Health and safety

From Tuesday 15th of January 2013 until further notice, RMT and ASLEF train drivers are taking action for safety.
Drivers in both Aslef and RMT unions are taking action, not over pay or hours, but because serious safety concerns have been ignored by London Underground management.
Since the introduction of a new procedure last year to clear trains of passengers before going out of service there have been thousands of incidents in which passengers have been ‘over-carried’ into sidings.

The stations safety council have issued this guidance for members working in snow conditions following their December meeting. Any member reading this who wants further advice, please speak with a local rep or contact the trains safety council.

The original bulletin and a pro forma is attached below.

Winter weather/snow clearance

At yesterdays Health & Safety tier 2 meeting it was agreed that on TBTC lines when working a train out of service station skip would not be used and T/Ops would manually start trains at every station.

At the present time when auto is not permitted T/Ops drive in protected manual and we maintained that this should remain the case.

Management suggested that T/Ops could have a choice to either work the train in auto or PM and we have said we will take this away and discuss with the Reps on the lines concerned.

REMOVAL OF TUNNEL TELEPHONE WIRES – JUBILEE LINE

We note the resolution from our Neasden branch and the support expressed by representatives from Jubilee South branch. We share our branches’ horror at London Underground’s plan to operate trains on the Jubilee Line north of Bond Street without tunnel telephone wires for a period of up to 4 years. Tunnel telephone wires play an essential safety role, both in facilitating communication and in discharging traction current in an emergency.

We instruct the General Secretary to conduct a ballot of all our Jubilee line driver members for action short of strike action, with a view to drivers taking action including refusing to drive trains in passenger service through tunnel sections without tunnel telephone wires or suitable alternative protection.

We note the resolution from our Neasden branch and share our branch’s concern at London Underground Ltd’s failure to compel its contractor, Thales, to repair signalling irregularities at Neasden Depot.

This is not an acceptable way for the company to conduct its upgrades, not only causing problems for our members at work but also potentially endangering both staff and passengers.

The Transport Worker's Union New York chapter - 'Local 100' - which primarily represents members in New York's subway system, has advised members to enter stations at caution speed. The TWU explain that their have been 150 'one-unders' - or 12-9's, an average of three per week, none of which have been the fault of the train driver. By entering the station at caution speed the union believes lives can be saved and drivers spared the trauma of being involved in an incident.

The unions leaflet on the action is attached below

We note that further discussions have taken place to arrange synchronisation with ASLEF for the Bakerloo line action. We therefore instruct the General Secretary to cancel our industrial action on the Bakerloo line only starting at 00:01 on Thursday 10 January and to begin the action instead at 00:01 on Tuesday 15 January. The industrial action remains the same as in our previous instruction and is to run until further notice; and the timing of the industrial action on the Central line remains unchanged.

Central Lines trains were non stopping at Oxford Circus Station this Monday as plaster fell from the ceiling. Fortunately nobody was hurt but disruption lasted over an hour during the morning peak.

RMT's general Secretary Bob Crow said "RMT has warned repeatedly about the impact of maintenance cuts and specifically the widening of schedules from a 14-day to a 28-day cycle."

This comes on the same day as a Central Line train was taken out of service having over run a platform due to a suspected brake fault.

The RMT's planned Industrial action that was due to take place on Thursday 10th January 2013 has now been revised, so action can be co-ordinated with ASLEF on the Bakerloo Line. A joint notice with ASLEF has been produced and can be downloaded (see the attachment).

Members are instructed to disregard my previous instruction to take industrial action from Thursday 10th January 2013 and should instead take the following industrial action short of a strike:-

The Transport Committee report sets out their vision for the railway by 2020. The report endorses the 'quest' for a more efficient railway but raises concerns about safety, staffing and the protection of passenger interests.

Responding to today’s House of Commons Transport Committee Report on Rail 2020, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

"Whilst this report reinforces once again that our railways are nothing more than a multi-billion pound rip off lining the pockets of a bunch of spivs and speculators it ducks the real issue, and that's the cast-iron case for public ownership.