THE NATIONAL Executive of the RMT has called off strike action against London Underground's Company Plan.
The settlement commits the management to negobate any changes though the existing agreed machinery.
ment threats to cancel the 1956 Machinery from June this year and to impose a new one with of without the agreement of the seven LUL unions, have been wehdrawn.
The document contains an explict instruction to all managers to adhere to the machinery otherwise they wil acting 'against Company polky and will not be supported.
This means that basic terms and conditions of service, and crucially the seniority principle enshrined in the Promotion, Transfer and RedundanAgreement, have been The past and current policy of LUL against compulsory redundancies has been uphold.
However management retain the Only strike action could have forced management to withdraw the Plan. They will now try to introduce parts of itby agreement. if that doesnt work then sooner or later they will revert to imposition. Knapp-only following orders The principal culprits for this posttion are the national full time officials and the right wing majority of the NEC At the beginning of March. management forced all Depot Foremen to apply for their own jobs which wore redesignated Team The District Council called for a ballot.
Election
RMT General Secretary, Jimey Knapp. acting Instructions from Labour Party HQ Wahworth Rd, fought ooth and nail - with the backing of tumcoat LT NEC representative Dave Halt - to avoid a ballot before the The vote on holding a ballot was lostby 18 voles to 2. Hadabalotbeen caled in that period, it would have got a much bigger Yes' vote than the 2 to 1 majority registored after Labour's disastrous election defeat.
More importantly there would have been a chance of saving the Depot Foreman's grade. which has now gone. Due to the fatal delay, the workers invotred were forced to sign new contracts while the baloting was still taking place.
Crucial also was the last minute tumaround by the ful time officials of the engineering Confed unions. mass meetings in the had up to the ballot they had tok their members that they would ballot with the RMT. But then they used a refusal by management to concede a formal lañure to agree as an excuse not to do As usual, ASLEF campaigned against the RMT ballot. Thoi Assietant General Secretary, Low Adams sal that in the event of a strike he would instruct his members to go to work and drive ASLEF trains?
The new anti-union legislation wil mean fully postal ballots. The RMT has never achioved more than a 20 When the managoment come back cont turnout in a postal ballot. demanding more changes, only unofficial action that breaks the law wil be effective.