Tube staff are given 52 days holiday

By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent
(Filed: 24/11/2004)

Station staff on the London Underground will have 52 days off a year,
excluding weekends, under an agreement struck yesterday.

Transport for London, which runs the Tube, said a new 35-hour working
week had been negotiated under which staff would be on duty for 37.5
hours, and then "roll up" the extra two and a half hours into
additional rest days.

The 7,000 station staff would gain nine further rest days to add to
their previous six, plus 29 days' annual leave and eight bank
holidays, giving an overall entitlement of 52 days or 10 and a half
working weeks.

The RMT union, which has strongly supported Ken Livingstone, London's
mayor and the TfL chairman, said the "ground breaking" deal would mean
that with weekends included, staff would have 43 per cent of the year
off work. Station assistants typically earn £20,000 a year, with
supervisors on £35,000.

London Assembly Conservatives expressed fury at the settlement, which
follows threats of strikes from the union. A one-day stoppage took
place in the summer after negotiations ground to a halt.

Roger Evans, the transport spokesman, said: "This deal is beyond
comprehension. It is an outrageous insult to every hard-working
Londoner. Yet again we're seeing the unions holding the capital to
ransom. They know the threat of strikes always pays off. The answer is
to ban strikes on the Underground.

"Londoners will want to know what role Ken Livingstone played in this
mind-blowing agreement. The role of mayor is to put Londoners'
interests first. He has absolutely failed in this case."

Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary who was appointed for a period to
the TfL board, hailed the agreement enthusiastically. "Once again our
members' solidarity has brought results, and we have hammered out a
deal that sets the standard for the industry," he said.

Bobby Law, the union's regional organiser, defended the two-year
package. "This gives our members more quality time away from a very
stressful job. Tube staff work long shifts in difficult conditions
keeping an underfunded and fragmented system moving," he said.

"With abuse and assaults rising at an alarming rate, our members had
demanded better terms on working hours."

A spokesman for London Underground maintained that the arrangements
would be "self-financing" because the union had agreed that employees
could be deployed "more efficiently". It would allow Tubes to run
through the night on New Year's Eve and lead to later close-downs on
Friday and Saturday nights.

Pay and conditions on the Underground are becoming the most favourable
in the public sector. Tube drivers earn about £35,000 a year, but
manage with just 43 days off.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ or http://tinyurl.com/52a9s


Cheers,

Jason.