Special Meeting-RMT in dispute with SWT-Olympics Payment

 

To advise all that Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary) will be in attendance to address the Meeting on Tuesday 03rd July 2012 Start at 18-30pm, venue is below.

 

Bob will be addressing the Meeting in relation to South West Trains moving outside the 2011 Pay Agreement by trying to implement special rosters and declining leave during the Olympic period after committing to say as part of the agreement that it would be business as usual and normal Arrangements will apply for all SWT Staff.

 

The RMT have served notice of ballot to South West Trains, and the ballot will open on Thursday 06th July 2012, and will be sent to all members home addresses.

We have had reports that Managers are going around speaking to members of staff asking them how they are going to vote, this is a private and secure ballot and members should not be put under pressure by SWT. the RMT negotiators are available at an time to meet South West Trains management to discuss this issue with them, but their response at a meeting a few weeks ago was that there is no more money, and stated to us “Go and have your Ballot, and then said that they will do everything they can to stop it.

We would urge all members to Vote Yes for Industrial Action and Action short of Strike…..

Come along to this important meeting and hear your National Officers address the Meeting and to give you a current update on this Dispute, and will give you the opportunity to ask questions.

 

Venue

Windsor Castle Public House

Exit St Johns Entrance from Clapham Junction Station turn right outside  and the venue is 3 minutes walk from the entrance.

 

Tuesday 03rd July 2012

Start Time 18-30pm

Transport bosses average £1 million pay

www.rmt.org.uk

NEWS RELEASE

June 27, 2012

Transport bosses average £1 million pay

The bosses of the ‘big five’ private transport operators have pocketed an average £1 million each in pay, bagging an aggregate pay rise worth a shade shy of 20 per cent, according to their most recent company accounts, a study by transport union RMT reveals today.

As bus and rail passengers face fares hikes of a minimum of six per cent and service cuts, the news that transport bosses have followed the city trend to give themselves bumper pay packages will be greeted with anger and dismay, the union says.

Deepest in the trough was National Express boss Ray O’Toole, whose 110 per cent pay hike took him to £1.3 million.

Not far behind was Brian Souter, the Stagecoach chief whose £1.2 million pay last year was 35 per cent more than the year before – and that’s on top of his £51 million share of the £340 million dividend the company paid out, days after increasing some rail fares by as much as 13 per cent.

Arriva Group boss David Martin saw his pay increase by just under eight per cent to £803,000. Go-Ahead Group chief Keith Ludeman suffered a pay cut – but still walked away with £1.2 million, while Tim O’Toole of First Group had to make do with only £579,000.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said:

“These figures show once more that it is one rule for working people and another for their bosses.

“It is an absolute disgrace for transport bosses to be shovelling these vast sums into their own bank accounts when passengers are being fleeced and rail and bus workers are being told to tighten their belts, work harder and face losing tens of thousands of jobs.

“RMT has said from the start that transport privatisation boils down to a crude device for converting public subsidy into private profit, but these telephone-number salaries are an insult to passengers and transport workers alike.”

ends

Further information: Derek Kotz, 07939 595 092

Notes to editors: Figures taken from most recent company accounts:

Company Highest-paid director

National Express Group Ray O'Toole £1.3 million (31 December 2010)
(£644,000 in Dec 2009 +110.5%)

Rail franchises: c2c

Stagecoach Group Brian Souter £1.2 million (30 April 2011)
(£897,000 in Apr 2010 +35%)

Rail franchises: South West Trains, East Midlands Trains

Arriva Group David Martin £803,000 (31 Dec 2010)
(£743,635 Dec 2009 +7.9%)

Rail franchises: Arriva Trains Wales, Cross Country Trains

Go-Ahead Group Keith Ludeman £1.1 million (2 July 2011)
(£1,240,000 Jul 2010 -6.6%)

Rail franchises: Southeastern, Southern, London Midland

First Group Tim O’Toole £579,000 (31 Mar 2011)
(£643,000 Mar 2010 - 9.9%)

Rail franchises: First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First Hull Trains, Transpennine Express, ScotRail

SPECIAL BRANCH MEETING-OLYMPICS-SOUTH WEST TRAINS DISPUTE

As you are all aware the RMT are in dispute with South West Trains, and this is due to the Company moving outside of the 2011 Pay Agreement as part of the Olympics as they advised us that it would be Business as Usual and normal arrangements would apply this being all rosters/leave apllications and Terms and Conditions will remain as they are today.

We were also advised that there would be minimum extra services during the Olympic period this is not the case as there are more than minimal extra trains, and the company have also attempted to introduce new rosters and to decline applications of leave.

