Our Olympics Demands

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

In Olympics negotiations, all companies have been dividing and distracting us. It is time the unions on London Transport set out our demands publicly for every company, so that all staff know not just what management have offered but what we are fighting for.

LU management have sown division between trains and stations (and other grades) by offering a guaranteed bonus to drivers and not to others. Station staff are wondering what compensation the unions are demanding for extra stations workload.

Some grades, such as cleaners, have been offered nothing at all. Across every company and grade, the unions need to go for equal or equivalent cash benefits.

But money is only part of the picture. Companies, especially London Underground, are looking to use the Olympics to ease long-term restructuring plans - meaning job cuts.

On the trains, the Olympics deal (opposed by RMT) will abandon maximum shift lengths long-term, setting drivers’ working conditions back decades. Work will be intense; tiredness will mean mistakes and disciplinaries will soar. The introduction of nine hours shifts could mean the end of night turns and therefore hundreds of drivers’ jobs.

On the stations, LU has indicated that it wants to lower stations minimum numbers for the duration of the Olympics. The company plans to staff stations above minimum numbers using Incident CSAs (the managers who were trained in a day to break strikes). By the end of the Olympics there will be 1050 of them. Both of these issues will undermine staff levels and licencing in the long-term.

On service control, management have already said they intend to pay no bonus, because they don't need to change the Framework Agreement (PSCA) to make us work in the way they want us to during the Games.

On engineering and fleet, management want changes to working arrangements that are just not acceptable to workers, and some people who work for contractors face being laid off without pay for the duration of the Games.

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So, the unions need to set out what we want. Yes, we want a bonus. But we do not want it at the expense of job security. We need to bring all workers together, to use the profile of the Olympics to our advantage as much as possible.

As a minimum we need to demand:

Guaranteed bonus for all grades - Payment to compensate for increased workload and extended working hours. The same, or equivalent, benefits for every grade in every company - at a flat rate for all, as a percentage bonus rewards higher-paid grades more.

Safety first - No erosion to safety standards for the duration of the Olympics, which would weaken our ability to enforce standards in the long-term.

Work your hours - No erosion to agreements around working hours - again, for every grade and company.

No back-door casualisation - Attempts to use agency staff, volunteers, and untrained staff will weaken us for inevitable jobs battles ahead.

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