Okay things just got weird, RMT have announced a strike
in support of AMcG with TOps being asked not to book on for duty between
21:30 on Saturday 7 March and 03:59 Sunday 8 March. As all the late turns will have started and
the early turns don’t book on until around 06:00 this is basically a strike by
the night shifts. I’m not sure about the
rules regarding strike action but I’m guessing that if they don’t hold a strike
within a certain time after the vote in favour they have to re-ballot but even
so it’s a bit bizarre.
Meanwhile over at the pay talks LUL have announced that
they are trying to include Night Tube in the negotiations which makes sense as it’s
going to need big changes to our terms and conditions. The downside is that by combining the two issues
into one LUL might be hoping to get away with giving us less in exchange for
our agreement and also they can now drag things out until August.
A few years ago I was on strike at Leytonstone on a night turn to keep a strike ballot 'live'. RMT picked a Sunday so that you did not start your nights until Monday and we all got strike pay as there was few us on strike across the combine. I would imagine that choosing Saturday night is for convenience of night turn Drivers, who will now finish there nights on Saturday morning and I assume will be given strike pay. A genius way to keep a strike ballot 'live' with inconvenience to only small number of passengers.
ReplyDeleteIt's to keep the strike ballot result "live". BTW new COO Nick Brown (who he?) says no one would put their family into a car with a driver who had been drinking so neither should LU. Eh? Yes they do, every day, but as long as that driver is under the legal alcohol limit! Surely if LU had the same rules as used on the roads and in the aircraft industry, half these problems wouldn't occur? Why do they have their own self-imposed limit of "zero"? AIUI the dispute is more about the process - no second breathalyser involved (as per police procedure), use of trainees in the test, loss of the driver's urine sample, and the announcement that that LU will not abide by any future ET decision; all of which can impact on other staff in future circumstances,
ReplyDeleteThe recent e-mail from Nick Brown regarding pay talks is a belter, he complains that the Union are trying to bring in other terms and conditions to the pay talks and then in the next sentence says management want to talk about night tube in these pay talks. Our pay levels on the stations are literally the only thing management haven't screwed with so I hope the Unions make them pay for Night Tube at the very least
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