In light of the above we have arranged a Special Meeting at Clapham Junction and the details of this meeting is below, in attendance at this meeting will be RMT National Officers who will be addressing the meeting which will include Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary) Pat Sikorski (Assistant General Secretary) Sean Hoyle (RMT Wessex Executive Member) who will update you on this Dispute and the truth as to why your Union is in dispute with the Company and also be arranging a ballot for Strike action.

The Special Meeting will take place on:

03rd July 2012 Start Time at 18-30pm (Venue Windsor Castle Public House) 3 minutes walk from Clapham Junction Station Main Station (exit St Johns Entrance)

A poster with all the details on this meeting and a brief update on this dispute is attached to this e-mail, along with a Update from RMT on this dispute is also attached., copies of the posters will also be distributed to all locations shortly.

Please try and attend this special Meeting, and this Union would urge all SWT Members to Vote Yes for industrial Action and Action short of Strike

FIGHT CONTINUES FOR OLYMPICS PAYMENTS AT TRAIN OPERATORS AND TFL

     www.rmt.org.uk

NEWS RELEASE

June 25 2012

Immediate

FIGHT CONTINUES FOR OLYMPICS PAYMENTS AT TRAIN OPERATORS AND TFL

ON THE first full day of the RMT AGM in Torquay delegates are set to hear reports from the continuing fight for Olympics payments at three major train operators and Transport for London.

Although RMT has secured fair payments at a number of companies including Network Rail, Virgin Trains, London Overground. Heathrow Express, DLR and London Underground the union is in dispute and balloting at three key TOC's - South West Trains, Greater Anglia and First Great Western - and has announced industrial action for centrally employed TFL staff.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

"The fight for fairness over Olympics payments goes on and we are determined to secure deals for our remaining members in dispute which match industry best practice,

"The sheer brass neck of a company like First Great Western saying that we are demanding "money for nothing on a grand scale" when they have ripped off hundreds of millions in profits and subsidies from a franchise that they are now pulling the plug on is breathtaking.

"We have ballots in preparation at South West Trains, Greater Anglia and First Great Western and action on the way at TFL and our message to all those employers as the clock ticks down is to play fair by their staff who will be generating massive additional profits durung the Games and give them a decent reward in return for the extra effort."

SOUTH WEST TRAINS – OLYMPIC PAYMENT

Circular concerning SWT for your attention & distribution.

(Branch Secretaries) Hard copy in the post.

20^th June 2012

FAO:  ALL SWT REPS & Rail Branch Secretaries

Dear Colleagues

SOUTH WEST TRAINS – OLYMPIC PAYMENT

I am sure you will be aware that I have been holding talks with South West Trains in the company of your Company Council representatives in an attempt to re-open the discussions surrounding the Olympic Games, and a payment from the company to reflect the extra workload that our that our members will have to undertake during the Olympic period. You are I am sure aware that some months ago we concluded the 2011 pay talks, and part of the agreement reached with the company at that time was to accept a 0.25% additional payment on the rates of pay to reflect the extra work  engendered by the Olympic games. You will also be aware that the term used by the company in their offer was that they were prepared to offer this small additional increase on the rates of pay for the Olympics, because the changes they intended to put in were minimal and it would be business as usual. Now as time has moved on and we fast approach the Olympic Games we are discovering that there are numerous extra services being deployed by South West Trains during the Olympic period which far exceeds our understanding of the term minimal. In addition to that we have reports coming in to us on a regular basis of isolated incidents where Local Managers are declining leave because it’s the Olympic Games, and also attempting to impose special rosters for the Olympic period. To be fair to the company when we pointed these incidences out to them they took immediate action to reinstruct their Local Managers, and as far as we know all of those incidents of leave being declined and rosters being imposed  have been dealt with and we have reverted to the status quo, but my concern is that there will continue to be further incidences going forward.

I have to tell you that last week was the final attempt on our behalf to meet with the company and resolve this matter before the ballot papers came out to our members asking you to vote on Industrial Action to pursue this dispute. I have unfortunately got to tell you that the talks were not successful and the company’s position became abundantly clear at that meeting. It was simply put by them that they did not feel that they are stepping outside of the agreement reached with us some months ago, and that the additional services they are running are indeed minimal and it is business as usual. You will appreciate that our position as your Union representatives was also clearly put to them that we do not consider what they are doing to be

