Newsletter: Late April, 2010

East London Rail Branch News Vol II, Issue 8 Late April 2010

East London Rail
Branch New s
Email: eastlondonrail@rmt.org.uk

Chair: John Clarke– 07795237318 Secretary: Ed Shine–07889249392

National Union of Rail, Maritime, & Transport Workers’
GENERAL SECRETARY: Bob Crow

SPECIAL ELECTION NON-ISSUE!

VOTE:
NONE
OF THE
ABOVE
‘THOSE WHO CHOOSE THE PARLIAMENTARY
HUNG PARLIAMENT???
ROAD TO CHANGE THINGS, DO NOT MERELY
CHOOSE A MORE TRANQUIL PATH TO THE
SAME REVOLUTION AS US... BUT A COM-
PLETELY DIFFERENT GOAL’
VOTE FOR YOUR CLASS
VOTE FOR YOUR COMMUNITY
DON’T VOTE GOVERNMENTS!!!

THURSDAY MAY 6TH ...
NATIONAL NON-EVENT
NEXT BRANCH MEETING: TUESDAY 18th MAY 2010, 1700 HOURS:
1 The Railway Tavern Public House (Conservatory room), Angel Lane,
Stratford, London E15… CONTACT THE SECRETARY (NUMBER/ EMAIL, AT TOP) FOR DETAILS


THOUGHT
FOR THE
MOMENT

RELIGION :‘The opiate of the peo-
FOR BOTHER GLENN WALLIS, WE BELIEVE RECENTLY SACKED BY ple’
-Karl Marx (1848)
NETWORK RAIL FOR TRADE UNION ACTIVITIES, FROM OUR
COMRADES IN PERTH #1 BRANCH (SCOTLAND)...
‘RELIGION: The biggest con in
history.
Designed to deny people their
birthright and their right to con-
trol their own lives and destiny
and to bullshit them on their own
history.
It is hypocrisy pure and simple.
There is no good God or Dear Lord
protecting your silver-haired
mother or little daughter: only
you; those who claim otherwise
are HYPOCRITES and LIARS who
want you weaker.
Have you noticed that those who
preach tolerance, peace, and for-
giveness are those who are the
first to bully you, pressure you,
and lie to you.
Believe in yourself and yours and
don’t believe a fuckin dicky bird
the hypocrites tell you.’
-Ed Shine, Branch Secretary

‘Managers are particularly prone
to Religion; much as children are
prone to gullibility’
-Ed Shine, Branch Secretary
(1973– to present... For now)

Stratford, London E15… CONTACT THE SECRETARY FOR DETAILS


‘I wish to complain in the strongest possible way about the attempts
by management to change our rosters ,it would seem that be-
cause of the secondment of staff to Over
ground House ,and the funding of agency staff to re-
place them, has become to much of a burden ,and by chang-
ing our shift patterns would save Lorol the expense.
In recent weeks the rostering manager has taken it upon him-
self to send covering S.t.m staff on duty 15 minutes be-
fore the end of the morning shift which did not al-
low a break to be taken ,once again the explana-
tion was to save money ,fortunately I was the staff member involved and the ac-
tion was nipped in the bud , most recently an at-
tempt has been made to change our seven day roster to five day roster ,
again to save money on agency expenditure and what is most disturb-
ing ,it has been suggested that the only way we could keep our exist-
ing shifts would be by working until the last train, Surly this then becomes a health &
safety issue .
I feel that it is time the RMT looked into the situation before matters
get out of hand ,as it would seem that management are using the sta-
tion staff as scapegoats for there glaring budgetary blunders.’
Year Ending Award Minimum

31st March 2011 3.7% or Feb 2010 RPI (whichever is greater) 3.7%
31st March 2012 RPI + 0.75% 2.0%

