DLR branch

From General Secretary Bob Crow
Branches will be aware that we have been in dispute with Carlisle in our campaign to seek drastic improvements to pay and conditions of our Security and Cleaning staff working on the DLR contract. This matter has been discussed by the General Grades Committee and the following decision has been taken: -

IMPROVING PAY & CONDITIONS – CARLISLE CLEANING & SECURITY (DOCKLANDS LIGHT RAILWAY)

That we note the ballot result for both strikes and action short of strikes is as follows:-

Total votes cast: 10

Number voting “Yes” : 10

Number voting “No” : 0

Spoilt Papers: 0

We congratulate our members on their 100% vote for action. We note that our Docklands Light Railway branch is to meet tomorrow, and that our lead officer is to meet with the employer. Reports of these two meetings are to be placed in front of us within seven days.

London's mayor Boris Johnson answers questions from the London Assembly Members each month at 'Mayor's Questions.' Andrew Dismore - Labour Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden asked the question "Why are cleaners employed by Carlisle, contracted by TfL's franchisee Serco to provide cleaning services on Docklands Light Railway, not paid the London Living Wage?" on october 17th.

The response is as follows:

3026/2012 London Living Wage for TFL Cleaners

We note the correspondence from the company, and instruct the General Secretary to obtain the views of our DLR branch and place these in front of us.

We note the report from our Regional Organiser and correspondence from our Branch Secretary. We congratulate our members for the action they have taken so far, and instruct the General Secretary to conduct a new ballot for strike action and industrial action short of strike action, in pursuit of our demands for agreements (with implementation dates) on the issues of:

• a substantial pay rise to at least the London Living Wage
• sick pay
• overtime rate
• allocation of overtime
• days in lieu
• better roster system
• weekly working hours
• uniform issue
  

TRANSPORT UNION RMT today demanded a full investigation by the safety authorities and assurances on staff and passenger safety as the union received reports over the weekend that police has arrested a gang on Friday thought to be responsible for the dumping of thousands of tons of asbestos and other hazardous waste adjacent to Beckton DLR station where the main DLR depot is also sited.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

No worker should be expected to live on an income of less than the London Living Wage

We note the report from our Regional Organiser. While we may be close to securing an acceptable offer on Olympic Reward and Recognition, we are appalled by Carlisle’s refusal to pay our cleaning and security members the London Living Wage. No worker should be expected to live on an income of less than the LLW, an amount calculated to meet only the ‘minimum acceptable quality of life’, currently set at only £8.30 per hour.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note that Carlisle Cleaning Services has agreed to recognise RMT as the sole trade union representing all hourly-paid cleaning employees, and ratify the recognition agreement contained in the file. We congratulate our Regional Organiser and DLR branch in achieving this. We instruct the General Secretary to include a report in RMT News and to send a personal letter by post to all our members on this contract explaining what recognition entails and enclosing a membership form so that they can encourage their workmates to join.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

We note Serco Docklands’ intentions for arrangements for staff for the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday. We also note the view of our DLR branch secretary that Serco Docklands’ response follows the company’s normal practice, applying the same procedure as for additional public holidays in previous years.

London Transport Regional Council and DLR branch to be advised.

On Thursday's edition of BBC London, during an item about the £2500 Olympic Bonus for Docklands Light Railway workers the Fire brigades' Union was incorrectly quoted as saying "The Fire Brigades Union has told us tonight that they think this deal is unfair.”

The FBU was quick to correct the misquote issuing a statement to all their members: