Tubeworker's blog

TSSA Bows Out

Today's TSSA reps' meeting voted to abandon next week's strike and to put management's offer to members with a recommendation to accept.

Given that it's a rubbish offer which would represent a serious defeat for Underground workers and a big step for management down its casualisation road, TSSA...

Have Management Moved?

Management are spreading lots of propaganda around the job about how much they have ‘moved’ and how near we are to reaching agreement in the talks. So have management ‘moved’? Yes they have: they have backed off to a degree on some of their attacks, postponing some (eg. ticket office cuts) and...

TubeLines Ballot For Allowances

It's two years since the last pay deal on TubeLines. That deal included a commitment to negotiate the payment of allowances to workers undertaking Protection Master and Site Person In Charge duties.

Two years of tedious waffle later, the company still reckons £600 quid will do, while RMT rightly...

The Strike - A Driver's View

Well, the votes are in and the result is a YES for industrial action by our members against the company’s latest plans to cut costs by attacking the terms and conditions of its workforce. We now join the TSSA who have also voted overwhelmingly for strike action over the same issues. Yes, you read...

RMT and TSSA Announce 72-Hour Strike on Tube

Following a big majority for strike action in RMT's ballot, RMT and TSSA have jointly announced a 72-hour strike. The two unions' joint press release is copied below. LUL management's attack on our staffing levels and job security is very serious - and we must all now pull together to ensure a...

Defend Immigrant Workers

The ISS cleaning company, which has many cleaning contracts on the Underground, has started checking cleaners' National Insurance numbers. They aim to root out people who are working without the correct papers, and cleaners could face instant dismissal if a problem is found.

Many of the...

Why Are We Waiting?

Applicants for SSMF have been left waiting for assessment dates due to the very high demand for drivers assessments. Yes, to assess all the external driver applicants they've been encouraging to apply!

CSAs going to drivers' assessments are reporting that they are totally outnumbered by...

Wot No Training?

Recent reports from new CSAs coming out of Ashfield House say that they only get five full days of training now! What a contrast to the month of intensive training gained by many older members of staff back when London Underground was bothered about running a railway.

It's obviously cheaper to...

All Change, Please!

Thoughts on our unions' industrial strategies - comments welcome.

So here we are again; a fresh dispute looms as a result of London Underground’s latest attempt to casualise its workforce and attack many of the hard-won terms and conditions of our members. With the strike ballot almost over, it is...

Look Back In Anger

Remember dynamic risk assessments? That's where management - in the person of a Rostered Duty Officer - can make an on-the-spot decision to assess that a particular procedure is 'safe' even if it's against the rules.

You think that's bad enough? Well, management have now adopted the notion of...

Beware The Rainbow

Management's latest wheeze for bullying the sick is the 'rainbow chart'. This device enables them to identify a 'pattern' of sickness even amongst those staff whose attendance is so good that they have not actually triggered the attendance policy.

For instance ... Perhaps you had two days off in...

Frying Pan. Fire.

LUL's plan to move detrainments from Willesden Junction to Stonebridge Park will whip staff out of the frying pan and toss them into the fire.

Stonebridge lacks the most basic facilities that station staff need to get through a shift in minimum comfort. The best 'solution' management seem able to...

Ticket Offices Procedures Handbook - Here Comes A Makeover

Management reckon the Ticket Office Procedures Handbook is a wee bit bulky; a tad old-fashioned; and perhaps as not as user-friendly as it could be. You'll get no argument from Tubeworker there.

So they plan to slim it down, chop it up into bite-size chunks and give it a make-over. Worry not, there...

Metronet Heads For New Dispute

Thought Metronet workers had won a deal with the superbly-effective strike action last Autumn? Well yes, they did, but now the union is having to defend it against a management apparently determined to squirm out of it.

TfL has refused to meet with Metronet union reps, even though they are supposed...

Take Action For Eva!

LUL has upheld the outrageous sacking of Eva Bayford on appeal. Eva's workmates are now gearing up for indutrial action to demand her reinstatement - and the rest of us should do all we can to help.

There's a long-standing labour movement maxim that 'an injury to one is an injury to all'...

Beware Boris Johnson

Tory Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has unveiled his transport policy, promising a no-strike deal on the Tube. It’s more proof of the reactionary agenda of the ex-public schoolboy Henley MP, who may have a serious chance of winning the election.

Johnson, already infamous for once calling black...

TSSA: A Big Vote For Strike Action On The Tube

TSSA - 'the union that never strikes' - is rapidly changing its spots. Members on the Tube have voted by 81% (on a 49% turnout) to strike against LUL management's attempts to cut and casualise the workforce.

With RMT's ballot papers going out tomorrow, our priority now must be to get the biggest...

Central Line Motors Wear Out

The chickens are finally coming home to roost for the Central line's 92 stock, as the motors begin to give up the ghost. Everyone always knew they were dodgy, and over recent weeks, the brushes have been wearing out and the motors flashing over.

Management thought they could patch and mend, and...

Casualisation Dispute - Keep At It!

Latest news from the casualisation and de-staffing dispute is that talks resume tomorrow and RMT will send out ballot papers on Thursday. TSSA's ballot finishes next week, and reps are predicting a hefty Yes vote.

In last week's talks, it appears that management made a number of concessions...

Watch Out For The WAGs

Wide Aisle Gates (WAGs) were recently been installed at Euston. It's better for CSAs not to be tethered to the manual gate and to be able to leave it for a second to help someone who's stuck. But it needs to be said that, while WAGs have made some things easier, working the gateline is just as...

Victory In 'KitKat Sacking' Fight

RMT has won the reinstatement of Mukesh Mahatma, after management backed down in the face of a strike threat. Or perhaps the company just suddenly saw the error of its judgment!

As readers will know, LUL sacked Mukesh over two boxes of KitKats. Staff on the Canary Wharf group recognised this...

Form Filling Frenzy

LUL management seem to be on a frenzy of getting us to fill in forms.

First, there was the ticket office window check form, where staff have to sign every 15 minutes that their TOM has been in action, and write an explanation if it has not been.

Then, there came the PA check form, where the...

Service Control: Fight These 'Restructuring' Attacks

Service control staff were barely out of one naff 'restructuring' than we faced another. This time, it is all about 'upgrading' to super new control centres. This may sound like the way forward for the future of service control - the problem is the way that management are treating workers in the...

Wot No BNS?

Management were supposed to produce the Business Needs Schematics for the ex-Silverlink stations months ago. Then weeks ago. Then last week. But still ... Nothing.

The BNS is the chart that shows what duties need to be done on a station during the 24 hours of a day. The rosters are then built...

Corrective Action Plan

At Earls Court control centre, management have introduced 'corrective action plans'. A member of staff gets so many 'items' and they are hauled off by a manager to 'agree' and implement a plan.

But there was no consultation with the union, and there is no involvement of reps in the process...

Detrain Alone? Er - No!

Back in early February, there was a suspected one-under at Kenton, which came to light when a Virgin train stopped short at Harrow & Wealdstone early in the morning.

Just after 8am, line control phoned Harrow & Wealdstone and asked for ONE CSA to go to Kenton to do detrainments. Yes, that's one...

Seventh Day Of Detrainment Strike

For the seventh time, Bakerloo line detrainment staff are taking a day's strike action today. The action conveniently coincides with the Spurs-Chelsea Carling Cup Final at Wembley, meaning that the managers and RCIs doing the strikers' duties could have a torrid time this afternoon. Our hearts bleed...

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