Trains Functional Council notice: management of staff who are social distancing at home

Update 28 04 2020

The above matter has been raised by reps at a number of locations and was raised by the RMT at today’s TFC meeting. What is clear is that senior managers are keen to get drivers back to work, and are using local managers to achieve this.

LUL believes that the social distancing measures now in place have mitigated the risk to such a level that it is safe for drivers in the “increased risk” category to return to work. They want drivers to have a telephone interview with LUOH to confirm whether or not this is the case.

The RMT position is that the role of the medical professionals at LUOH is simply to confirm that a driver has an underlying condition; they should not be attempting to persuade a driver that they are not at risk of contracting Covid-19 due to mitigations put in place by LUL. This is not their area of expertise.

The RMT position is that the Government advice hasn’t changed and that people in the “increased risk” category should work from home where possible, and when that is not possible they should socially distance at home on full pay.

Drivers should still keep in contact with their local manager and expect to be asked to produce evidence of their underlying condition at the RTWI, and where possible produce that evidence in advance if their GP is willing to provide it. However, managers should not be telephoning drivers at home asking for information.

The reason that infection rate of drivers on LUL is so low is that so far we have all followed Govt guidelines. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”