Its that time of year again
 

Theres seems to be a threat of another tube strike in the air
according to the radio. Anyone know what its about this time or is it
just the usual tub thumping over some non existent issue to squeeze
another pay rise / shorter working hours out of TfL?

B2003

Its that time of year again
 

On Feb 5, 9:56 am, Boltar wrote:
Theres seems to be a threat of another tube strike in the air
according to the radio. Anyone know what its about this time or is it
just the usual tub thumping over some non existent issue to squeeze
another pay rise / shorter working hours out of TfL?

B2003

It is over reducing LU Staff responsibilty and contracting out some
station work to agency staff and security firms. This will further
fragment the railway and remove operational responsibilty that there
currently is from being all in the same company. I know you have
complained about Arnos Grove before Boltar, if LU's plan went through
then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

Both RMT and TSSA (usually known as To Scared to Say Anything - they
havent actually striked for many many years and rarely even ballot!)
asked LU to stop and discuss with them many months ago the whole
situation. They gave a deadline of 1 Feb.

Hopefully for the good of the travelling public and for members this
can all be sorted without the need for direct strike action.

Its that time of year again
 

On 5 Feb, 10:09, chunky munky wrote:
Theres seems to be a threat of another tube strike in the air
according to the radio. Anyone know what its about this time or is it
just the usual tub thumping over some non existent issue to squeeze
another pay rise / shorter working hours out of TfL?

It is over reducing LU Staff responsibilty and contracting out some
station work to agency staff and security firms. This will further
fragment the railway and remove operational responsibilty that there
currently is from being all in the same company. I know you have
complained about Arnos Grove before Boltar, if LU's plan went through
then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

Hmm. The only contracting of station staff that's been proposed is at
Heathrow Terminal 5, and that's because it'll be managed by BAA and
not LU. The rest appears to be scaremongering nonsense from the
unions, who're spooked that the London Overground model might actually
work just as well as LU at keeping stations safe and clean despite
being contracted and lower-paying.

If there's an official statement from LU that they're planning to
replace employed staff in LU stations with contract staff[*], then
I'll retract the above...
[*] yes, OK, ELLx, whatever.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Its that time of year again
 

In message
,
chunky munky writes
On Feb 5, 9:56 am, Boltar wrote:
Theres seems to be a threat of another tube strike in the air
according to the radio. Anyone know what its about this time or is it
just the usual tub thumping over some non existent issue to squeeze
another pay rise / shorter working hours out of TfL?

B2003

It is over reducing LU Staff responsibilty and contracting out some
station work to agency staff and security firms. This will further
fragment the railway and remove operational responsibilty that there
currently is from being all in the same company. I know you have
complained about Arnos Grove before Boltar, if LU's plan went through
then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

Both RMT and TSSA (usually known as To Scared to Say Anything - they
havent actually striked for many many years and rarely even ballot!)
asked LU to stop and discuss with them many months ago the whole
situation. They gave a deadline of 1 Feb.

Hopefully for the good of the travelling public and for members this
can all be sorted without the need for direct strike action.

It's certainly not over pay as we're in the third of a 3 year pay deal.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

Its that time of year again
 

On 5 Feb, 10:09, chunky munky wrote:
then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

I have no doubt a large proportion of LU staff are very professional
and as you say to take pride in their work (thumb in the air guess
and from personal experience I'd say it was the older staff). However
there seems to be a similarly large proportion who don't give a stuff.
This probably applies to any company, however when its a public
service its expecially annoying to the "customers".

I very much doubt LU will make staff redundant and replace them with
contract so if there are to be any contract staff its probably just to
make up the numbers, which to me would suggest the unions are simply
scared of losing a bit of influence. A good place to start would be
Woodside Park station where I had to travel from the other month - the
ticket office closes at about midday on a weekday. Wtf is that all
about??

Hopefully for the good of the travelling public and for members this
can all be sorted without the need for direct strike action.

Though no doubt Bolshevic Bob will make sure it goes down to the wire.

B2003

Its that time of year again
 

How can LU triumph taking over the ex-Silverlink stations and then
propose changes overall that reduce many LU stations to the former's
state?

