Docklands Light Railway

Transport union RMT said today that it has secured a ground breaking Olympics pay deal on DLR worth £2500 made up of a guaranteed attendance payment of £900 and guaranteed overtime payments for all staff throught the olympics and paralympics period.

The agreement is constructed as follows:

• £900 attendance bonus, paid at £100 per week over a 9-week period for all staff in every grade.∙
• Time +¾ for any hour worked on overtime throughout the 9-week period with a guaranteed minimum 5 hours per week, 45 hours over the 9 week period, for all staff in every grade.

The Station Staff & Associated Grades Conference will be held on 20th and 21st of April in Teignmouth.

More details will be added as we receive them.

In the last two days, two RMT tube drivers have been reinstated. This is the latest of several RMT members to be reinstated following unfair dismissals.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We welcome the AGM resolution calling for a national ‘SOS: Staff Our Stations’ campaign, particularly considering the renewed threat to station staffing posed by the McNulty report. We will campaign on this issue in conjunction with our campaign on McNulty.

We further note that a meeting has been arranged between ourselves and the TSSA on 24 October to discuss this issue. We instruct the General Secretary to prepare for this meeting by:

This article is taken from the September issue of RMT News, page 16

EC member Janine Booth outlines six successful union campaigns to reverse unfair sackings from different grades and in different companies

Docklands Light Railway Sacked Passenger Service Agents Ian Peavot and Julian Harper for comments they posted on Facebook. DLR staff, nearly all of whom are RMT members, also had other grievances against the company, and when talks made little progress, voted overwhelmingly for industrial action.

RMT reps decided on a 48- hour strike, and while lawyers wrangled about its legality, the branch kept campaigning and negotiating. Management backed down, reinstated Ian and Julian, and resolved the other issues too. Meanwhile, RMT and TSSA members on London Underground were fighting job cuts, and the company took hostages.

Update: London Underground has revised its offer to four years: 5% this year, RPI+0.5% (minimum 2%) for years 2, 3 and 4.

RMT workplace representatives will be discussing this at a meeting on Tuesday 4 October.You work hard, your employer makes money from your efforts, and you have bills to pay. So your union organises members to win better pay and working conditions. RMT aims to achieve:

• above-inflation pay rises - anything else is a pay cut in real terms, as your outgoings increase faster than your income;

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the report from our Lead Officer on negotiations with DLR. The General Secretary is instructed to ensure that we enter into negotiations with Serco Docklands on the Olympics issue and to ensure that reports are placed before the General Grades Committee so that we can co-ordinate our response with those offers received from other companies.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note the detailed report from our branch on issues on DLR, and agree to add this to the file. We instruct the General Secretary to obtain from the lead officer for DLR a report on these issues, and on how best we can support the branch in dealing with them. The report to be placed in front of the GGC when received.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the report from our lead officer concerning discussions with Serco Docklands about working arrangements for the Olympic Games.

We instruct the General Secretary to obtain reports from all lead officers on progress of discussions regarding the Olympics.

We refer this issue to the Olympics Sub-Committee for examination and report, and instruct that it meet as soon as practical in order to effectively co-ordinate our work on this issue.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the response from Serco Docklands [telling us what facilities they have for bike storage and showers]. We instruct the General Secretary to write to our branch asking whether members believe that these provisions are adequate. The response to be placed in front of us.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note that Serco Docklands has clarified that: “Employees on trade union contracts will be paid double time if they work on a bank holiday, this applies to both hours and overtime. The bank holiday payments are applied from 12 midnight at the start of the day to midnight at the end of the day. If an employee is rostered to work on a bank holiday or if it is their rostered rest day they will accrue a lieu day. They may choose to have this paid instead.”

We seek the views of our Docklands Light Railway branch on this matter.

RMT General Grades Committee decision below. The content of the offer will be posted here as soon as practical.

In line with the recommendation of our lead officer and representatives, and following discussion with the branch secretary, we instruct the General Secretary to conduct a referendum of our members on Serco Docklands recommending they accept the offer that emerged from talks yesterday.

From RMT General Secretary Bob Crow:

I am delighted to be able to report that this morning in the Court of Appeal RMT has secured a massive landmark victory on the UK strike laws over our dispute on Serco Docklands.

The full details are contained in the press statement below but be under no illusions – this morning RMT has given a huge boost to 7 million trade unionists in the country fighting for jobs, pensions and standards of livings.

I have written this short article for Labour Briefing:

On 6 February, despite strong opposition from trade unions and passengers, London Underground completed its cut of 800 jobs from its stations. It slashed ticket office opening hours and removed staff from around the stations, leaving safety and security compromised and passengers without the help they need. Private-sector-run upgrades are seeing repeated failures, and maintenance regimes are being slashed.

FOLLOWING LEGAL advice on the changing nature of the anti-trade union laws, and a pending legal challenge to a court decision in respect of action on Docklands Light Railway, a 24 hour strike on Friday February 4 by RMT drivers on Arriva Trains Wales has been called off.

RMT confirmed today that it will re-ballot members in light of the latest legal advice.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

From Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary:

I write to advise branches that last week the High Court granted Serco Docklands an injunction preventing RMT from organising a 48 hour strike on the Docklands Light Railway. Yet again an employer has run to a High Court Judge to use the Anti trade union laws to ignore the democratic will of members. This decision has ramifications not just for RMT but across the whole Trade Union Movement and is the latest of a long line of high court decisions against trade unions.