Click on the attachment to see the latest issue of RMT up front, the newsletter for drivers on London Underground. This issue features articles on Driverless trains. the Olympics and the Trains Functional Council.

Main stories follow:

Driverless trains: LU plan to evict us from our ‘office’

Apart from the debate about what the Boxing Day ‘dispute’ was all about and whose idea it was, the main chat in mess rooms around the combine in the lead up to Christmas was the leaked plans which LUL have for us in the shape of driverless trains.

Once again it was the RMT who exposed and are challenging plans which, if realised, will amount to the end of drivers as we know it. Instead, under LU’s proposals, we will be left with a kind of Docklands Light Railway underground with train ‘attendants’ on the train initially - with plans to go staff free after a period of time.
The madness of these plans is clear for all to see. Already there have been crashes involving driverless trains in the USA and Germany and recently a person was killed on the DLR and trains ran over the corpse all day oblivious to it being there. Of course this is only possible because there are no eyes at the front to maintain safety and avert catastrophes - i.e. drivers like us. DLR were taken to court and fined for this atrocity.
Be under no illusion that these plans have nothing to do with safety and passenger benefits. They are a barefaced attempt to remove the threat of organised trade unions, and to rip up every beneficial term and condition that has been fought for over the years.
This is one of the reasons that the RMT believe that it was a major mistake for another organisation to agree to break our framework agreement over the Olympics (see following article), as LUL will use this precedent in future negotiations.
LUL want a totally flexible system, if these plans for driverless trains become a reality. This will mean you can forget about your current framework agreement and expect attacks on your salary, working hours, holidays, sick leave, pension and any other benefits they can claw back. Whatever they promise, it will also mean massive job losses.
Already Mike Brown’s words are aimed at splitting the grades with undeliverable promises of a ‘job for life’ for existing drivers. What would be the point of employing drivers who then don’t have trains to drive?
Apart from an attempt to appeal to the ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality, could any driver really trust a manager that promises jobs for life, when he went from stating that these plans were ‘blue sky thinking’ (meaningless management jargon) to a definite plan within a week, when challenged by the RMT.
Anyone who thinks these plans won’t affect them only has to look at what
has happened on the buses; with longer working hours and attacks on all of their conditions.
So the question for you might be what can we do about it?
Well in the RMT we believe in defending every condition we have fought for and that you now enjoy. Also, we believe in defending the safety of our members and the travelling public, and will not put this at risk due to the latest money-saving project by management.
The bottom line for us is that we need to keep our driver’s cab - our office. These plans intend to build trains without our office. That is the end of your job in the long run - plain and sim ple.
For us, it is important to maintain the safety critical tasks of our job. This means a driver on every train with a dedicated driver’s cab so that we can observe the track ahead, try to avert any catastrophe, and look out for potential suicides and accidents, broken rails, wrong signals etc.
It means maintaining responsibility for the Platform Train Interface and control of the doors’ opening and closure mechanisms.
There is a place for technology and advancement but not at any cost. Be assured that the RMT will resist these proposals. We will make every effort to defend your job, defend your office, and defend driver and passenger safety.
These issues are non-negotiable. We oppose any plans to build trains without driver’s cabs and will fight to defend your role in protecting the safety of the travelling public.

