LU's longest ever dispute is over!

[Deleted]

The Acton Town remote booking on and off dispute is officially over as of Easter Sunday. The dispute has been going on since January 2005, making it LU's longest ever dispute.

I will not pass comment on the outcome, as my union have accepted the offer on my behalf so who am I to argue? Suffice to say we're going back to remotely booking on and off at ECT from Sunday.

[Colin]

**cough, splutter, cough** (I really should give up smoking ;D ;D)

I heard the Unions proposed the offer - an offer which i'll reserve judgement on.

For now ;D ;D...............

[Deleted]

So is the long and short of it that the Acton duties have basically gone back to normal, or are there other changes? Also if 'cushion time' was built into the shifts to enable booking on at the home depot would this mean that a drastic number of new t/ops would have to be located there to make up the duty driving time lost?

[Deleted]

Not being based at Acton or Earl's I see no reason not to observe what I've heard ...

***THIS IS ALL HEARSAY ***

20 or so Acton drivers will be sought to volunteer to move to Earl's Court depot. The middle turn and night turn roster links will move to Earl's Court depot.

This will clearly be a bad outcome if you are an Acton driver who does Nights or middles and you don't want to move to Earl's Ct depot. There are clear implications for senior drivers ousting less senior drivers to other rostered shift patterns at Acton (ie. A senior driver on the middle link at Acton MAY be able to oust a less senior driver from their early link position)...and one assumes Earl's Court (can a Senior Acton driver oust a less senior Earl's driver from their link?). Generally depot seniority is lost upon a change of depots, but that may not be the case in this scenario.

There is the possibility of a lot of out of joint noses, depending upon who exactly makes the move and how they or existing staff will be positioned.

Initially I gather the Acton volunteer drivers will move to the positions moved from Acton depot to Earl's Ct. However the duties and rosters will be recast upon the timetable change in the summer at which point I gather all positions will be allocated upon "some form" of seniority.

(The whole notion of allocating positions based upon seniority of service is likely to become illegal in due course if/when European Law relating to discrimination upon grounds of age is enacted in the UK. Furthermore as women are statistically more likely to have less seniority such allocations may already be unlawful of the grounds of sex discrimination - anyway ...that's an aside !)

My UNDERSTANDING is that agreement has been reached between the unions and management WITHOUT consultation or vote of the union membership .... and that drivers are consequently up in arms !

When remote booking on / off for Barking and Upminster drivers was discontinued. The duties were rejigged and any remote starts then incorporated paid time to travel to / from home depot of the remote point. With additional drivers recruited to balance the additional duties required (I think it was about 10 additional drivers). It works well, but at a staffing cost. The Action resolution is obviously lower cost (I think just a few extra drivers required) but I guess Acton drivers would have expected a resolution along the lines of the process at the east end of the District.

If the volunteers don't fall right, this could generate a whole new dispute dragging Earl's Court drivers in with it !

once again I repeat ***THIS IS ALL HEARSAY**

[Deleted]

Your hearsay is spot on, Aspect! Particularly the bit about drivers being up in arms! Why they couldn't have just paid us the bit travelling time like they used to, I have no idea.
But the management have got what they wanted, and there is now a very bitter taste left in the mouths of all west-end District crews, whatever depot, and there's also a lot of resentment between us now.

Good old unions! I'll only be staying in the union for the legal protection it provides, otherwise I'd become one of the ever-growing list of drivers who refuse to join a union for whatever reason.

[Colin]

Just a little bit to add to aspect's excellent summary - middle and night turn drivers will have first option on a transfer to Earls Court. The Earls court night link will be expanded to accomodate the Acton Town night drivers. An entirely new middle turn link will be created at Earls Court for ex Acton Town Middle turn volunteers. If there are not enough volunteers, Earls Court drivers will be able to then apply to join it. All other drivers from Acton Town (volunteers from other links or 'forced') will go into the pool at Earls Court, and will have to apply for their link of choice. Acton Town will be left with 3 links - early, late and mixed, which all drivers that are left will have to re-apply for. Blimey, that went on a bit ;D ;D ;D

To say drivers are not happy is very large understatement - we'll just have to see how things 'pan out'. As for me - well my future is very uncertain, and could involve any of the following as my 'depot seniority' is one of the lowest:

1) stay on my link at Acton Town

2) stay at Acton Town, but loose my link position and revert back to a 'pool driver'

3) volunteer to move to Earls Court - but may affect future transfer options, and i'll be back to a 'pool driver'

4) I'm "forced" to Earls Court, and i'll be back to a 'pool driver'


To explain a couple of terms:
Link = another word for rota
Turn = duty
Pool driver = the pool is a sort of spare rota, used to cover drivers who are training, on holiday, etc. Duties for this rota are only posted a few days before the next week - which hampers social planning.

Oh and on another point aspect made - it is correct to say the unions failed to consult their members prior to agreeing the deal with management.

[Deleted]

I'm really sorry for all the west end drivers caught up in this - it doesn't look too nice. I had a rough idea of the situation but didn't want to post as I could be wrong. This seems very similar to the situation I have at my workplace where our terms and conditions have been drastically altered. I know where you're coming from District t/ops - everything has been turned upside down

To add, the scenario Colin has described only has one fitting description - it has the words 'rock and hard place' in it.

[Phil]

The words 'union' and 'nepotism' also spring to mind, which would explain the non consultation with members

[Deleted]

colin said:

**cough, splutter, cough** (I really should give up smoking ;D ;D)

Yes, you should.