly including those on long-term distancing from work and some part-time staff. While it has guaranteed to protect jobs, it does not intend to top up the additional 20% of cleaners' salaries, meaning that any...

Workers Memorial Day, an international day which remembers workers who’ve lost their lives at work, and promotes struggles for safer workplaces today, takes place on Tuesday 28 April.

We’ve lost workmates to this pandemic. Several bus workers have lost their lives, as well, of course, as dozens...

Mayor Khan has taken to BBC Radio London to announce that TfL may run out of money to pay staff by the end of the month, and may need to cut services unless the government steps in.

It’s right that Khan should appeal to the government for funding; this is something he should’ve been doing loudly...

Union reps and branches of both Aslef and RMT are organising to resist LU's imposition of emergency timetables. The company wants to ramp up the train service, but won't provide drivers with adequate PPE, thereby exposing them to greater risk.

As and when lockdown measures ease, the service will...

TfL and LU bosses have announced, via a bulletin from TfL Commissioner Mike Brown, that they intend to explore the use of the government's "Job Retention Scheme" to place some of us on "furlough", essentially a paid leave of absence. The government scheme subsidises 80% of employees' wages, with...

Today at Tubeworker we wanted to talk about the plight of our sometimes unseen - despite being dressed head-to-toe in hi-vis gear! - key frontline workers within fleet and engineering.

Many go to work under the cover of darkness or in remote locations unknown to the travelling public, but...

It’s completely possible to assist a person ill on a train (PIOT) without putting ourselves at risk, yet LUL appear to think we should continue doing so without adequate guidance in place or any PPE to provide protection apart from hand sanitiser!

It’s easy really; observe from a distance, call...

Tubeworker is aware of several areas where it has been made unnecessarily difficult to implement special pandemic rosters. This is largely due to an unwillingness to engage properly with reps.

We should not be required to cover any duty that is non-essential, and whilst at work we must be...

RMT has secured an agreement covering LU stations compelling local managers to implement revised staffing arrangements, to minimise numbers and reduce duty lengths.

This is a significant gain, and will facilitate safer workplaces by maximising distancing and, hopefully, ensuring fewer of us have...

LU has agreed improved Boxing Day pay arrangements for drivers, who’ll now receive quadruple pay for volunteering to work on 26 December.

We’ve reported on this issue previously, arguing that any improved arrangements should apply to all staff.

Many frontline Tube workers, including station...

Rank-and-file RMT activists have started a petition to the Mayor of London, demanding staff travel passes for cleaners during the pandemic. You can sign and share the petition here.

This is a long-standing demand of Tube cleaners, and was one of the issues in RMT’s dispute and ballot on ABM...

When it comes to social distancing in the workplace, there’s a lot of good practise on LU stations right now. Whether due to local management actually having some common sense, or frontline staff simply taking action and implementing distancing measures, we’ve seen such actions taken as:

• The...

We've previously reported on rogue managers putting pressure on staff to attend work rather than following public health guidance to remain at home. Although union reps have done well at responding to and pushing back that pressure in many areas, some managers are continuing to be a problem....

Cleaning contractor ABM has sacked RMT rep Racquel Dwyer.

Racquel recently won an Employment Tribunal claim against ABM, and, in her capacity as a rep, has consistently raised concerns about PPE and other safety issues in the workplace, over a number of months. ABM announced a restructure...

London Underground's engineering management has surpassed themselves with wanton risk-taking with workers' health.

Management have sent an Employee Bulletin to all workers in Asset Operations telling us that although we should obviously try to stay two metres apart, then if we can't, just crack...

It looks like some local management is starting to take the issue of social distancing seriously.

At Stockwell all CSAs are off the gateline and social distancing between the mess and control rooms. The WAGs are open, the POMs are being left. No one should need to be coughed on while they help...

With a massively reduced service in place, many workers are asking whether the company's instruction for all staff who are not self-isolating or off sick to report for duty as normal really makes sense. Having more staff than necessary on a station or at a depot makes distancing harder. It puts...

We're hearing some reports of local managers insisting that all CSAs continue to work on the gateline, despite the difficulties that presents for ensuring social distancing.

If this doesn't stop, we urge station staff to take matters into their own hands. Work out a rotation between you, and...

An Employee Bulletin dated 23 March, from Brian Woodhead (the senior director for LU stations, he of 74% pay rise fame...) gives some "advice on social distancing in our stations."

This advice includes: "Avoid signing into the POM [Passenger Operated Machine, i.e., ticket machine] yourself."...

LU bosses have cynically exploited the coronavirus crisis to pressure unions into accepting a shoddy pay settlement that three out of four had previously rejected.

RMT has now accepted LU’s latest offer, of RPI+0.2% for 2019-2023, with guaranteed minimums of 1% and 2% in years three and four...

Most offices have been more or less shut down with staff asked to work from home. This is putting strain on the remote access network which has been temperamental at best. Things are a bit less clear for staff who don’t have their own laptop or PC at home - as most people access via their personal...