Aslef Journal

underground 11April 2010 LONDONdiscipline anyone for being in licensedpremises in uniform even though they are notdrinking. management quickly changed theirmind and will respond in due course.It has been minuted in this meeting thatstaff allocated to ‘valuing Time’ should do sowithin their rostered hours – so Trainoperators should not attend ‘valuing Time’ ondays when rostered hours are shorter than thehours of ‘valuing Time’ (inclusive of travelingtime).on the other hand management hasproposed that ‘Team Talks’ will no longer berostered, so they can cut 35 Train operator jobsand save £1.9 million. They’d still like us to do‘Team Talks’ if we happen to be spare. nochance.TunneL vIsIon:LONDON ROUND-UPOne constant theme developed last time the union’strains Functional Council met London Undergroundmanagement for formal talks: that it makes nodifference if the issue under discussion is right, moralor reasonable. the significant question for managersis, ‘Will it cost LUL money?’ this, allied to doublestandards, are the management approaches that runthrough all sections of this report …UPMINStERAgreement was reached locally at upminsterthat a snack machine would be bought andinstalled, confirming that facilities outside arepoor. In the 21st century this is the veryminimum that should be expected when on ameal break, staff side believes a canteenshould be provided at every location wherewe take a break. Rather than honoring theagreement all management could say was, ‘We(the royal ‘we’, presumably) have to save £2.4billion and this would cost too much money.’clearly unsatisfactory, the issue has beenraised to higher level in the machinery.INStRUCtOR OPERAtORSmanagement is trying to renege on theagreement we have that any Instructoroperator who falls short of the required abilityto coach others would be given additionaltraining to reach the required standard. Itcould only be agreed that he or she revertedto becoming a Train operator with protectedearnings if, following this additional training,they still did not reach the standard required.management wants to change this.If in their view an Instructor operators doesnot meet the standard they want to use thedisciplinary procedure to reduce them ingrade.tRUStWhen negotiations take place withmanagement there has to be some element oftrust. so the staff side was shocked atsomething that happened after discussionshad taken place on duty schedule guidelines.When management sent the changes theytried to slip in other changes that had notbeen agreed. And then they expect us to bereasonable!DOUbLE StANDARDSdouble standards appear to be another themeof industrial relations at LuL. on the centralLine ‘valuing Time’ meetings - wheremanagement explain how wonderfuleverything is - are held on licensed premises.but we’re not allowed on licensed premises inuniform!Personnel argued that ‘the rule book in thisinstance is not applicable as staff are not onoperational duties’. oK, we said. but it mustalso mean that management could not2009 AGREEMENtA section of the meeting was taken up withbreaches of the 2009 agreement – includingmoving staff to neasden, which could haveconsequences for staff already there. Thewhole purpose of the agreement is tomaintain minimum numbers of Trainoperators. We want to make sure staff arerecruited/ transferred to depots that could beunder minimum numbers – and to ensure thatupgrade pool operators are on the waiting listfor their home depot.LILLIEbRIDGELilliebridge, a local depot to earl’s court on thedistrict Line, has come back under theumbrella of LuL and management want to usethe depot to keep the new ‘s’ stock. newwalking routes and times have still to beagreed as management, to AsLef’s frustration,cancelled the arrangements to do this at thelast minute. As the depot will be used by LuLthere is no reason why Train operators cannotuse it to park cars – after all, office staff do andthey do not work our extreme shifts. We arealso determined to change the situation wherethere is no parking provided at earl’s courtdepot.HARROW ON tHE HILLmanagement have added to the agenda theheading ‘harrow on the hill’s accommodation’.do they have underhand plans? They told usthat the canteen will be ready when thesecond stage of moving Train operators takesplace later this year. but as we already knewthat, why do they want to raise it? Watch thisspace!FUtURE PLANSWe know that management have ideas to putforward, or plans to propose changes to anumber of agreements. We’re pretty sure theseinclude how we measure walking times, fixedlinks, syndicate guidelines, a review of the roleof ssTo’s and the discipline procedure. We’llkeep you informed.Compiled by Andy Viner