Pay

AMENDED INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Further to my previous correspondence, I would again like to congratulate you for supporting your union’s call for strike action and action short of a strike in defence of your pension. Your Executive has carefully considered the strong wish of you and your colleagues to carry out industrial action in order to oppose these plans and those expressed by your representatives to fight TfL’s plans. I can now advise you that your General Grades Committee has decided to amend some of the industrial action.

The RMT General Grades Committee has agreed to accept pay offers from Serco Docklands AND Carlisle. As a result all strikes are called off.

We congratulate all members for their resolve in their campaign for a decent pay settlement on Serco, for the London Living Wage on Carlisle and the commitments forced from the company on the other matters involved in this dispute.

We note the report from our Regional Organiser and the correspondence from our Docklands Light Railway branch. We share their disgust that Carlisle management is openly reneging on its letter to us of 6 August 2013 by refusing to honour its promised timetable for the incremental increase in pay rates to the level of the London Living Wage (LLW), and refusing to award any pay rise to those members who are currently paid the LLW rate or above.

On Wednesday TfL held a special meeting of the Company Council where they presented further information on their plans to freeze staff pay and slash the value of their pensions.

The Evening Standard ran an article today on the top earners at London Underground. Managing Director Mike Brown it states earned £476,00. TfL Commissioner Peter Hendy meanwhile earned £652,000 - 33 times that of one of TfL's lowest wage earners on £20k. If you take into account contracted workers, at the bottom of the wage pile such as cleaners and canteen staff, that difference in wage grows even further.

We note the correspondence from London Underground Ltd dated 13 September and 1 October 2013, and the discussion of this item at the Company Council meeting on 26 September 2013. This correspondence confirms that the LUL/ASLEF agreement traded changes to the Train Operators Resourcing Agreement (TOPRA) for the £350 bonus for working on Boxing Day.

In this months newsletter:

• We Will Unite & Fight to Stop Job Cuts
• Why Can’t LU Keep Ticket Offices Open?
• RMT Taxi Branch Resists Attempts to Loosen Rules on “Plying for Hire”
• RMT will Demand Payment for all Staff Working on Boxing Day
• Tube Lines Pension Dispute
• Bombardier Pay And Conditions Talks Continue
• RMT Push For Increased Representation at TfL
• RMT will Demand Payment for all Staff Working on Boxing Day
• Back Dated Pay Rises For Cleaners & Security Workers Still Short Of London Living Wage
• STOP PRESS: CLEANERS VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY to refuse to use fingerprint scanners to book on for Duty

This article and the attached newsletter was updated on the 22nd of September to remove an outdated story about a member facing disciplinary

This industrial action has been called off

Transport union RMT announced today that hundreds of staff working for City Link will be taking seven days of strike action in a dispute over pay, working conditions and an attempt by the company management to bulldoze through changes to contracts.

The workforce will strike for seven days from 00.01 hours on Tuesday 24th September to 12.59 hours on Monday 30th September 2013.

We note the report from our Regional Organiser. While we welcome the move from individual contracts to collective bargaining of pay and conditions for Train Service Technicians, the current offer is not acceptable to us because:
- for some members, this represents a below-inflation pay rise
- it removes the enhanced rate of pay for overtime
- it allocates annual leave in hours rather than days, which will result in a loss of leave

We therefore instruct our Regional Organiser to pursue this matter through the appropriate procedure, to secure an acceptable offer.

We note the report from our Regional Organise. We note that the employer has confirmed a backdated pay increase of 3% for security staff and 5% for cleaners. We congratulate our members on winning this pay rise through our campaign of industrial action and persistent negotiation.

However, this increase still does not bring pay rates up to the London Living Wage. We instruct the Regional Organiser to continue to press for improvements in these members' pay and conditions.