31st March 2013 RPI + 1.0% 2.0%

· A 3-year deal, effective 1st April 2010, RPI will be based on February preceding the anniversary date which remains
unchanged.
 A minimum annual award of £850 for each of the three years for staff paid £17,000 or less as at March 2010.
· In recognition to recent changes to on-call roster arrangement, a one-off payment of £500 will be paid to SDM and
CSM grades in Year 1. A minimum increase of £1,200 to basic pay will be applied in Year 2. This is not additional to
the Year 2 Pay Award but effectively acts as a safety net.
· An increase in Paternity Pay from 1 week at full pay and 1 week at statutory pay to 1 week at full pay and 1 week at
half pay, effective 1st April 2010.
· An increase in Maternity Pay from 6 weeks full pay and 12 weeks half pay to 12 weeks full pay and 6 weeks half pay,
effective 1st April 2010.
· A commitment to separate discussions around the issue of the Olympic Games.
 A commitment to continue dialogue regarding the shorter working week including establishing an additional Com
pany Council Meeting.
· Learning Agreement to go ahead outside of pay award.
· An agreed move from Specially Monitored Driver (SMD) to a continued professional development system.
 · LOROL will table a proposal jointly with the Trade Unions at ATOC for enhanced travel benefits for retired staff.

The Secretary is dealing with a current Individual Grievance from one of our long-standing members at
Stratford International Station. This is still at an early stage; an Q&A as recently heard at which the
facts were examined. The Network Rail Manager behaved very fairly, accepting the Secretary‟s demand
to speak fully and frankly, and did not flinch from the somewhat personal and damning statements
that had to be made. The Branch was informed that fuller details of the case will be able to be given
later, but suffice it to say that at this early stage the case deals with racial harassment, management bullying, lack of Duty of
Care, and victimisation for Trade Union activities. So even at this early stage, it seems inevitable that this can only be
resolved at an Employment Tribunal; dependant as usual on whether Network Rail have had their gutful of the Courts!

NEXT BRANCH MEETING: TUESDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2009, 1700 HOURS:
The Railway Tavern Public House (Conservatory room), Angel Lane,


We call upon the European Railways Agency (ERA) to give a clear commitment that
rail safety and jobs will not be sacrificed in the interests of competition and profit.
RMT, along with transport unions from other
European countries, is calling on the European
We note that:
Railways Agency (ERA) to give a clear commit-
• the ERA is responsible for implementing the rules governing the European inter-
nal ment that rail safety and jobs will not be sacri-
ficed in the interests of competition and
market across national rail systems;
profit.
• since 2006 liberalisation of rail freight has led rail unions to raise serious con-
cerns over safety following a series of avoidable accidents involving privatised RMT is calling on all transport unions and or-
freight operators including in the Channel Tunnel (21 August 2006 and 11 Septem- ganisations that defend public transport and
ber 2008), Montauban (26 April 2008), Livernan (21 May 2009), Viareggio (29 June the environment to oppose the systematic
2009), destruction of national rail networks, jobs and
• the Inter-Governmental Commission on the Channel tunnel is examining the safety standards brought about as a result of
safety regime to prepare the route to meet European Union requirements to open the implementation of European Union rail
international passenger traffic to competition from 1 January 2010; liberalisation packages.
• the UK secretariat of the IGC safety authority has said that in light of European
rail legislation it is time to ask whether current safety rules remain relevant. CANE THE EU!!! -THE ‘BOSSES CLUB’
• Eurostar is the only passenger train operator that satisfies the current safety regime;
• the current review of safety appears likely to scrap the requirement that passenger trains using the tunnel be able to split in half and
leave in separate directions in the event of an emergency;
• the escape doors from the main tunnels to the emergency service tunnel that runs between them are 375 metres apart -a standard-
length train could find itself stranded some distance from an escape door in a fire, forcing passengers to travel further on foot, possi-
bly through smoke, to reach an exit; We reject any weakening of operational safety rules governing cross-border rail traffic. We are
concerned that the drive to competition contained in the EU rail packages is causing national and international safety authorities to
put the interests of competition before safety.
We call on all transport unions and organisations that defend public transport and the environment to oppose the systematic destruc-
tion of national rail networks, jobs and safety standards brought about as a result of the implementation of European Union rail liber-
alisation packages.
We call for:
• Sustainable development of a publicly-owned, socially-responsible, high-quality, integrated railway;
• Development of a railway with vocational training and occupational health and safety for workers, thus helping secure a high-quality,
safe service for the public;
• Valuing rail workers, by increasing their wages and improving their working conditions, with full, permanent employment rights, rec-
ognising workers as the core element in transport services;
• An improved system of collective bargaining, as a means to solving industrial disputes, based on the assumption that negotiating
working conditions is sign of social progress.
Because EU rail liberalisation packages are not just contrary to trade union perspectives but are having a negative effect on our socie-
ties, on rail users and workers, as a first step, we are calling for a mass protest at the offices of the European Railway Agency in Lille on
Tuesday 13 April 2010.

