23.03.12
Olympic pay talks break down
Talks concerning Olympics pay for Underground rail staff have broken down between LU and the union RMT.
The current offer would see station, maintenance, service control staff and operational managers receive up to £850 subject to attendance, customer satisfaction scores and working flexibly for defined periods to deliver a successful Games.
The RMT wants further flexibility, especially on annual leave, as well as the inclusion of administration staff within the agreement.
Howard Collins, LU chief operating officer, said: “Over the past days we have held in-depth talks with all four Tube unions at ACAS, seeking to give any clarification needed concerning our fair Olympic pay and recognition offer.”
Collins stated that talks had progressed well with three unions; Unite, Aslef and TSSA, but that the RMT “demanded payments to all grades of staff regardless of whether they will be asked to work flexibly during the Games and rejected temporary changes to working arrangements which would enable us to achieve a flexible workforce”.
He said: “We know our staff want to play their part in delivering a great Games forLondon, and we want to make sure that they are fairly rewarded for their efforts.”
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “We don’t know if there has been political interference from behind the scenes but attempting to impose a whole raft of new strings on a Tube Olympics agreement at this stage smacks of an attempt from somewhere to sabotage these talks when we had said in good faith that we wanted to move the negotiations forward.
“Management wants the unlimited ability to change working patterns, locations and extend hours at the drop of a hat and to demand that staff take on safety-critical roles in unfamiliar workplaces which they aren’t trained to work in.
“We would be failing both our members and the travelling public if we agreed to working practices outside of existing agreements and procedures that we know are inherently unsafe.”
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