RMT Strike - Bob Crow explains who is responsible for it going ahead

Strike is solid; please send messages of support; picket; message from Bob Crow

Click to join the Facebook group at Support the Tube strike!

The strike is pretty solid, with massive disruption on most lines. Info from the London Underground strike committee:

1. Please send messages of solidarity
http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/supportus

Please also look out for opportunities to call into radio phone ins, text in to vox pops, take part in polls supporting the strike etc...

2. If you can help at one of these picket lines early tomorrow morning, it would be much appreciated.

Loughton - thurs after 1pm
Stratford Jubilee - thurs 5:30am
West Ruislip - thur 4.30am
Golders Green - thurs 4:30am
to support fleet
Stonebridge Park - tonight from 5:30pm or thurs at 5:30am
Neasden, Upminster and Ealing Common all @10pm tonight and 4:30am thurs

3. Below is a copy of Bob Crow's take on talks with LU management and how this all could have been avoided at 6:30pm on tuesday.

**

June 10, 2009
Personal Letter to LUL Members

Dear colleague,

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
THE TRUTH (AND IF NOT SUE US FOR LIBEL)

This is my 31st year as a member of this Union and a worker on London Underground and in all that time I have never experienced such dishonesty from any management that I have dealt with. Let me explain to you what really happened at the talks.

The Facts

Pay.

Management made a revised offer on a two year deal or four year deal. We said we would go away, speak to our members and representatives and come back to them. We said this did not have to be resolved immediately and hence we could suspend the action.

Breaches of Agreements.

It is an out and out lie that we were only interested in the two sacked drivers. There were another five specific cases where management had abused the disciplinary procedures. It was agreed that ACAS would look at all seven cases and we said that we would be able to suspend the action to allow this to go ahead.

On the application of the sickness procedures, management were abusing it by making unannounced visits to members without a Trade Union representative being present. They were also issuing 52 week warnings as opposed to the maximum allowed which is 26 weeks. We reached agreement that the 26 weeks maximum would be adhered to and that a Trade Union representative would be in attendance at the interviews.

Redundancies.

In 2001 after campaigning that the privatisation of the infrastructure would be a disaster LUL members were transferred to Metronet. We reached an agreement with LUL and Metronet that there would be no compulsory redundancies and that staff would be offered alternative employment in the event of their job going. This was enshrined in members' contracts. As we predicted Metronet went bust with massive debts. We asked that all Metronet members that came back to LUL, and all other LUL members, should have the same agreement of no compulsory redundancies.

At 6 o'clock, and hour before the strike was to begin, agreement was reached with the Acting Managing Director, Richard Parry. In fact I signed a document to this effect and this was to go back in front of your General Grades Committee immediately so that we could suspend the strike.

At 6.35 p.m. whilst awaiting the final typed agreement we were told by management that they had made a phone call and that they could no longer abide by the agreement - they reneged before the ink was even dry. We were stunned that management could be so dishonest.
I have no doubt that the phone call made was to the Transport Commission or City Hall and they instructed the negotiators to pull the agreed deal. It became quite clear that the Transport Commission or City Hall were using stalling tactics to try and extend the talks to 7 p.m. in the hope that staff would believe agreement had been reached and turn up for work and members were also getting anonymous texts telling them the action was being called off.

It is an absolute disgrace that these bodies should interfere in the negotiations taking place between your Union and the LUL management. We negotiate in good faith and expect the same from the other side. It is the management side that have forced this strike to go ahead and now they will have to find a way to deal with the outstanding issues all over again.

The RMT want a negotiated settlement without interference from the Politicians. Agreement can be reached if management sit down and negotiate honestly.

Thank you for your support - the strike is solid and it is a tremendous effort by all of you. I will write to you with developments

.

Best wishes

Bob Crow
General Secretary

RMT Strike 9th June 2009

The RMT have called for a 2 day strike from 7pm tonight (Tuesday 9th June). I, as much as anyone else are not looking forward to the inevitable chaos this will cause in travelling home, and back to work during the dispute. I decided to find out why the strike has been called. The television and print news have given mostly one side of the story, and I wanted to find a more balanced view.

Here is information about why the strike has been called. It has been taken from the RMT website. This tells a different story to that being shown in the media. It outlines the issues, as well as the voting figures ( a more full version can be found at:

http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/sites/default/files/ltrc%20may09%20strike.pdf )

"The Issues: Jobs

London Underground is cutting 1,000 jobs and TfL may cut 3,000 more. Neither will rule out compulsory
redundancies. LUL says that these are ‘only’ admin jobs. But transport needs administrators as well as frontline staff.
Unlike your employer, RMT values all our members’ jobs. LUL/TfL are pushing through an ‘Organisational Change Process’ which allows for compulsory redundancies, in breach of an agreement it signed with RMT (and ASLEF) in 2001. If LUL gets away with tearing it up, then no job is safe – including engineering and operational grades.

The Issues: Pay

RMT asked for a one-year deal, a substantial pay rise, a £26k minimum, and improvements to conditions. LUL offers a five-year deal: 1% for 2009 and RPI+0.5% for the next four years. With CPI (the government’s preferred inflation measure) at 3.2% in February, this is a year-on-year pay cut in real terms. The five-year timespan takes us past 2012. LUL wants to stop us demanding a decent reward for working
during the Olympics. TfL has not even made an offer! Both employers have refused to even consider our other claims, on issues such as medical redeployment, shorter working hours and family-friendly policies.

The Issues: Justice

LUL is clamping down on attendance and discipline, leading to rampant mistreatment of staff - over-the-top punishments; sick pay stopped; pay docked for emergency domestic leave; endless contact when you are sick; warnings given with no discretion; managers spotting fictitious ‘patterns’ of non-attendance; union representation denied; sickness treated like a crime. Many actions by managers are aggressive and punitive, and many are outside the company’s policies and agreements. Management have created a regime of fear, where people even come to work when they are ill. We have all suffered under this harsh regime ourselves or know a workmate who has. This has to stop."

Details of the voting:

Q1 Are you prepared to take strike action?

LUL: Yes 2,810 No 488 Majority = 85.2%, or 6:1

TfL: Yes 60 No 15 Majority = 80%, or 4:1

Q2 Are you prepared to take industrial action short of a strike?

LUL: Yes 2,927 No 362 Majority = 89%, or 8:1

TfL: Yes 67 No 8 Majority = 89.3%, or 8:1


This shows the issues from the RMT point of view, as their view is not being publicised in the media. Please read and make up your own mind.

If you feel that you want to lend your support to the RMT workers, you can leave a message of support at :

http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/supportus