Why are LU staff going on strike over pay when they've only just had a pay rise?

[Bungle73]

Why have they suddenly added a pay rise to their demands, despite only just having one?

Thousands of London Underground station staff are to strike next month in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) members will walk out on 4 and 6 October, which the union said would shut down the capital's Tube service.
The union is locked in a row over cuts it said will lead to hundreds of job losses.
Transport for London has been approached by the BBC for comment.

London Underground: Thousands of staff to strike over job cuts

Union members will walk out on 4 and 6 October and shut down the Tube, the RMT's Mick Lynch says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[DavyCrocket]

What pay rise? There hasn’t been one since 2022 which is last year

The union a should add in the increased casualisation of station roles by use of office staff with very little training that often make up a higher proportion of staff numbers at some events.

 

[Bungle73]

What pay rise? There hasn’t been one since 2022 which is last year

The union a should add in the increased casualisation of station roles by use of office staff with very little training that often make up a higher proportion of staff numbers at some events.

As I understand it that was part of an already negotiated long term deal. IMO it's not a good look to have one long running dispute going, and then suddenly out of the blue add new demands to it.

 

[bramling]

Why have they suddenly added a pay rise to their demands, despite only just having one?

London Underground: Thousands of staff to strike over job cuts

Union members will walk out on 4 and 6 October and shut down the Tube, the RMT's Mick Lynch says.

www.bbc.co.uk

LU is a very unhappy ship at present. To give just a brief non-exhaustive summary:
* No pay deal going forward (the pay rise this year was the result of the previous deal, which it must be remembered did not deliver much of a pay rise at all during the period when inflation was low)
* Changes to working practices and agreements which keep being floated
* Constant revolving door style reorganisations which have been going on for many years, and generally with a track record that most of the reorganisations which have been done have been utter failures (both for the company and for the staff)
* A significant amount of vacancies which mean staff are being forced to pick up extra workload, whilst at the same time feeling that they are being treated like dirt.
* The usual bull in a china shop LU management

 

[footprints]

LU is a very unhappy ship at present. To give just a brief non-exhaustive summary:
* No pay deal going forward (the pay rise this year was the result of the previous deal, which it must be remembered did not deliver much of a pay rise at all during the period when inflation was low)

Not really LU's fault for delivering the pay rise for this year that was previously agreed with trade unions.

 

[SunSeeker]

Not really LU's fault for delivering the pay rise for this year that was previously agreed with trade unions.

There has been no pay rise this year, why do people keep saying there is? Last pay rise was 2022 as already mentioned. This year's pay deal is still being negotiated, and the next meeting is scheduled for October 12. This announced strike has nothing whatsoever to do with this year's pay deal.

 

[Goldfish62]

LU is a very unhappy ship at present. To give just a brief non-exhaustive summary:
* No pay deal going forward (the pay rise this year was the result of the previous deal, which it must be remembered did not deliver much of a pay rise at all during the period when inflation was low)
* Changes to working practices and agreements which keep being floated
* Constant revolving door style reorganisations which have been going on for many years, and generally with a track record that most of the reorganisations which have been done have been utter failures (both for the company and for the staff)
* A significant amount of vacancies which mean staff are being forced to pick up extra workload, whilst at the same time feeling that they are being treated like dirt.
* The usual bull in a china shop LU management

That's pretty much the same right across TfL, not just LU.

 

[Bungle73]

There has been no pay rise this year, why do people keep saying there is? Last pay rise was 2022 as already mentioned. This year's pay deal is still being negotiated, and the next meeting is scheduled for October 12. This announced strike has nothing whatsoever to do with this year's pay deal.

Except they're striking over pay so what's it about then?

 

[bramling]

Not really LU's fault for delivering the pay rise for this year that was previously agreed with trade unions.

But the point is this is a historic deal which has now ended. Inflation remains extremely high.

 

[ScotsRail]

Will the DLR and Overground be on those days? - I'm in London on the 4th.

 

[TFN]

Will the DLR and Overground be on those days? - I'm in London on the 4th.

DLR will probably have little/no service into Bank.

Overground will probably be OK other than maybe reduced hours at some LU managed stations (Canada Water/Whitechapel etc).

More details will come from TfL in the next few days or next week.

 

[SunSeeker]

Except they're striking over pay so what's it about then?

Except no, we are not striking over pay. The article you link doesn't even mention pay at all.