As the Evening Standard rightly says, closing ticket offices removes
the station's focal point, gives the impression that the premises are
unsupervised and allow staff to be anywhere on a station (but not
where passengers can neccesarily find them).

At my local station we still get constant recorded announces asking
people to renew weekly tickets of Friday evenings even though the
booking office now closes sharp at 19:00 (and the ticket seller post
was removed so this person is *not* walking around the platforms to
"reassure" passengers as LUL's publiciy claimed).

Its that time of year again
 

On 5 Feb, 18:32, wrote:
How can LU triumph taking over the ex-Silverlink stations and then
propose changes overall that reduce many LU stations to the former's
state?

They haven't. Silverlink stations were unstaffed during traffic hours.
No LU or LO stations are or will be unstaffed during traffic hours.

As the Evening Standard rightly says

....and other unlikely sentences ;-)

closing ticket offices removes
the station's focal point, gives the impression that the premises are
unsupervised and allow staff to be anywhere on a station (but not
where passengers can neccesarily find them).

Depends on how it's done. It's not beyond the wit of man to put rules
in place that force staff to be where passengers *can* find them, as
long as they're not dealing with something else critical at the time.

At my local station we still get constant recorded announces asking
people to renew weekly tickets of Friday evenings even though the
booking office now closes sharp at 19:00

....so anyone who isn't an investment banker (and hasn't stayed in the
pub for more than a couple) is still well placed to renew their weekly
ticket on Friday evening, so the announcement is still sensible.

(and the ticket seller post
was removed so this person is *not* walking around the platforms to
"reassure" passengers as LUL's publiciy claimed).

That's a poor show by LUL if so.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Its that time of year again
 

"chunky munky" wrote in message
...
On Feb 5, 9:56 am, Boltar wrote:
Theres seems to be a threat of another tube strike in the air
according to the radio. Anyone know what its about this time or is it
just the usual tub thumping over some non existent issue to squeeze
another pay rise / shorter working hours out of TfL?

B2003

It is over reducing LU Staff responsibilty and contracting out some
station work to agency staff and security firms. This will further
fragment the railway and remove operational responsibilty that there
currently is from being all in the same company. I know you have
complained about Arnos Grove before Boltar, if LU's plan went through
then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

Both RMT and TSSA (usually known as To Scared to Say Anything - they
havent actually striked for many many years and rarely even ballot!)
asked LU to stop and discuss with them many months ago the whole
situation. They gave a deadline of 1 Feb.

Hopefully for the good of the travelling public and for members this
can all be sorted without the need for direct strike action.

Whats so special about Northwood station?

Its that time of year again
 

On Feb 5, 6:58*pm, John B wrote:
On 5 Feb, 18:32, wrote:

How can LU triumph taking over the ex-Silverlink stations and then
propose changes overall that reduce many LU stations to the former's
state?

They haven't. Silverlink stations were unstaffed during traffic hours.
No LU or LO stations are or will be unstaffed during traffic hours.

As the Evening Standard rightly says

...and other unlikely sentences ;-)

closing ticket offices removes
the station's focal point, gives the impression that the premises are
unsupervised and allow staff to be anywhere on a station (but not
where passengers can neccesarily find them).

Depends on how it's done. It's not beyond the wit of man to put rules
in place that force staff to be where passengers *can* find them, as
long as they're not dealing with something else critical at the time.

At my local station we still get constant recorded announces asking
people to renew weekly tickets of Friday evenings even though the
booking office now closes sharp at 19:00

...so anyone who isn't an investment banker (and hasn't stayed in the
pub for more than a couple) is still well placed to renew their weekly
ticket on Friday evening, so the announcement is still sensible.

No it isn't. Your previous statement is clearly false.


(and the ticket seller post
was removed so this person is *not* walking around the platforms to
"reassure" passengers as LUL's publiciy claimed).

That's a poor show by LUL if so.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot orgwww.johnband.org

Its that time of year again
 

Well the untruth was the lie told about a year or more so which
implied that former ticket seller staff were being taken out of
booking offices to provide a reassurance presence on platforms etc
giving an assumption this would be *on the same stations*.

