London Midland Rail dispute

[Coombe Barton]

See http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-transport-news/2011/04/13/london-midland-rail-strike-called-off-65233-28517400/

[Bon Accord]

Interesting that it mentions a Sunday working shift allowance, and that it was reduced from £400 to £300. This might be an obvious question, but is that a monthly allowance?

[CovDriver]

Can we please get one thing clear there was never a strike it was a ban imposed by ASLEF not to work restdays or Sundays as they are not part of the working week !! So can a moderator please lock this thread ?

[Mod2]

So can a moderator please lock this thread ?

 

If you want to draw our attention, please use the Report button (as someone else has, on your behalf).

 

Thanks for the information but I see no reason to prevent useful discussion after just two hours and a few posts. The topic will be monitored though, as one particularly stupid comment has had to be deleted.

 

Cheers.

[melmerby]

Check out the BBC news coverage, it seems more positive:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13069760

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

Interesting that it mentions a Sunday working shift allowance, and that it was reduced from £400 to £300. This might be an obvious question, but is that a monthly allowance?

 

Regrettably a number of TOCs have suffered from what might politely be described as 'short-termism' in dealing with, particularly, rostering and similar problems and in a number of cases they took the easy way out and offered large sums of cash to buy their way out of trouble. Other examples included managers looking to make savings and cutting out 'spares' with the result that trains are cancelled unless Drivers work their Rest Days as the establishment has been reduced too much and no, or insufficient, cover turns have been left. Sunday was not part of the rostered week on most parts of BR but some of the more progressive TOC managements made early agreements with the Union(s) which included Sunday in the rostered week at the expense - usually - of greatly increased basic rates of pay although that also led to improvements in pension conditions and produced admin savings so the on cost was usually got back in other ways. But not all TOCs have done this and, as I believe has been the case at London Midland, problems have arisen from the rearrangement of franchises plus of course things can change when a franchise changes hands and the new owners seek to revise conditions etc.

[Edwin_m]

Can we please get one thing clear there was never a strike it was a ban imposed by ASLEF not to work restdays or Sundays as they are not part of the working week !!

 

It may not technically have been a strike, but most passengers would not have been able to tell the difference, and probably would not have been interested in doing so anyway. Rightly or wrongly the unions will get the blame, though I suspect if you asked a random sample of the public they'd probably mention Bob Crow rather than anyone at ASLEF!

[Bon Accord]

I've always found it curious, that what with the railway being a fully 7 days a week concern, like many businesses these days, that BR and its sucessors have never managed/seeked to alter the national agreements to take this into account, as opposed to this archaic RDW setup.

Not to say that they'd get it for nothing of course, but seeing as effectively most staff indulge in RDW at various points throughout the year, in the long term it would seem more sensible to formalise it.

[beast66606]

 

See StationMasters comments, only a couple above yours

[The Stationmaster]

Technically ( ) ASLEF don't ban Rest Day Working 'cos that can be construed as unofficial industrial action - thats why (in certain TOCs) they have to make themselves available for RDW as oppposed to making themselves unavailable...

 

Pendantic arnt I?

 

Have the 'ground rules' changed then Mickey? ASLEF official policy always used to be that the Union would not accept RDW (having fought for many years to get it abolished by creating sufficient relief posts in depot establishments) and that if management proposed RDW the local branch had to get formal approval from the Union before agreeing to it. I know that some TOCs made changes so making some RDW inevitable (I know of one manager who did it and left the company in a mess because the Driver's establishment was never adjusted to take account of the changes he had made)

 

The other side of the coin is the application of 'Hidden 18' which restricts the number of days which can be worked without rest plus setting requirements for certain minimum rest intervals etc. If the management of a TOC is putting itself in the situation where it cannot comply with that then the Union have every right to be 'aggrieved' and that apart the TOC's external auditors should be making a lot of noise. Equally if London MIdland has cancelled trains because Drivers won't work their Rest Days the situation is very simple - either there are too many vacancies, or the staff establishment is not adequate for the amount of work they have to cover, or they have unusually high levels of sickness and absenteeism; and all of those shortcomings are largely down to poor management in some form or other.

[Oldddudders]

Technically ( ) ASLEF don't ban Rest Day Working 'cos that can be construed as unofficial industrial action - thats why (in certain TOCs) they have to make themselves available for RDW as oppposed to making themselves unavailable...

 

Pendantic arnt I?

I don't see that a union can ban anything - it can only advise its members. Members pay the union's wages - not the other way round. I believe a ballot would be needed for such a decision to have any sort of status.