The strike is about jobs, pensions and agreements.

Jobs involves the cutting of hundreds of staff to the bare minimum requirements, which has led to understaffed stations, as well as many station closures.

Pensions is the on going dispute which is nothing new.

Agreements now involves the 'recent' ludicrous proposals for another change to the Stations set up which could cause a lot of displacements with a potential financial detriment for some, through no fault of their own.

 

[bramling]

Agreements now involves the 'recent' ludicrous proposals for another change to the Stations set up which could cause a lot of displacements with a potential financial detriment for some, through no fault of their own.

A lot of this traces back to the disastrous “fit for the future” re-org carried out a few years ago. One issue is that no one at senior level seems to have been held accountable for the massive amount of problems this caused. In fact the company seems so blind to their failures that they seem to be hell bent on repeating elements of this again.

The stations have never really recovered since the aforementioned change, and staff seem to have little to no confidence that any planned changes will do anything other than make things *even* worse.

Not a well functioning company at the moment, that’s for sure.

 

[Bungle73]

Except no, we are not striking over pay. The article you link doesn't even mention pay at all.

The strike is about jobs, pensions and agreements.

Jobs involves the cutting of hundreds of staff to the bare minimum requirements, which has led to understaffed stations, as well as many station closures.

Pensions is the on going dispute which is nothing new.

Agreements now involves the 'recent' ludicrous proposals for another change to the Stations set up which could cause a lot of displacements with a potential financial detriment for some, through no fault of their own.

Er yes it does! It’s in the headline and was in the BBC tweet I got it from!

 

[Goldfish62]

The strike is about jobs, pensions and agreements.

Pensions is the on going dispute which is nothing new.

What assurances on pensions are the RMT seeking over and above the assurances that were acceptable to ASLEF, Unite, TSSA and others?

 

[74A]

The pensions issue was sorted back in July.

 

[bramling]

The pensions issue was sorted back in July.

It isn’t entirely sorted, the matter is not dead but sleeping.

 

[Mawkie]

Er yes it does! It’s in the headline and was in the BBC tweet I got it from!

There has not been any ballot over pay - if there were a ballot it would include all grades.

The BBC link you've provided does not mention pay.,so presumably they've amended the website since you posted. The original tweet does headline pay as one of the reasons, but the BBC are incorrect.

This whole thread is based on misinformation.

There is no strike over pay.

Here is the news alert email from RMT - note: does not mention a pay rise as a reason for the strike action.

On Wed, 20 Sep 2023 at 12:59, rmtmail <[email protected]> wrote:


Our Ref: LUL/14/2

20th September 2023

TO ALL LONDON UNDERGROUND STATIONS & REVENUE GRADES

Dear RMT Member,

DEFENDING JOBS, PENSIONS & AGREEMENTS - LONDON UNDERGROUND

STATIONS & REVENUE INDUSTRIAL ACTION CALLED

Your Lead Officer has consulted with your Stations Reps and received detailed feedback on members' demands in response to LUL's latest position and proposals regarding station staffing. A further presentation was made at Stations Functional Council recently to completely re-organise station areas which has only added to members anger over these attacks on your jobs and terms and conditions.

If allowed to go unchallenged, these attacks will see pay cuts, displacements, increased fatigue, and reduced service to vulnerable passengers and customer service to all. Despite previous commitments, LUL has failed to reinstate or upgrade any station positions.

Members latest demands for all Stations & Revenue grades include: Full lifetime protection of earnings for all displaced staff; A guarantee that no displaced staff will be subject to any financial detriment; All agreed reinstated jobs and CSA2 upgrades to be implemented without further delay and talks to continue on further additions; The proposed area restructuring and associated downgrading to be withdrawn.

The National Executive Committee has considered this matter and taken the decision to instruct all Stations & Revenue grades to take strike action and not to book on for any shifts that commence between:

00:01 hours and 23:59 hours on Wednesday 4th October 2023

00:01 hours and 23:59 hours on Friday 6th October 2023

Also, to take action short of a strike and not work any Overtime or Rest Day Working from 00:01 hours on Sunday 15th October to 23:59 hours on Saturday 21st October

STAND FIRM TOGETHER - SUPPORT THE ACTION
SUPPORT YOUR UNION

I will keep you advised of all further developments.
Yours sincerely,



Michael Lynch
General Secretary

www.rmt.org.uk/