Venue: Exmouth Arms, Star Cross Street, near Euston

This workshop is a must for all workplace RMT representatives. Go through the basics of being an effective workplace representative if you are new in the post - and polish up your skills if you are long in the tooth!

This training workshop will look at:

• the various duties of a union rep
• where you can get help, advice and support
• how the machinery of negotiation works
• what a 'referral' is and how to fill one in
• the role of your branch and your grades committee

And there will be useful materials for you to take away with you.

This workshop is also running on the following afternoon in east London - details here.

Today I received a new leaflet from Steve Headley of which I have printed out around a 1000 of I will be handing these out on the trains on the way to work and slipping them inside of copies of the metro as and when i get a chance.

Dear Colleagues,

I am hearing more and more reports of members being called to attend fact-finding interviews whilst being denied RMT representation.

I have recently been given a document which comes with a message from the General Secretary on one side, and a proforma on the other. I have copied the proforma into a word document and attached it below. As soon as I am able I shall attach a pdf document with this blog entry. Please find the attached word document, and use it whenever necessary.

GENERAL REPRESENTATIVES TRAINING 2010 - EDUCATION, ORGANISATION & AGITATION
National Education Centre, Doncaster

Bob Crow writes ...

I have arranged a series of training courses for our elected representatives that will be held throughout the first quarter of 2010.

The courses are for our reps who have never attended a five day RMT residential before.

Venue: ex-Services Club, Harvey Road, Leytonstone - map here.

All London Underground RMT reps (indusrial relations, not health and safety) are released from duty to attend our meeting to discuss London Underground's pay offer, as follows:

Tuesday 6 October, 11am
Mahatma Gandhi Hall, Indian YMCA
Fitzroy Square, near Warren Street

• Nominations open: Thursday 3rd September
• Nominations close: Wednesday 14th October
• Ballots open: Thursday 22nd October
• Ballots close: Wednesday 2nd December

To stand for the Stations and Revenue Council, you must be a level one representative. Two posts will be elected, both to serve a term of three years: 2010, 2011, 2012.

If management schedule a meeting with a member of staff at which s/he is entitled to be represented -
eg. LDI, case conference, grievance hearing, appeal, flexible working discussion, etc - on the local union rep's rest day, then either
(a) the rep will attend and be allocated an alternative rest day; or
(b) the meeting should be rescheduled to a day on which the rep is at work.

If you are a union rep, and management schedule your union duties outside you rostered hours - eg. arranging a member's LDI at 16:00 on a day when you are on an early turn finishing at 15:00 - then you should get "time off in lieu". Your union duties are part of the company's legal responsibilities, so should be carried out in their time, not yours.

This is London Underground's policy on facilities for union reps. If you are not getting all that you are entitled to, raise it with your employing manager, and also advise your branch secretary and Stations & Revenue Council reps.

It seems that some managers have decided that union reps have to keep their lips buttoned during disciplinary hearings, perhaps only allowed to say a few words at the end. This is not true.

Section 37 of the Employment Relations Act 2004 states that a companion is permitted to address the hearing in order to:
• put the worker’s case;
• sum up that case;

RMT has produced a series of briefings for reps to help you produce effective union newsletters for your stations or other workplace. Click on the following links to read and/or download the briefings:

• getting started
• grabbing attention
• ideas for content
• tips for text
• design tips

Regular Newsletter or One-Off Publication?

• A regular newsletter is, in general, more effective than a one-off publication. With a regular newsletter, you will build up recognition, interest and trust from staff. Staff become cynical if the union ignores them all year, then plies them with leaflets when there is an election or ballot coming up.
• As a workplace rep, you can improve union communication at a rank-and-file level.
  

• Headlines should attract people to read your article. For main articles it is a good idea for a headline to be a complete sentence containing a verb; to tell readers what the article is about and why it should interest them. Poor headline: This year’s pay claim. Better headline: Union demands substantial pay rise and shorter working hours. Shorter pieces can have shorter, snappier headlines.

• After every level one meeting, produce a newsletter, with a brief report on each issue that came up, what was said by each side, and what the outcome was.
• What has happened at work recently?
  An accident, injury or other safety matter?
  A clampdown on trivial uniform rules?
• What are people talking about at work? What are their complaints?
• What came up at your last union meeting?
• What are the big issues about working conditions? This year’s pay talks? A new, harsher disciplinary regime? An attack on the union? Worries about possible job losses?
  

• Write a strong lead sentence, especially on your main article. Information most important to the reader should come first.
• Make your articles lively and interesting. Have a sense of humour.
• A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. There should then be a space before the next sentence starts.
• Names of people, places, days of the week, months and the word I start with capital letters. Other words should not. Do not start a word with a capital letter just because you think it is Really Important.
  

Here is some advice for making newsletters look attractive and easy to read.

RMT Stations & Revenue Council representatives negotiate with management about SRT issues and help individual SRT staff. But every other group of station and revenue staff has local union representatives as well as the Council reps, and so should the SRT.