RMT members on Heathrow Express to strike this weekend
HeathrowRMT members on Heathrow Express are to take strike action over the weekend over what it describes as “an all-out assault on pay, jobs and safety”.

The strikes will last between 3am on Friday and 3am on Saturday, and again from 3am on Monday to 3am on Tuesday. In addition, workers will refuse to do any overtime throughout the weekend.

The action will coincide with strike action planed by Unite technicians on London Underground, who will close down the entire Tube network.

RMT members are furious that Heathrow Express plans to re-organise its workforce indicating that, in an attempt to save £6 million over the next five years, some 201 jobs – half the workforce – are now placed under threat of redundancy, representing around half of the current workforce. The attack on jobs and working conditions comes as a direct result of the decision of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to cut £600 million from the Heathrow Airport budget over the same period.

Tube faces total closedown this weekend as union threatens to strike over pay - See more at: http://union-news.co.uk/2014/05/tube-faces-total-closedown-weekend-union-threatens-strike-pay/?doing_wp_cron=1400587510.7588191032409667968750#sthash.CPGETJhE.dpuf/> by Tim Lezard - 20th May 2014, 8.00 BST

TubeThe London Underground faces a complete close down this Bank Holiday weekend, as the workers who control the power to run the trains, prepare to strike in a dispute over pay differentials.

The 40 technicians, mostly members of Unite, are based at the power control room in Blackfriars Road, London where they provide the power for the 270 station underground network.

The action will coincide with a strike by RMT members on Heathrow Express.

Talks were being held yesterday at ACAS in a bid resolve the dispute before the strike is due to start at midnight on Saturday. Because of health and safety concerns, so that passengers are not stranded on Tubes without power, the underground will begin to close down on Friday evening.

The dispute is complex and involves the workforce being TUPE’d to other organisations some years ago, and then coming back under London Underground management, but with different conditions.

This means that some workers started their length of service from day one when they returned to London Underground, while others brought back their full number of previous years’ service. This would have a differential impact on the level of pensions and other entitlements for some staff.

Unite is also asking for more money for its members to do the training of new recruits, but the management wants the staff to take on this additional responsibility for no extra cash.

Unite regional officer Hugh Roberts said: “There is a real possibility that the underground could close down over the Bank Holiday weekend. Unite is working very hard to achieve a fair settlement for our members – and to avoid the industrial action. The ball is very much in the management’s court.

“The issue here is broken promises, unfair treatment over differentials and worsening conditions. London Underground management’s penny pinching attitude is not being driven by common sense, but by the background agenda of budget cuts in the Treasury’s funding.

“The management has had a long-time to resolve this dispute and we urge them to do so very quickly, so Londoners and domestic and foreign visitors can enjoy the many delights of the capital over the late spring Bank Holiday.”
- See more at: http://union-news.co.uk/2014/05/tube-faces-total-closedown-weekend-union-threatens-strike-pay/?doing_wp_cron=1400587510.7588191032409667968750#sthash.CPGETJhE.dpuf/>
The union has warned that the cuts would leave the vital Heathrow services vulnerable to terrorist attack with the eyes and ears of the operation, the staff on the trains, thrown onto the scrapheap to protect company profits.

RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said: “Despite the bogus claims from the company and the media hype, the fact is that the last wave of strike action was solidly supported by the staff and the HEX service was reduced down to a skeleton operated by scab managers, with limited training, while Heathrow Connect was closed entirely. Instead of cooking up phoney passenger numbers and ghost-train timetables the management should be round the table addressing the fundamental issues of jobs, pay and safety at the heart of this dispute.

“The Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect services are dealing with growing demand as the airport expands and the idea that safety and service is going to be sacrificed at the stroke of an accountant’s pen would shame London and leave these high-profile services extremely vulnerable. The CAA themselves have warned that the staffing cuts are a false economy which will hit revenues as service quality drops through the floor.

“The removal of on board staff, and the driving forwards of Driver Only Operation, would render services inherently unsafe and make evacuation in the wake of an emergency incident or terrorist alert an absolute nightmare.

“The planned axing of jobs, and the associated freezing and hacking back of pay and working conditions, is a kick in the teeth for the staff who have made Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect the success story that they are today. The staff have stood up and been counted and it is down to company to halt the cuts plans and start talking seriously about a safe and secure future for this vital London transport link.”

* The RMT has demolished the case for each of the main areas of proposed cuts proposed on Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect services:

Cut ONE – Removal of on-board staff on Heathrow Connect service:

· Passengers will suffer increased anti-social behaviour due to no staff presence.

· An increased threat of terrorist attack – both HEx & Heathrow Connect are high-profile and high-risk targets.

· Serious safety concerns over drivers single-handedly having to evacuate the train without assistance.

· Increased delays for passengers, as drivers will be tasked to deal with passenger alarms and emergencies on their own.

· Disabled and mobility impaired passengers will have no assistance on board.

· The reputation amongst passengers of Heathrow Connect as being a “safe” service due to on-board staff will be destroyed.

· Drivers will have no help in emergency situations like fatalities, injuries or passengers being assaulted.



Cut TWO – Removal of evacuation competency of Heathrow Express on-board staff:

· This would mean that a HEx train could be run without any on-board staff at all, because the requirement has been rescinded by the cuts plan . HEx passengers pay a premium price for a premium service and expect to get this 100% of the time, not some of the time. These changes are further ripping off the customer in terms of safety and customer service.

· Drivers are deeply concerned over the prospect of having to evacuate a fully loaded 9 car train without any assistance at all. Drivers see this as blatant disregard for passenger and staff safety.

· The train driver cannot physically get to the trailing unit in an emergency due the absence of gang-way doors. With no on-board staff with evacuation competency, the passengers are being asked to fend for themselves.



Cut THREE – Extension of Driver Only Operation (DOO):

· Staff do not see this as being as safe as the current assisted dispatch methods. Drivers have made it clear that passenger safety will be put at risk.

RMT has rubbished claims by the company that they ran anything other than a limited, shuttle service for PR purposes on Heathrow Express during the last strike action with Heathrow Connect closed down entirely.
- See more at: http://union-news.co.uk/2014/05/rmt-members-heathrow-express-strike-weekend/#sthash.tum93mss.dpuf
20 May 2014 - 13:02 by WDNF Workers Movement | comments (0)