Victory at Ratcliffe
After the walkout of over 600 construction workers at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham, Unite health and safety rep Jason Poulter has been reinstated.
Jason was suspended by management for carrying out his health and safety duties. Workers believed this was in revenge for their success in defeating the Building Engineering Services National Agreement (Besna) which would have reduced pay and attacked terms and conditions. But the defeat of the Besna has obviously given these workers confidence to stand up to the management.
Leading stewards from Ratcliffe will be attending and speaking at the NSSN conference on 9 June.
Vote Steve Hedley
Steve Hedley, the London regional organiser of the transport union RMT, is standing for assistant general secretary of the RMT.
The ballot opened on 28 May and will last about six weeks. Any RMT member wanting to help Steve’s campaign should contact him on 07545 530526.
- See issue 719 of the Socialist for more.
Olympics payment
Transport union RMT has reached an agreement with London Underground over arrangements during the Olympics. Existing agreements will be protected and staff will be paid up to £1,000 in recognition of the pressures from the predicted additional three million journeys a day.
But the union is still pressing for staffing levels during the Olympics to be increased to improve safety. The RMT is arguing for a full-scale mock emergency evacuation to be carried out, especially in the light of recent breakdowns.
Boris Bike ballot
At the same time, staff working on the Boris Bikes cycle hire scheme are being balloted by the RMT for strike action and action short of a strike. The dispute is over the imposition of changes to working hours and shift patterns by the operator Serco Barclays, and their refusal to negotiate a payment for the extra work during the Olympics.
