LOCKED-OUT Travel Safe workers demonstrated yesterday morning outside the headquarters of London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (just outside Swiss Cottage tube station) against their ‘appalling working conditions’.
They are demonstrating every day at 12.30pm.
The Travel Safe workers are members of the RMT and employed on a Transport for London (TfL)-funded contract for London Overground.
In a statement, the RMT said: ‘Agency STM has “locked out” its workers, without pay, for taking industrial action against management bullying.
‘RMT has called for full union support for our members and to join an urgent protest about this outrageous persecution.’
Adnan Hanif, RMT rep for the Travel Safe locked-out workers, told News Line yesterday: ‘We were in a meeting with management and they rejected our proposal for a pay rise in our contract.
‘They were not willing to negotiate so we decided to start action short of strike action.
‘There are a lot of different aspects to our job, we do customer services, we deal with anti-social behaviour.
‘We also do incident reporting and we tag in and out at every station with a swipe card system.
‘We said we are not going to do these two things, reporting and tagging, as a protest, a type of action short of strike action.
‘They said that if you are not going to do reporting and tagging then we are taking you off the roster and we are not going to pay you.
‘We organised a demonstration outside the Travel Safe Headquarters in Swiss Cottage today and it was good.
‘All our members were there, our regional organiser was there and the union is going to ballot for strike action.
‘We are fighting for our job security, our contracts and working conditions. The working conditions we are suffering are appalling, with a lack of facilities, lack of mess room, no proper uniform and no sick pay. We are going to keep fighting until we win!’
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: ‘These Travel Safe Officers (TSOs) work on London Overground on a contract funded by Boris Johnson’s TfL.
‘RMT called “action short of strike” in a dispute over bullying, and their employer, the agency STM, has issued letters to them all stating that unless they work normally then they will be paid nothing, and has removed them all from the work schedule until further notice.
‘This is the most vicious anti-union brutality that we have seen in London’s transport services for years and we will be mobilising full support for this brave group of workers.’
An RMT official told News Line yesterday afternoon: ‘Today’s demonstration was well attended with lots of support and we are going to keep the pressure on.
‘There is another demonstration tomorrow and probably every day.’