This wasn't true as they were often used to fill positions within zone
1 or as drivers. Also I don't think closing ticket offices in zone 2/3
at 1900 on a Friday smacks of either "customer service", or "world
class metro" r.

The rosters were changed to remove these positions from station
establishments and if any do remain for "minimum staffing" reasons
they are invariably now just sitting in a secure ticket office with
the "CLOSED" blind lowered and completely uncontactable by passengers.

Let LU cut staff if they see fit but don't spin the decision as some
form of enhanced security measure - it isn't...

Its that time of year again
 

On 5 Feb, 21:28, MIG wrote:
...so anyone who isn't an investment banker (and hasn't stayed in the
pub for more than a couple) is still well placed to renew their weekly
ticket on Friday evening, so the announcement is still sensible.

No it isn't. Your previous statement is clearly false.

No, it's mildly hyperbolic. Nonetheless, I'd happily stake my life
that the majority of people who:

1) work Monday-Friday jobs in central London
2) commute to/from Bow Road
3) don't go out after work on Friday night for more than a couple of
drinks

do arrive at that station before 7pm on a Friday evening.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Its that time of year again
 

On Feb 5, 11:30*pm, John B wrote:
On 5 Feb, 21:28, MIG wrote:

...so anyone who isn't an investment banker (and hasn't stayed in the
pub for more than a couple) is still well placed to renew their weekly
ticket on Friday evening, so the announcement is still sensible.

No it isn't. *Your previous statement is clearly false.

No, it's mildly hyperbolic.

In that case it's the most wildly hyperbolic statement on any subject
ever.

Nonetheless, I'd happily stake my life
that the majority of people who:

1) work Monday-Friday jobs in central London
2) commute to/from Bow Road
3) don't go out after work on Friday night for more than a couple of
drinks

do arrive at that station before 7pm on a Friday evening.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot orgwww.johnband.org

Its that time of year again
 

On Feb 5, 12:35 pm, Boltar wrote:
On 5 Feb, 10:09, chunky munky wrote:

then things would be much worse. The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

I have no doubt a large proportion of LU staff are very professional
and as you say to take pride in their work (thumb in the air guess
and from personal experience I'd say it was the older staff). However
there seems to be a similarly large proportion who don't give a stuff.
This probably applies to any company, however when its a public
service its expecially annoying to the "customers".

I very much doubt LU will make staff redundant and replace them with
contract so if there are to be any contract staff its probably just to
make up the numbers, which to me would suggest the unions are simply
scared of losing a bit of influence. A good place to start would be
Woodside Park station where I had to travel from the other month - the
ticket office closes at about midday on a weekday. Wtf is that all
about??

Hopefully for the good of the travelling public and for members this
can all be sorted without the need for direct strike action.

Though no doubt Bolshevic Bob will make sure it goes down to the wire.

B2003

Actually Boltar, it is probably 50/50. I am not old! A lot of older
staff now just want to go and retire as they are fed up of the
constant blame culture rather than running a train service. Whereas us
newbie staff have only ever known it like this and that every tiny
little thing is contracted, then sub-contracted and that you are not
always allow to tell the tuth for "political reasons"!

The ticket office closures have been pushed through by TfL, though
some were agreed by the unions as part of the station staff re-
structuring.

LU have been talking with the unions since October last year, so to
just turn around and say this is all new is a bare faced lie!

Its that time of year again
 

On 6 Feb, 09:17, chunky munky wrote:
LU have been talking with the unions since October last year, so to
just turn around and say this is all new is a bare faced lie!

Sounds like British Leyland all over again. Still , I don't care , I
don't have to use the tube to commute anymore :o)

B2003

Its that time of year again
 

wrote:
"chunky munky" wrote in message
...
The vast majority of LU staff do take
pride in their work - just look at stations like Northwood or
Southfields and compare them to similar National Rail ones! LU are
trying to remove this.

Whats so special about Northwood station?
It's about to win an award for the longest lasting scaffolding in
history?