either ‘minimal’ or ‘business as usual’, and therefore we would seek to re-visit the 0.25% payment that they made to us last year to reflect this, and what we were seeking on your behalf was a one-off compensatory payment of a significant sum of money to compensate our staff for the extra work they are going to have to do over that period, this is in line with similar agreements reached with other Train Operating Companies for the Olympic period. The company’s position was clearly put to us at that meeting that there was no more money and that they felt that we were acting dishonorably in asking for more. They were not prepared to talk about changes to the pay deal that we negotiated some months ago, and their responses to our demands became evermore negative and indeed quite aggressive. They were not prepared in any way, shape or form to acknowledge that what they were doing was at the very least outside of the spirit of the agreement we reached with them some months ago, and they’ve felt that they had obviously done a deal with us that benefited them more than it benefited us and their attitude was ‘well look when you do deals, you win some and you lose some, and perhaps on this you’ve lost some but you have to swallow it and get on with it, and stick by the deal you’ve made’ they went on to say that ‘sometimes when we do deals between the two organizations we look back afterwards and think, well that wasn’t a particularly good deal for us and clearly on this occasion you feel the same, but whichever way it goes you have to honor the deal that you have signed up to.’  I have to say on this occasion I think that this is somewhat disingenuous on their behalf, and that they are steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the obvious truth that they did lead us down the garden path some months ago, and were not straight and truthful and honest with us at the time, and conned us into accepting that 0.25% increase.  They are now sitting back with a smile on their face feeling that they have got away with something and are not prepared to face up to their obligations of compensating their staff adequately for the additional work that is going to have to be undertaken.

I can tell you that the talks ended quite acrimoniously, and it became abundantly clear that they were not prepared to move forward on this matter at all at this time, and they finished by saying ‘go and have your ballot and we will do what we can to defeat it.’ I would ask all members therefore to help your negotiating team by voting overwhelmingly ‘ Yes’ when the ballot papers come out shortly in relation to this dispute, so that we can ask for further talks with the company in the sure and certain knowledge that we have the support of the membership behind us when we go to speak to them. I do feel that this is a matter upmost principle for the RMT in as much as we have been duped by South West Trains into accepting a pittance of a rise for the Olympic Games, and we must support the membership by rectifying that and achieving a sensible financial reward for you now. We all need to work together on this, and I can assure you that your negotiating team is ready to meet with the company again at anytime, and all we need now is your support to enable us to achieve that. It is essential that we return an overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote for Industrial Action and I would ask that this circular is posted on all local notice boards and brought to the attention of members at branch meetings, so that there is no doubt amongst our membership up and down the line of what our position is, and it will be clear to them what we are asking them to do when the ballot papers drop through the letterbox.

Yours Sincerely,

P.R.Gale

Pete Gale

Regional Organiser

Wessex Division

Mobile: 07946 386762

Email: p.gale@rmt.org.uk

RMT hits back at South West Trains’ “Olympic lies”

www.rmt.org.uk

NEWS RELEASE

June 15, 2012

RMT hits back at South West Trains’ “Olympic lies”

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union hit back today against “Olympic lies” being told by South West Trains after the company reneged on a “business as usual” promise over the games.

RMT is preparing to ballot its members at the company for industrial action after the company attempted to impose extra workloads, new rosters and a ban on leave despite a promise attached to last year’s pay agreement that the Olympics would mean “minimal” extra work.

The company has since admitted that at least 80,000 extra passengers a day are expected to pass through Waterloo, has timetabled substantial extra services and later running, has leased extra rolling stock, and has begun turning down requests for leave during the games.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said:

“South West Trains made a promise attached to last year’s pay deal that there would be minimal change for the workforce during the games and this has turned out to be completely false.

“We now know that every grade at the company faces substantially increased workloads and the prospect of enforced extra hours and leave requests being turned down, and that means that the company has reneged on last year’s deal.

“The company’s latest bulletin to staff, issued after yesterday’s talks, is a work of fiction that our negotiating team does not recognise.

“Rather than spread these Olympic lies, the company should be sitting down with us to negotiate a fair deal for SWT staff that recognises the substantial additional burden they will face, just as other train-operating companies have already done.”

ends

OLYMPICS PAYMENT-PRESS RELEASE-SOUTH WEST TRAINS

www.rmt.org.uk

NEWS RELEASE

June 13 2012

Immediate

RMT to ballot South West Trains staff for action as company reneges on Olympics arrangements

RAIL UNION RMT announced today that is to ballot staff on South West Trains for industrial action after the company reneged on Olympics agreements linked to this year’s pay settlement and attempted to impose a new regime that would force staff to work longer hours on extended services for nothing in return for the entire duration of the games.

This year’s pay agreement was accepted by staff following assurances from the company stating that there would minimal impact and that it would be “Business as Usual” during the Olympic/Paralympic period.