Signed: RMT; ASLEF; CGT; SNTSF.
4 Stratford, London E15… CONTACT THE SECRETARY FOR DETAILS


Although the Branch has condemned, and continues to condemn, the use of
Agency labour by the various Pirate companies our members work for as an
excuse to cut jobs and keep directly-employed staff at a minimum, we also
condemn the discrimination faced daily by a large swathe of workers, many
of whom we work alongside every day.... Agency Workers.

 20% of agency workers are from ethnic minorities and
particularly from Asian/ Asian British or Black / Black British
backgrounds compared with just 9% of all employees (Labour
Thousands of agency workers
Force Survey, Winter 2009)
across the UK face discrimination at
 Young workers. According to Labour Force Survey data
work. They are frequently paid less
(Winter 2009), agency workers are most likely to be under 30
and have worse terms and conditions
years of age, accounting for just under half of all agency
than their directly employed
workers, (48%).
colleagues, even where they work
 According to TUC analysis of the LFS 2009, agency workers
alongside them, doing exactly the
earn 70.5% of that of permanent staff
same job. Employers have been able
 In a survey of more than 2,700 individuals conducted for the
to do this because discrimination
TUC by YouGov in 2009, 33% of agency workers reported
against agency workers is currently
they had faced pay discrimination as compared with directly
legal.
employed staff doing the same job.
 According to the LFS Microdata Service (Winter 2009), nearly
The TUC and affiliated trade unions have
40% of agency workers are paid £6.00 or less per hour, as
campaigned for equal treatment rights for
compared to just 15.6% of all employees. This is particularly
agency workers for many years. In 2008, the
worrying when a third of agency workers are in households
EU Temporary Agency Worker Directive was
with dependent children (LFS Winter 2009).
finally adopted. Agreement on the Directive
 46% of respondents to the 2009 You Gov survey reported
was in part facilitated by an agreement
they had received less favourable holiday entitlement as
reached in the UK between the CBI, the TUC
compared to staff employed directly by a hirer.
and the Government. This agreement now
 47% of respondents to the 2009 YouGov survey reported less
forms the basis of the Agency Worker Regu-
entitlement to childcare facilities provided by the hirer com-
lations which were laid before Parliament in
pared with permanent staff.
January 2010. It is expected that the Regula-
tions will be adopted before the General
Election although the new rights would not
You should receive 5.6 weeks paid You should receive maternity and
come into effect until October 2011. The Di-
annual leave. sick pay.
rective must be implemented in the UK by
November 2011. It is unlawful under the 1973 An agency cannot with-
also have the right to be accompanied

ance hearing by either a trade union
You are allowed to join a union. You

at a workplace disciplinary or griev-

The Agency Worker Regulations 2010 seek Employment Agencies Act hold payment from you
to implement the Directive in the UK. for an agency to charge a fee simply because they
The Regulations will create new rights for agency to workers seeking place- have not received pay-
representative or a colleague.

