Tubeworker's blog

Every so often, we hear some utter horror stories about probationers on stations having their probation extended, or even terminated, for utterly minor “infractions”, that would hardly elicit a raised eyebrow, let alone a disciplinary sanction, were they to be done by established staff. Some of...

There’s a roster redesign underway at Bank... four new full-time CSA positions are being created.

Great! Or so you’d think... turns out local management plan to pay for this by deleting six positions from the part-time CSA establishment, three of which are vacant. As for the other three, the...

Members of Unite working for Transport for London in revenue, enforcement, and Dial-a-Ride struck today, the first of four planned strikes on the last Friday of each month, until April. TfL has offered them a 1% pay rise, well below inflation. The workers held a lively picket outside Palestra...

RMT has begun balloting Revenue Control Inspectors (RCIs) across London Underground, for strikes and action-short-of-strikes, in a ballot that closes on 20 February.

RCIs are defending their jobs against a restructure that will see a two-tier workforce created in revenue, with a new "Revenue...

Our current deal on pay and conditions on London Underground expired in April 2019, so we’re the better part of year overdue. All four unions submitted claims based on a range of demands, including a reduction in the working week to 32 hours. Negotiations began formally in February 2019, and have...

On Tuesday 14 January, high winds dislodged a large section of corrugated roofing at Ravenscourt Park station and sent it flying into the central area of track used by Piccadilly Line trains that pass through the station at 45mph.

Thankfully no one was injured but it is beyond evident that this...

A strong campaign by RMT and local Labour Parties made London Overground drop its plans to close nearly all of its ticket offices. But the company now plans to go ahead with cutting their opening hours, despite objections.

But it's not a done deal yet, so our campaign goes on. Stations left with...

This image has been brought to our attention; it originates with some Aslef reps.

To clarify, Tubeworker is NOT an RMT publication. We are fiercely pro-union, but we are an independent rank-and-file bulletin, published by a socialist group, and not affiliated with any individual union on the...

Green Park station staff have found themselves wading to work this morning after rainy weather and dodgy plumbing combined to leave the mess room and other areas flooded.

There is only one usable toilet, so staff are going in and out of hte ticket office every time they need to spend a penny....

LU likes to pay lip service to its commitment to equalities, but right across the job, local managers are only to keen to pick on disabled workers who they dehumanisingly view as obstacles and drains on resources.

In a variety of locations, especially on stations, we’re hearing reports of...

Following Bakerloo drivers’ overwhelming vote for industrial action to win a workable timetable, LU has committed to a “no compulsory overtime” agreement on the line, as well as agreeing to review SPADs and safety incidents that have taken place under the current, and almost universally despised,...

Trains reps are discussing improved Boxing Day and NYE working arrangements for drivers with LU bosses.

Tubeworker supports any group of workers negotiating towards, and taking action to win, improvements to their conditions; we also believe all workers across LU should be entitled to the same...

RMT is now planning a new “Justice for Station Staff” campaign, bringing together a small, focused number of key issues affecting station workers into a single fight back. These issues include ending lone working; reversing or resisting two-tier workforce models (within the CSA grade, and the new...

Spare a thought for staff on Great Northern - and on Tube stations such as Moorgate or Finsbury Park which interchange with it.

Great Northern is supposed to be closing mid-evening at weekends to allow for engineering works. But on a seemingly random basis, management cancel this and run the...

Sadiq Khan has started the New Year with a leaflet (pictured) asking people to re-elect him because he has kept the cost of commuting down. Fair enough, and here at Tubeworker, we would much rather see Khan reelected than the Tory candidate who plans to nick our Nominee Passes.

But what is that...

Robbers helped themselves to some Christmas cash in two break-ins on 25 December. At Waterloo and Seven Sisters, staff booked on for Boxing Day to find that the ticket offices were not as secure as we would like to think.

As the culprits are chased down, beware of management trying to apportion...

It was a long time coming, so you would think that management could have made the Hammersmith Servic Control Centre a decent place to work. If so, you'd be disappointed.

First up, there is the inadequate access to the building, with no parking spaces and staff assaulted while walking to work...

Bakerloo drivers in RMT have voted by a 95% majority for strikes, and by 98% for action short of a strike, on an 80% turnout.

They’re fighting to win a workable timetable; we reported on the issues in the dispute here.

Following this overwhelming vote for action, let’s hope the bosses see...

While it's easy to feel dispirited in London at the moment, a look to France can provide us with cheer and inspiration.

Rail and Metro workers are playing a leading role in a huge wave of strikes in defence of pensions. Read more here.

It's becoming an all-too familiar pattern on trains. Managers in depots get out of control, presiding over a culture of petty and arbitrary discipline, interpreting procedures and policies punitively and acting like tinpot authoritarians. RMT drivers ballot for industrial action to stop this culture...

Almost exactly a year ago, station staff on the Bakerloo South group had just voted for industrial action to address issues around uncovered duties and short staffing.

Strikes were called in December and January, and later suspended after LU committed to filling all vacancies; covering all...

"Working" Timetable 44 on the Bakerloo Line is simply not working.

The timetable has led to a long list of problems, including turnaround times so tight that drivers often aren't able to take a toilet break between trips. The timetable has also led to big gaps between trains at certain times...

The longer our unions go without launching ballots over LU pay/conditions, the more momentum we hand to the bosses.

Delaying only benefits the employer. RMT announced an aspiration to have its ballot ready by the end of November; members have a right to expect these aspirations to be followed...

Despite voting by a 98% majority for strikes, ABM cleaners will be prevented from taking legal industrial action by the Tories’ anti-union laws. Of 620 cleaners balloted, 294 voted for strikes. But because this only amounted to 48% of the total, the result fell short of the 50% turnout threshold...

To keep up momentum after anti-union laws scuppered the strike ballot, RMT must call further activity in the “Justice for Tube Cleaners” campaign.

Any and all suggestions should be considered. How about demonstrations at City Hall, or key TfL/LU office buildings such as Palestra or 55 Broadway?...

We’ve previously reported on the struggles faced by outsourced security workers in depots, sidings, and office buildings, employed by Interserve, and their efforts to fight back.

A number of them began getting organised through RMT, with the Piccadilly and District West branch taking a particular...

RMT drivers will strike on 27 November for 24 hours from 2200. The strike day called off in the summer is back on as management have still refused to deal with the issues over pay, procedures, and treatment of staff. A future date in December will be announced if management refuse to move.

Tubewo...

Sounding a loud fanfare about how much they care about us being battered at work, LUL management are promising what looks like an increase in staffing but on closer examination amounts to undermining us.

Management say they will recruit sixty new revenue staff, but they are calling them revenue...

Unions have long been pressing LU to fill the vacancies in the revenue department, which have gone unfilled for over a decade. The point has also been made that there may be some connection between the £90 million the company says it loses in lost revenue and the fact that it has deliberately...

We already know that management are using rising concerns about assaults as a pretext to undermine our jobs by bringing in staff from other areas of TfL to do station staff's work. Rather than increase station staffing, the company prefers staffing on the cheap, and is using Surface Transport staff...