Health and safety

Rolling stock crisis on Piccadilly Line leads to another rush hour of delays.

A rolling stock crisis on the Piccadilly Line, London Underground’s fourth busiest line transporting an average of 600,000 people a day, has led to two days of severe delays for passengers as warnings from tube union RMT about the state of the current fleet have come home to roost with a vengeance. 
 
RMT, which is currently in dispute with LU on the Piccadilly Line over a range of issues, says that up to 17 trains are out of action due to wheel flats alone – worn running gear that poses a danger for passengers and staff alike.
 

There have been several reports and investigations recently looking at the dangers of working shifts and at night time. This issue is already important for tube workers who can do shifts around the clock, but as tube bosses plan for the service to go 24 hours this becomes even more salient.

Recent reports suggest a number of issues such as depression, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, greater risk of injury and possibly cancer.

TUC Report

Read all the latest news about the Tube dispute in the attached newsletter.

London Calling Newsletter August 2015

REAR M DOOR ALARM ACTIVATED ON JUBILEE LINE

LUL recently implemented a change to the Rule for dealing with a rear M door alarm activation on the Jubilee line. Previous to this change a Train Operator was asked to contact the Controller and then go back to investigate the activation. The Rule change is that the Train Operator would now contact the Controller, get authority to proceed in Restricted Manual and continue to next station.

Comrades

We met with management to discuss the Jubilee Line M Door issue, and a host of other issues at a recent Tier 2A meeting.

The upshot is, we are still no nearer a resolution on this issue. We will need another meeting to discuss the issue further, but in the meantime, management have a agreed not to ask any driver to carry on to the next station to check should they receive an M Door activated alarm. Drivers will be allowed to go back and check, even between stations.

Commenting on the RSSB annual report today General Secretary Mick Cash said;

"These are truly shocking figures that are a wake up call for the politicians and train companies pressing ahead with cash-led plans to axe staff from trains and stations.

"RMT has warned repeatedly that sacking guards and destaffing the platforms would turn our railways into a criminals' paradise and here is the concrete evidence that shows the consequences of crashing on regardless.

Talks aimed at settling the dispute over night running on London Underground have been halted this morning (Tuesday) after tube union RMT was called in for an emergency meeting with the safety regulator following a series of serious breaches of safety protocols over the past week directly linked to the RMT overtime ban.

The talks were due to recommence at ACAS this morning but have been shelved to allow for RMT senior representatives to attend the urgent meeting at the ORR.

The safety issues have been raised by RMT over the weekend.

A week before 10th anniversary of London 7/7 terror attacks RMT warns of "dangerous complacency" over cuts
A week before the 10th anniversary of the London 7/7 terror attacks transport union RMT has warned of "dangerous complacency" on the part of tube bosses who appear to make no connection at all between incident response times and staffing numbers on stations and platforms.

30th June 2015

Dear Colleague,

M Door Alarm Procedures, Jubilee Line – London Underground

Further to previous correspondence regarding the above, the ballot has now concluded with members voting as follows:-

Are you prepared to take industrial action short of a strike?

Total Votes Cast 71
Number Voting ‘Yes’ 66
Number Voting ‘No’ 5
Spoilt Papers 0

Your Union’s Executive Committee is currently considering this result and I will write again shortly.

Yours sincerely