London Overground

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.

Rail Union RMT confirmed today that after constructive talks with London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) over the last few months, they have secured a ground breaking rewards package for LOROL staff in exchange for some flexibility of work patterns during the Olympics.

The deal, which includes over 500 front line RMT members across the company at all of its locations, will mean enhanced payments for shifts worked during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the negotiated proposals on file and the report from our Lead Officer.

The proposals are a comprehensive package of enhancements for the Olympic period in return for flexibility from our members to enable LOROL to run the enhanced services required.

In light of the Lead Officer’s and our Representative’s views, we instruct the General Secretary to inform the Company of our acceptance of the proposals.

LOROL members to be advised of the decision in writing and to be sent a summary of the agreement.

Click here and PLEASE add your name to this petition NOW. Railway cleaner and RMT member Marciano Flora faces deportation as soon as WEDNESDAY following a 'sting' by his employer (John Laing, which holds the contract for London Overground cleaning), who called him and others in to work then handed them over to immigration officers. Marciano has been in London for more than five years, lives with his family, and is settled here.

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:

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;

from General Secretary Bob Crow

I had received serious reports from our London Overground Branches with regards to the harassment of our Conductor members. Incidents that were reported included the covert monitoring of Conductors, the misuse of the disciplinary procedure and LOROL were preventing our members from wearing RMT badges, ties and lanyards, whereas ASLEF members were allowed to wear their union’s regalia.

The General Grades Commitee said "“We note the report from our Regional Organiser and that the issues have been addressed."

RMT General Grades Committee decision:

That we note the correspondence from our Willesden Rail Branch and are concerned at the issues raised including the unfair treatment or our Conductor members in comparison to Drivers in another organization and the reported harassment and monitoring of our members in regard to Uniform Standards.

The General Secretary is instructed to request a meeting with the company in order to discuss the issues raised in the correspondence and to obtain a report for the GGC from the Lead Officer on this matter.

RMT CLEANERS have forced contractor John Laing Integrated Services to recognise the union on London Overground following an organising campaign that has seen the vast majority of the workforce join the union since the end of March.

A ballot carried out under Central Arbitration Committee rules after the firm refused to enter into a voluntary agreement returned a six-to-one vote to give RMT bargaining rights for the staff, who work from depots at Acton, Gospel Oak, New Cross Gate and Willesden.

RMT official circular

Following our acceptance of the Company’s pay offer in April 2010, a supplementary offer was tabled by the Company for Station Grades. This has now been considered by the General Grades Committee that has taken the following decision:-

“That we note the report from the Regional Organiser on proposals for a supplementary agreement for Station Assistants and Station Assistant GPRs on LOROL.

RMT members recently protested outside Whitechapel Station. The East London Line which runs through Whitechapel has reopened, but this once publicly owned railway is now making profits for privateers. Whilst RMT welcomes the extension of the line, we want it brought back under government control as a public railway, where profit is fed back into the service.

You can see more RMT videos at RMTv.

On Monday morning, the re-opened and extended East London Line officially welcomed its first weekday passengers.

On Sunday 23rd May the extended East London Line will re-open, as part of private company, LOROL (London Overground). Obviously we support the extension but not when part of the tube network has been privatised through the back door. The whole of LOROL should be integrated with London Underground and owned and run by the Greater London Authority, elected by Londoners, which is RMT policy.

Welcome to the ten former Southern station staff.

In this RMT newsletter, we invite you to join the union, and in doing so you will be making your views and opinions known and addressed.

In the coming weeks, RMT reps from other areas on the LOROL network will be visitng the stations to talk about the benefits and reasons why you should join RMT.

In the meantime, if you have work-related issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me, Ken Duffy: my number is available from the Supervisor at New Cross Gate.

Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter.

Concerning the next pay deal … As you are aware, negotiations are due to start in the new year. RMT would like to hear your views and ideas on the pay deal, so please let your local rep know your feelings about what the final outcome should be.

Forr example, do you want a one-year deal, or two? On stations, would you be willing to work until later times for a bigger pay rise?

We think your views count.

A proposal from management is to micro-manage station staff and other grades by introducing the customer service ‘dashboard’. Staff are already audited on a daily basis on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Your union reps were consulted on Dashboard but were uneasy on how far it will go and how much management expect from frontline staff.

One rep writes …

A very important department for London Overground. Why? The most mobile unit, we do so much and ask so little in return!

RPIs help save revenue for LOROL, in terms of millions of pounds in fines, work our guts out to make sure ticketless travel is lower than the expected 5%. And guess what? It only took 19 of us to do it!

We are strong by heart and professional by work, willing to go the extra mile, give the best customer service, and treat offenders the right way. We are what we do. The figures tell the truth.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download the all-new RMT newsletter for staff working on London Overground, written by London Overground reps and produced by the London Transport Regional Council.

This first issue explains the new pension arrangement on the company, asks for members' views about the upcoming pay claim, and reports on other issues, including Dashboard and Revenue Protection.

London Overground is changing the way employees pay contributions into its pension system (the RPS) by introducing an arrangement known as ‘salary sacrifice’. Under the old system, you were paid your salary with your pension contribution deducted from it. Under this new system, your salary is reduced by the amount of the pension contribution and the employer pays your contribution direct to the fund. What’s the difference?