TUBE UNION RMT today demanded a full external investigation into an escalator fire at Euston station four weeks ago where smoke detection systems failed and the station was only safely evacuated through the experience and vigilance of station-based staff. RMT have this morning referred the matter to the safety regulator the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

Tube Lines workers are set to strike from 19:00hrs on Wednesday 23 June through to 18:59hrs Friday 25 June. Tube Lines are responsible for crucial maintenance and engineering roles from lifts and escalators to signals and track - primarily, though not solely on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines.

Importantly, Tube Lines are responsible for the Emergency Response Unit that covers the entire network and is fundamental to the safe running of London Underground. To ensure your own safety and that of others during the period of industrial action you are advised to approach your management prior to carrying out your duties for assurances that a safe system of work is in place.

1/ Fatigue Study.

This was commissioned by LUL after request by the ORR (Office of the Rail Regulator). This is going to be looking at getting better rosters to stop fatigue and the ill health effects of fatigue, and this will be ongoing throughout the company.

2/ Change Assurance Plans

on Thursday 6th of May @ 1400hrs the S. O. S. campaign will leaflet the public at Elephant & Castle station.

RMT will be appearing outside various stations over the coming weeks, giving out leaflets and collecting signatures. Keep checking back to this website for dates and details - and join us if you can!

Easthammer 6 is now out a totally different format because I was bored and decided to make it into a 4 page booklet when printed. I would still like input from other Reps in the Branch as I only know whats going on at my group. This is now an 8 page version although it may go back to four for other editions but I thought I would include a Centre fold poster (No not that kind)

In December, RMT revealed plans by London Underground management to close 144 ticket offices with the loss of 1,200 jobs. Your union can now reveal the company’s latest attempt to cut jobs: in a leaked report headed ‘Minimum Staffing Levels’, management plan to reduce station staffing numbers to a bare minimum.

London Underground has decided that all additional station staff duties required by project work must be covered by the Special Requirements Team - even where there are existing project CSAs at that location. As a result, those staff face being forced to move away to a work location where they do not want to work, and will be replaced by people who are not nearly as familiar with the station.

The station which this will affect immediately is Bank/Monument, which has just completed phase 1 of its project work but still has several more phases to go, and will not be completed for several years. As ‘On The Move’ recently pointed out, the Bank/Monument complex is the largest underground railway station in Europe. There are already serious concerns about staffing levels, assaults and evacuation times on the station, and replacing staff who are familiar with the running of the station and well-versed in evacuation procedures can only make these problems worse.

RMT Health & Safety Council representative Tony Gandolfi writes ...

I attended a meeting today looking at the placement of OLBI (Off Line Battery Inverters - emergency lighting batteries) information relating to individual faults at stations with multiple OLBIs, from the Congestion Control and Emergency Plans (CCEP) to the new Station Reference Files.

Swift action by RMT representatives has led to Acton Town group management withdrawing attempts to have CSAs "babysit" stations ie. work alone, covering the Supervisor's duty.

RMT strongly objects to this practice, because:

• CSAs are entitled to work with a Supervisor, as without one they are unsafe and vulnerable;

RMT raised the issue of medical restrictions on staff at the Strategy & Development Forum today. As the Stations & Revenue Health & Safety Council is due to discuss this issue at its next meeting on 12 November, we presented three key concerns that we would like to be included in that discussion:

Below is the company's (not the union's!) guidance on swine flu. Comments welcome!

Please find below our current response and actions you should take for staff that report sick with swine flu or flu like symptoms. This advice supersedes all previous advice with immediate effect. Please cascade this as necessary.

You'll probably be aware that Mayor Boris Johnson held a 'Swine Flu Summit' yesterday to address concerns. No trade unions were represented.

Meanwhile, LUL's Director of Safety is insisting there is no need to meet your safety representatives over the issue and that the entire thing is exaggerated.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download a joint RMT/TSSA leaflet on swine flu from your London Underground Stations & Revenue Health & Safety Council reps. Read the text below.

You can read more union information about this issue on the RMT London Calling website by clicking here.

Influenza A (H1N1) – Swine Flu Update.

TRANSPORT UNION RMT warned today of severe pressures on staffing levels and serious safety risks across the transport system as experts advised that up to 40% of the population could become ill with the swine flu over the coming weeks.

STRIKE BREAKERS NEED TO OPEN THEIR EYES

Management want to scrap the ‘no compulsory redundancies agreement’, they have made that clear, (RMT members took 2 days strike action to secure this agreement, and won).They go on to say that the only planned job losses are admin, not front line. So then why do they want to scrap it for operational front line staff too?

Article from May 2009 edition of Finsbury Park Branch Monthly News

While Victoria line drivers are being sacked for safety breaches which would not even have occurred had the company fitted correct-side door enable equipment to its trains, it seems that managers can make safety-critical mistakes with impunity. An example of this took place on 7th May at Blackhorse Road station. At about 1700, both escalators failed. The Supervisor tried everything to get at least one of them restarted but without success. Because both escalators were inoperative, the Supervisor evacuated and closed the station as required by the Congestion Control and Emergency Plan (CCEP) for the station. A while later, engineers arrived to try to fix the escalators. So far, so good.

stationsafety@rmtlondoncalling.org .uk www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/swineflu

08 May 2009

"We hope the virus fizzles out, because if it doesn't we are heading for a big outbreak...I'm not predicting the pandemic will blow up, but if I miss it and we don't prepare, I fail. I'd rather over-prepare than not prepare".
WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download a leaflet from your health and safety reps about swine flu.

Click on '1 attachment' / file name to download this leaflet. Read the text below.

Today, Victoria Line drivers are striking. One reason for this is that London Underground will not install safety equipment that stops doors opening on the wrong side of the train.