CMS Operational Managers' Review update

Joint statement from RMT, ASLEF, BTOG, TSSA reps - read the text below; click '1 attachment' / file name to download.

As you are all aware, CMS was introduced for Duty Managers in September this year and will eventually replace your blue licence, at the minute it validates it. CMS will assess you continuously throughout the year to ensure you are competent to do your job.

However at the last MATS meeting where we were given a presentation of CMS we discovered that management had put, the grade progression model for Duty Managers in the CMS booklet.

Lets be perfectly clear about this, CMS is to ensure you are competent to do your everyday tasks in a safe manner.

Grade progression, is about your skill levels and where you fit in the pay band. As it affects your Terms and Conditions it is not open to consultation and must be a negotiated settlement with the Trade Unions. By making it an add on at the back of the CMS booklet, management are trying to change your Terms and Conditions through the back door.

At the last meeting of the OMR, your Trade Union reps put forward a number of proposals that would have made Grade Progression more attractive to the many Duty Managers, however all these proposals were rejected.

At the minute the only way through the pay band is PRP and we are all aware that apart from the chosen few it will not happen.

It is managements wish to freeze your pay if they say you are not performing, this will affect your pension and is unacceptable.

They have promised one grade of Duty Manager (Q1), however what they have actually proposed will effectively deliver no more than a Q2 and with it a salary band to match.

For more than 3 years your Trade Union Reps have met with management in an attempt to formulate a grade progression scheme for Duty Managers, one that is actually fit for purpose. All parties agree that it is a way of progressing through the pay band, something that does not currently exist outside of part-PRP awards.

However it would now appear that management do not want to accommodate such a scheme, unless they can have it all their own way. When you’re TU Reps stuck to their guns and stood firm, management decided to cancel any further meetings and have now made a blatant attempt to sneak it in through the backdoor using CMS as an excuse.

Remember that CMS is your ability to carry out the safety critical aspects of your job and are a legal requirement under ROGS, you are either competent or not!!!

Grade progression puts you into 1 of 4 boxes, Developing, Established, Experienced or Expert. That has nothing to do with CMS, and is therefore not a legal requirement, keep them separate.

The CMS booklet for Duty Managers had already been printed before they informed us at MATS of their intention to bring in grade progression through the backdoor.

Remember that the criteria in that booklet up to page 34, is CMS and should be complied with to ensure you are competent to carry out your role. From page 35 onwards is Grade Progression and does not form part of CMS.

The message from all the Trade Unions is very clear; Grade Progression has not been agreed and is being referred back to Company Council. Until such time as agreement is reached and the Heads of Agreement is signed off, you do not and should not participate in it.

For further information, contact your nominated Rep. or attend your branch meetings where updates are given by all Trade Unions.

Roy Carey RMT Paul McCarthy ASLEF Danny Coulson West BTOG Jim Whyte TSSA (Staff side secretary) Mary Williamson TSSA