ments in other industries ment from the hirer, or
workers including:
and occupations. The new because you cannot
regulations prevent agencies produce a signed time
 Equal treatment after 12 weeks on pay, holi- from requiring work-seekers sheet. Where the hiring
days and working time as compared with staff to pay for additional services company refuses to
employed directly by a user employer. (such as CV writing, training, sign a time sheet, it is
 Equal access to collective facilities and ameni- or the provision of personal the agency‟s responsi-
ties such as canteens, transport protective equipment) as a bility to establish the
 services, childcare from day one in an assign- condition of using the work- hours that you actually
ment. finding services of the worked. You should be
agency. paid for these.


"The BNP are like winter potholes. They slide into a gap in our
communities and wait for bad weather."
In just a few weeks’ time the British National Party could achieve its biggest breakthrough
to date by winning control of its first council, with a £200 million a year budget, and even a
parliamentary seat or two. It would herald a massive breakthrough for a party that only ten
years ago had just a thousand members and was largely irrelevant.
Alternatively, in just a few weeks’ time the BNP could have been defeated in its electoral bid
and end up with fewer councillors than it has now.
The outcome of these elections will go a long way to determin-
ing the extent of the BNP threat over the next few years.
HOPE not hate co-ordinator Nick Lowles looks at the 2010 elec-
tion campaign and highlights what needs to be done.
On the streets of Barking and Dagenham you can sense a mood. Few people remain unde-
cided and most have a view. Over the past few weeks I have accompanied a succession of
journalists around the Becontree estate and the shops on Dagenham Heathway. Few have
left unshocked.
The overt racism, the fear and the anger. Everyone can sense it. As we give out leaflets out-
side Dagenham Heathway station men, and they are usually men, shout “BNP” from their
cars. Some young women refuse to take our leaflets. They complain about a shortage of
housing, too many immigrants and jobs being taken by eastern Europeans.
“This isn‟t our area any more,” is a regular response. “They” – the word is pronounced in a
heavy and derogatory tone – “are being given houses”.
It can be depressing and even demoralising to hear these views. You just hope that the jour-
nalist is too busy talking to shoppers to hear the worst of the abuse, knowing full well it will
get reported.
But there is another side to Barking and Dagenham, one that is rarely recorded in the media.
People are beginning to stand up to the British National Party.
On a cold but bright January morning the HOPE not hate (HnH) campaign kicked off its 2010
campaign with a well attended Day of Action. Over 80 people took part, most from the bor-
RMT rally outside The ough itself. Most encouragingly, about 30 local people were new to the campaign and for
Broadway Theatre, Barking. some it was their first political activity.

A month later, in a plush room at the Royal Society Arts in central
Extinct Species; then and now:
London, Sandra Vincent, a GMB organiser from Barking, gave an
impassioned speech on the need to support the HOPE not hate
campaign. A working-class mother of two, who has lived in the
borough for 20 years, she told the suited and well-heeled audi-
ence at a HOPE not hate fundraising event how scared she would
be for her children if the BNP took control of the council.
The Dinosaurs... The Dodo... “I need you to help them [HnH] to help me to help my children to
help our community,” she concluded.
It brought the threat we are facing into clear perspective. In just a
few weeks the BNP might take control of Barking and Dagenham
council. If it does then the floodgates for further success for the
racist party will be open.

