Trainpeople - Justice For The 33

The Bakerloo Branch agreed the following resolution for the attention of the RMT's General Grades Committee:

"The Bakerloo Branch notes the disgraceful treatment of our members, formally employed by Trainpeople, by London Underground. Despite assurances to our General Secretary and members of our Stations Functional Council, our members’ treatment in the LU recruitment process has been scandalous. We note that at least two thirds of our members have been unsuccessful in the recruitment process despite many of them doing the job for 5 years. We believe that LU has rigged and abused the recruitment process to deny our members direct employment. The fact that 32 of our 33 members are black or are ethnic suggests that racism is a central factor in their treatment.

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Mike Brown Confirms LU to attack Stations Jobs

On February 18th Our General Secretary Bob Crow met with Mike Brown to discuss the future of Jobs on the combine. LU are pressing ahead with plans to remove night-turn supervisors and gave no assurances about the grade of staff left to run the stations through the traffic day.

We must insist that 24 hour coverage of our stations by supervisors is maintained to guarantee’ safety and
that correct procedures are followed by companies in Engineering hours.

Please click this link to take part in our online campaign calling on London Underground to offer permanent employment to the 33 staff left without work when the Trainpeople agency’s contract came to an end:

LabourStart Campaign

Thirty-three agency staff working on London Underground, some for as long as five years, were told just before Christmas that the contract with their agency, Trainpeople, had been ended, and that they would lose their jobs in January.

Thirty-three agency staff working on London Underground, some for as long as five years, were told just before Christmas that the contract with their agency, Trainpeople, had been ended, and that they would lose their jobs in January.

The workers had joined RMT and campaigned successfully for equal pay with permanent staff, but the contract was then terminated without warning and London Underground told them that applications for direct employment would not be considered, making a mockery of Agency Worker Regulations that are supposed to protect their rights.

That we note the result of the ballot for strikes is as follows:-

Total Votes Cast - 17
Number Voting ‘Yes’ - 17
Number Voting ‘No’ - 0
Spoilt Papers - 0

We congratulate our members on their willingness to take action and for their tireless campaigning alongside their many supporters. We instruct the General Secretary to continue to support campaigning events organised by our Bakerloo branch, and to obtain and place in front of us a report on appropriate industrial action following the branch's next meeting on Monday 4 February.

TUBE UNION RMT said today that in a ballot of staff working on London Underground’s “Trainpeople” agency contract members have voted unanimously for strike action over the termination of a deal which will dump dozens of staff on the dole and which makes a mockery of regulations which were supposed to protect the employment rights of agency staff.

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FIGHT AGAINST JOB CUTS

Members should already be in receipt of the broadsheet, "We Can Stop Job Cuts". This outlines how we lost over 800 jobs between March 2011 & March 2012, while passenger numbers have soared to record levels. The Broadsheet details all the arguments of our Union to maintain a fully staffed, publicly owned and integrated transport system.

Unfortunately those who run Government, in London and nationally, and their highly paid bosses at London Underground are not moved by rational arguments. A fully staffed underground system would offer the World Class service that Londoners expect.

We note the correspondence from London Underground Ltd, outlining its refusal to offer employment to the redundant Trainpeople employees, and containing a list of spurious excuses for denying the legal and moral rights of these workers.

We condemn London Underground’s refusal to offer permanent employment to people who have been working on its stations for up to five years or more

We instruct the General Secretary to:

1. continue to demand that LUL fulfil its obligations and offer employment to these workers
2. continue to support campaigning and protests in pursuit of this