Health & safety

Merseyrail and DOO

Merseyrail is one of the Train Operating Companies (TOCs), where workers have been resisting the imposition of Driver Only Operation (DOO), which involves the abolition of the safety¬critical role of the guard. Guards are represented by the RMT union, with drivers overwhelmingly members of Aslef. Among the TOCs, the Merseyrail is uniquely strong because it is the only one where Aslef drivers in large numbers have respected RMT guards’ picket lines. However, the Merseyrail industrial action has stalled for months now. RMT is locked in negotiations with Merseyrail bosses and the regional...

Industrial news in brief

Train drivers on London Underground’s Central Line will strike again over 21-22 December, to demand the reinstatement of unjustly sacked colleague Paul Bailey. Paul was sacked after passing a random drugs test. Although he registered for the presence of cannabinoid substances, due to taking hemp supplements, he was within the “cut off limit” of 50ng/ml. The RMT union says Paul’s sacking “undermines the integrity of London Underground’s entire drugs and alcohol testing regime”. Company management seems to be worried the union might be right; they recently issued guidance to staff not to take...

Industrial news in brief

Two train drivers talked with Solidarity about the latest in the long-running Driver Only Operation dispute, where the RMT union is taking action against threats to guards’ jobs. As far as we know, the Merseyrail offer is not final. We’re not even sure why it’s been publicly released. Negotiations are still ongoing. The ACAS process was supposed to be confidential, and this breaches that. I wouldn’t vote for the offer. It accepts a three-year pay freeze for guards, and makes cleaners redundant (though it promises no compulsory redundancies), in order to finance retaining the guard as a safety...

Tube drivers in strike vote

Members of drivers’ union Aslef on London Underground are balloting for industrial action to win safer cabs. Unions say a recent incident on the Northern Line, in which passengers broke into the cab of a female driver and attacked her, vindicate long-running union complaints about the lack of security of drivers’ cab doors. Aslef’s ballot began on 4 September. RMT says it is also considering balloting its driver members. Unions are demanding a safe locking system for drivers’ cabs. London Underground has claimed this would be too expensive to install, with unions countering that they shouldn’t...

Cleaners organise and strike

Cleaners at the Ministry of Justice and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC) will strike on 7, 8 and 9 August over pay and unfair working conditions. The cleaners at the Ministry of Justice are contracted by outsourced cleaning company OCS, and those at RBKC are employed by Amey. Cleaning workers at Health Care America (HCA) locations in London will also strike later in August. HCA is the biggest private healthcare company in the world and has sites in London including at the Shard, Guy′s Cancer Centre, and Harley Street Clinic. It′s cleaning is outsourced to Compass. All of...

Mixed outlook in DOO strikes

RMT members are currently voting on a proposed settlement of their Driver-Only-Operation dispute at Greater Anglia that would see a second safety-critical member of staff (i.e. a conductor or guard) on all trains that currently run with one, with some of the operation of the train doors passing to the driver. Drivers at London North East Railway have also recently accepted an offer to operate the new "Azuma" trains currently being prepared for introduction. This agreement includes drivers releasing the doors on arrival at station stops, with the guards then taking over and carrying out the...

Precarious workers May Day

On May Day, a coalition of unions and campaigns, each organising precarious workers, came together to celebrate and take action. Bringing together workers from BECTU, United Voices of the World (UVW), Independent Workers union of Great Britain (IWGB), the Bakers’ Union and Unite, as well as campaigners and activists from Women’s Strike, Labour Campaign for Free Movement, Workers’ Liberty, Another Europe is Possible, and Plan C, among others, the bloc coalesced around four demands: An end to exploitative contracts and poverty pay — guaranteed hours and enough money to live a decent life. Every...

Glasgow arena workers’ lifting strike

Members of Unite the Union working in Glasgow’s Emirates Arena were on strike again last Saturday and Sunday (28-29 April) as part of a long-running dispute over additional payments for “heavy lifting duties”. The Unite members are employed by Glasgow Life, one of multiple “arms-length companies” set up by Glasgow City Council when it was controlled by Labour. The extra payments are for setting up and de-rigging equipment before major sporting events at the Emirates. Unite imposed an overtime ban last November, followed by a four-day strike in December. Glasgow Life’s ongoing refusal to make...

Wildcat strike for safety

Workers at the Orion recycling plant in east London took part in a wildcat strike on Wednesday 28 March to protest dangerous and inhumane working conditions. The workers, all migrants from Peru, joined the United Voices of the World (UVW) union just the day before after contacting the union with videos of their working conditions which showed thick clouds of dust and workers without adequate protection. After negotiations with bosses at the gate the company agreed to provide proper face masks, air filters, gloves, four pairs of protective overalls each, soap and toilet paper. They also agreed...

Industrial news in brief

As previously reported in Solidarity (461, 7 February), the Communication Workers′ Union Postal Executive has endorsed the agreement reached between CWU negotiators and Royal Mail, which will now be put to a vote of the membership. The outline of the deal is: the creation of a new single pension scheme for all workers; extension of all current agreements and protections until 2022; two one-hour reductions in the working week (in October 2018 and October 2019) without loss of pay; a later last delivery, but not as late as Royal Mail wanted; a three year pay deal which the CWU claims equates to...

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