The ASLEF Executive Committee has decided to give London Underground statutory notice that we will be balloting our Night Tube driver members for strike action over their failure to stick to the agreement made about access to full time roles.
The closing date for the return of ballot papers will be 10:00 on Monday 4th December 2017.
Earlier this year after ASLEF Night Tube members returned a 100% yes vote for strike action management agreed to recruit 8 new night tube drivers every fortnight to back-fill NT drivers moving to full time positions. They also agreed that NT drivers would not be “leap- frogged” on waiting lists by new recruits to the grade.
But it is now clear that LU simply haven’t carried this out. They have recruited far fewer new NT drivers than they promised and instead recruited new full-time drivers. These new recruits have been moved into positions that should have been taken by NT drivers.
The result is that NT drivers are once again losing out on full time jobs and full-time salary. Your ASLEF Trains Council reps have already identified over 30 people who have been leap frogged, each losing tens of thousands of pounds in wages. Now management are denying reps access to waiting lists in what seems to be a clear attempt to cover up the scale of their breaking this agreement.
Every week that goes by makes the situation worse as more FT drivers are recruited to fill vacancies that should go to NT drivers. New full-time drivers should only be brought in to fill vacancies where there is no waiting list or to project pool roles.
When senior reps reported on this to a packed meeting of ASLEF NT drivers, they were unanimous in supporting a motion for a new strike ballot. Your EC has supported this position and the balloting process will now start.
To ensure the ballot return is as high as possible please contact Head Office on 02073242400 or your local ASLEF rep as soon as possible if your adress or work locatyion has changed
Just as we found with our pay dispute, once the threat of industrial action is removed, LU seem to believe they can break agreements at will. But we know that we if stand solid and are prepared to take action then we right this blatant injustice and make sure our members are treated fairly.
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Your ASLEF Trains Council reps have produced a guide to agreements and working arrangements for Night Tube drivers. You can download a copy here