Still no deal with RMT over the Olympics

All forms of transport will be struggling to cope with millions of extra passenger journeys this summer. It is going to be manic!
RMT has successfully negotiated deals for our members on Network Rail and London Overground. Unfortunately, we have the usual problems with LUL!
There have been two sets of talks affecting us as drivers. Talks are ongoing for an Olympics bonus for staff across LUL and RMT has rejected the latest LU offer of £20 per shift and £100 more if they feel like it (i.e. if the CSS survey hits an artificial target).
The other issues is that LUL want drivers to break our working agreements during the Olympics. Aslef have agreed to this, RMT has not. Aslef and LUL are saying their deal is for the Olympics only, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that if we break agreements now, then in a year or two years when LU are under pressure they will demand we break the same agreements.
What RMT does not want to do is to give away our framework agreements. Many drivers can still remember the days when the hours were so long it was hard to cope. There was a big battle by both unions to cut the hours to where they are now - we even took a cut in pay to make sure the hours were shorter. Over 3 years, we took pay rises of 1.7%, then 2%, then another 2% less than the rest of LU staff.
Both unions agreed to this - and it takes some doing for anyone to take a reduction in pay, but that's how bad the hours were before the existing parameters.
RMT does not want to go back to those days and does not accept the deal which offers £500 to work longer hours.
The overnight running for the opening ceremony is not a problem as we have the PTOA agreement which allows all night running to be staffed by volunteers, the same way as we do for New Years Eve. RMT reps have been advised to keep to the existing framework agreements when allocating duties until such a time as RMT reaches an agreement with LUL.
All forms of transport will be struggling to cope with millions of extra passenger journeys this summer. It is going to be manic!
RMT has successfully negotiated deals for our members on Network Rail and London Overground. Unfortunately, we have the usual problems with LUL!
There have been two sets of talks affecting us as drivers. Talks are ongoing for an Olympics bonus for staff across LUL and RMT has rejected the latest LU offer of £20 per shift and £100 more if they feel like it (i.e. if the CSS survey hits an artificial target).
The other issues is that LUL want drivers to break our working agreements during the Olympics. Aslef have agreed to this, RMT has not. Aslef and LUL are saying their deal is for the Olympics only, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that if we break agreements now, then in a year or two years when LU are under pressure they will demand we break the same agreements.
What RMT does not want to do is to give away our framework agreements. Many drivers can still remember the days when the hours were so long it was hard to cope. There was a big battle by both unions to cut the hours to where they are now - we even took a cut in pay to make sure the hours were shorter. Over 3 years, we took pay rises of 1.7%, then 2%, then another 2% less than the rest of LU staff.
Both unions agreed to this - and it takes some doing for anyone to take a reduction in pay, but that's how bad the hours were before the existing parameters.
RMT does not want to go back to those days and does not accept the deal which offers £500 to work longer hours.
The overnight running for the opening ceremony is not a problem as we have the PTOA agreement which allows all night running to be staffed by volunteers, the same way as we do for New Years Eve. RMT reps have been advised to keep to the existing framework agreements when allocating duties until such a time as RMT reaches an agreement with LUL.
All forms of transport will be struggling to cope with millions of extra passenger journeys this summer. It is going to be manic!
RMT has successfully negotiated deals for our members on Network Rail and London Overground. Unfortunately, we have the usual problems with LUL!
There have been two sets of talks affecting us as drivers. Talks are ongoing for an Olympics bonus for staff across LUL and RMT has rejected the latest LU offer of £20 per shift and £100 more if they feel like it (i.e. if the CSS survey hits an artificial target).
The other issues is that LUL want drivers to break our working agreements during the Olympics. Aslef have agreed to this, RMT has not. Aslef and LUL are saying their deal is for the Olympics only, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that if we break agreements now, then in a year or two years when LU are under pressure they will demand we break the same agreements.
What RMT does not want to do is to give away our framework agreements. Many drivers can still remember the days when the hours were so long it was hard to cope. There was a big battle by both unions to cut the hours to where they are now - we even took a cut in pay to make sure the hours were shorter. Over 3 years, we took pay rises of 1.7%, then 2%, then another 2% less than the rest of LU staff.
Both unions agreed to this - and it takes some doing for anyone to take a reduction in pay, but that's how bad the hours were before the existing parameters.
RMT does not want to go back to those days and does not accept the deal which offers £500 to work longer hours.
The overnight running for the opening ceremony is not a problem as we have the PTOA agreement which allows all night running to be staffed by volunteers, the same way as we do for New Years Eve. RMT reps have been advised to keep to the existing framework agreements when allocating duties until such a time as RMT reaches an agreement with LUL.
Breaking news....
RMT has reached agreement with DLR over the Olympics... £900 attendance bonus, paid at £100 per week over a 9-week period for all staff in every grade. Now that’s more like it.
There’s only one union on DLR. No division - no bullshit from fake unions.

ASLEF shun joint working on TFC

At the first staff side meeting of the Trains Functional Council in 2012 ASLEF reps signalled they will be carrying on as normal.
Despite facing flak from their own rank and file members over the ASLEF/LU Olympic deal and their recent strike over bank holiday working, ASLEF train functional council reps shunned RMT overtures to work together on behalf of all driver members on the tube. The ASLEF reps, with their unfair built in majority on the council, refused to support any RMT reps taking on any formal positions within the staff side structures. An RMT nomination for Glenroy Watson to take up the Vice Chair role on the TFC staff side was snubbed. Similarly a nomination for Glenroy to be Assistant Secretary was also given the cold shoulder.
The RMT Trains Functional Council reps will however continue to push for unity to best take forward the concerns and aspirations of all train drivers on the combine.