The Quagga... The Griffin... www.hopenothate.org.uk Tel: 020 7681 8660


NEW RMT REPRESENTATIVE BRO.
MANSFIELD ‘DOES THE JOB’

Bro. Mansfield, Local Rep at Chingford De-
pot, reported on the successful conclusion,
CLEANERS ATTACKED AT in a recent very serious and potentially ca-
LIVERPOOL STREET reer threatening case for one of our loyal
and long-serving members. He had 6½
It was reported that new Train Presentation years unblemished service and therefore
management in their supposed role of cus- A member was threatened with
Team Leaders have been posted at Liver-
todians of care should have noticed a being placed on a Stage 3 MfA re-
pool Street from Orient Way and Ilford
change his work behaviour pattern. His garding an issue with Sundays. He
Yard for the purposes of implementing
personal situation was extremely serious was unable to attend work for per-
cleaning improvements.
but none of this came out until the Hear- sonal reasons and informed the
It is alleged that staff have been getting
ing. However in a rare demonstration of Company at a days notice. It was
pulled off a train and then getting put back
some understanding the Award of Punish- noted that on any other day of the
on which unnecessarily stresses staff and
ment was relatively light, bearing in mind week he could have applied and
affects their performance and well-being at
an offence had been committed undoubtedly received Emergency
work. Viz, if ,managers do not know what
(although with major mitigation). We con- Annual Leave but due to the fact
trains are being cleaned or should be get-
gratulate Bro. Mansfield on his perspicacity that Leave cannot be booked for a
ting cleaned, should they actually be man-
and perseverance in bringing this delicate Sunday, some Lame-brain threat-
aging?
and serious matter to a conclusion satis- ened to put him down as sick. Luck-
Or can‟t they manage? ily a slightly more compos mentis
factory to our member.
Four cases have arisen. Depot Manager knocked that on
the head by NOT holding a RTW.
One member removed their blue vest post. Worked at Shenfield today; did not
whilst on PNB and left it on the cleaning have time yesterday through discussing AWOL? - CAN THEY SPELL IT?!
trolley. Was then disciplined for not wear- issue with the Union, and told by another
ing it, and is possibly suspended. Manager to stay at Liverpool Street until THE Branch Secretary is currently
sorted with the RMT. Therefore: was actu- progressing a Legal Claim on behalf
A member had a heated discussion with
ally obeying a direct instruction from a of a member who may have been
the Team Leader and was supposedly in-
Manager. deducted wages in conflict to the
vestigated. Returned to work pending a
Statutory Rules laid down in the
Form 1. Then sent to work at Shenfield, A full-time member had a confrontation
Employment Rights Act 1996
notwithstanding that Liverpool Street is with a Team Leader over whether a toilet
(Section 13).
their contracted place of work. The mem- was not cleaned properly. Now suspended,
ber is part-time and books-on/ off at Liver- presumably pending a Form 1. This mem- A manager took it upon himself to
pool Street; therefore a quarter of the shift ber is very quiet and does not get into ar- re-write the Company Procedure on
will be taken up by travelling, not including guments lightly which shows how serious „Absence without Leave‟.
PNB. Due to child-care issues, there is a it was. Perhaps the Board would like to
proviso that mobile-phone sign off is avail- Another part-time member was possibly have a word with him for over-
able in the event of service disruption. It given an instruction to clean an InterCity ruling their own Agreements?!
was reported that with a Form 1 pending toilet at rush hour when this is not booked If he had obeyed his Manager‟s
(due to the alleged argument with a Team to take place until after 09:30. The member instruction, he would have been
Leader) another one may now be pending is only booked-on until 10:00 which makes breaking the law, and the Manager
on a charge of disobeying a direct verbal the time to clean any toilets slim. was guilty of encouraging him to
instruction; the member queried with man- break the law. So he is nailed
It appears that a fifth of the Liverpool
agement and the RMT why they should go immediately.
Street Train Presentation link has been sus-
to Shenfield as their place of work was Liv- NEXT MEETING: ON THIS MATTER
pended within the week. Is this whole
erpool Street and they were not in a Relief 44, BROADWAY, STRATFORD, E15.
Department under attack?!
7


PHONE: 0207 7529 8835

NEXT BRANCH MEETING:
TUESDAY 18th MAY 2010, 1700 HOURS:
Stratford, London E15… CONTACT THE SECRETARY FOR DETAILS.
8

Newsletter: Late April, 2010

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