London Banter - View Single Post

Recliner[_3_] · February 2nd 17, 12:12 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
In article
-septembe
r.org, (Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
In article ,
(David Cantrell) wrote:

On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 04:09:19PM -0000, Recliner wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
The RMT and ASLEF are almost always unreasonable, but it seems that
in this case they might have a point. It depends, I suppose, on how
LU are treating the drivers who are being asked to move.
If your employer asks you to move more than certain distance, don't
you have the automatic right to treat it as redundancy?

Even if you do, what counts as a reasonable distance in one place might
not be reasonable in another. Whether the staff affected think it's
reasonable will depend on travel time (and cost), whether public
transport is available at the necessary times, and so on.

Is this week's strike, which is predicted to be much more
disruptive, about the same issue?

Actually, next week's strike. No, this is another one about the closed
ticket offices, which aren't going to reopen. If it's like the last of its
type, most lines will have a service, but few zone 1 stations will be
open. Trains will run non-stop through them at low speed.

Thanks. I'd forgotten about that dispute. It's not just about ticket offices
but also about station staffing where it seems to me that the unions have a
point.

Yes, they probably do, but 200 more station staff are being recruited, so I
don't see why they're still striking.

From
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tube-strike-london-underground-station-staff-24-hour-walkout-shortage-zone-1-central-rmt-a7516776.html

Steve Griffiths, London Underground chief operating officer, said the
transit operator has agreed to hire hundreds of new station staff.

"There is no need to strike,” he said. “We had always intended to review
staffing levels and have had constructive discussions with the unions.

"We agree that we need more staff in our stations and have already started
to recruit 200 extra staff."