Recent developments show that his is clearly not the case as the company is now advertising additional trains and later running over the entire period. South West Trains (SWT) has hired extra rolling stock and has hired extra staff. Also, extra crews will be on standby, cleaners will have an increased work load, as will platform staff, ticket office staff, guards and the rest of the team.

SWT have issued no guarantees that existing rosters and agreed working patterns will be honoured without enforced overtime for all grades.RMT members report SWT managers admitting  that an extra 80,000 passengers per day would be using Waterloo. SWT’s website confirms later running and additional services throughout the games periods including special timetables for the rowing at Eton and the sailing at Weymouth.

As a result RMT has declared a formal dispute and has begun preparations for a ballot for both strike action and action short of a strike.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“Other train operators, notably Heathrow Express this week, have negotiated agreements with RMT that recognise the added pressures of the Olympics. South West Trains have taken a different approach, reneging on earlier agreements and instead trying to bully staff into accepting enforced increases to working hours and workload with nothing in return.

“RMT will not stand by and watch while agreements and procedures are trampled in the dirt purely in the interests of profit as SWT exploit the games for their own benefit at our member’s expense. We remain available for talks aimed at resolving this dispute and the ball is now firmly in the companies court.”

Olympics Payments-South West Trains

Our ref: BR2/0001/SWT

11^th June 2012

Dear colleague,

Olympic Payments – South West Trains

Referring to the referendum held last year on the pay offer which members voted to accept, I write to you again to inform you of matters that have since arisen in regard to the 2012 Olympics.

I draw your attention to one of the points of the pay offer in which an extra ¼ % was tabled to cover the Olympics. Acceptance was based on the company stating that there would minimal impact and that it would be “Business as Usual” during the Olympic/Paralympic period.

This is clearly not the case as the company is advertising additional trains and later running over the entire period. South West Trains (SWT) has hired extra rolling stock and has hired extra staff. Also, extra crews will be on standby, cleaners will have an increased work load, as will platform staff, ticket office staff, guards etc. SWT have issued no guarantees that existing rosters and agreed diagrams will be honoured without enforced overtime for all grades. Indeed, a SWT manager was heard to say that an extra 80,000 passengers per day would be using Waterloo and I am enclosing a copy of the extra services taken from the SWT website for your reference so you can see how this will impact on your work/life balance.

Other Train Operating companies are rewarding their staff for extra work during the Olympic period. For example, the Heathrow Express deal gives their staff the potential to earn an extra £700 plus no extended hours to booked diagrams; East Coast have offered a lump sum of £300 plus an extra £25 per shift on top of normal overtime payments and Voith cleaners are to receive a payment of an extra £400 for the Olympic period. If other TOCs and cleaning companies can make these rewards, I cannot see why SWT cannot reward you.

It is the view of your union that SWT have been disingenuous from the beginning and this is definitely 100% NOT what your union signed up to. RMT will not stand idly by and allow the company to ride roughshod over hard-won existing procedures, rosters and diagrams. Your union’s Executive Committee has considered the matter and it is appalled at the deceitful manner in which SWT has conducted itself.

The Executive have come to the conclusion that there can be no option but to declare that we are in dispute with the company and ballot you all for industrial action. Papers will be distributed soon and I strongly urge you all to vote for industrial action. With a robust mandate for industrial action from yourselves we can show SWT that we will not tolerate their underhand tactics to try and scam you out of a fair payment for the extra work that the Olympics will generate.

MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR VOTE

VOTE ‘YES’ FOR STRIKE ACTION AND INDUSTRIAL ACTION SHORT OF A STRIKE

Yours Sincerely,

Bob Crow

General Secretary

JOINT OPERATION – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES & NETWORK RAIL

Circular No IR/288/12

TO ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL OFFICES & REGIONAL COUNCILS

Our Ref: BR2/15/4

1^st June 2012

Dear Colleague

JOINT OPERATION – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES & NETWORK RAIL

Further to my Circular No IR/203/12 dated the 19^th April 2012 with regards to the above matter and where I informed you of the ‘alliance’ project between South West Trains and Network Rail, I now write to advise you that I have received further correspondence from the company confirming that the ‘alliance’ came into effect on the 29^th April 2012.

The matter has again been considered by the General Grades Committee and their decision is as follows:

“That we note the report from our Lead Officer outlining the latest position regarding the ‘Alliance’ between South West Trains and Network Rail and instruct the General Secretary to place all future information regarding alliances programmes involving Train Operating Companies and Network Rail in one file and to formulate a uniform response. Branches and Regional Councils to be informed.”

I will, of course, keep you fully advised on any further developments.

Best wishes.

Bob Crow

General Secretary