Monday, March 19, 2007

Two from TfL

Mayor secures first ever three-year pay agreement on the London Underground

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone today welcomed the first ever three-year pay and conditions agreement between London Underground and the trade unions covering all staff.

All Tube unions have now advised London Underground that they have accepted the three-year offer, or are balloting their members with a recommendation to accept.

The unprecedented agreement follows a sharp fall in disruption due to industrial disputes since the Mayor took control of the Underground in July 2003.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "This three-year agreement is great news for both Tube passengers and staff and is a real landmark achievement.

"Passengers will benefit from the stability provided by the first three-year deal for all staff in the history of the Underground.

"Staff will receive above inflation pay rises each year. At the same time, we will be investing record amounts in renewing the Tube.

"Whilst there will always be differences from time to time, my administration is committed to developing a partnership between the trade unions and management to deliver the best possible services to Londoners.

"This agreement is a good example of what that approach can achieve."

The three-year agreement runs from April 2006 to April 2009 and provides for the following pay increases:

Year 1 (payable from April 2006): 4 per cent
Year 2 (payable from April 2007): RPI+0.5 per cent (or 3 per cent whichever is greater)
Year 3 (payable from April 2008): RPI+0.6 per cent (or 3 per cent whichever is greater)

All Underground staff are also eligible for a bonus of £250 or £500 each year if customer satisfaction targets are met or exceeded.

TSSA members voted to accept the London Underground offer by over 80 per cent in November last year.

The British Transport Officers' Guild has also accepted the offer.

ASLEF is balloting its members on the offer, with a recommendation to accept, and the RMT advised London Underground today that they have accepted the offer.

London Underground Managing Director Tim O'Toole said: "This multi-year pay deal is a real achievement, particularly as it is the first for several years to be accepted by all the trades unions without any industrial action.

"This agreement is good news for both passengers and Underground staff as it delivers stability to the Underground for three years and allows us to concentrate on the delivery of the major line upgrades - the first of which, the Jubilee line, is due to be due to be delivered in 2009."

This pay agreement covers the period to April 2009 and follows a two-year agreement reached between London Underground and the trade unions in the last pay round.

Transport for London combats organised counterfeit crime

Metropolitan Police officers working with Transport for London (TfL) have arrested a number of suspects believed to be linked to the biggest counterfeit operation ever perpetrated on the capital's transport system.

In an operation on Thursday 22 February, investigators from TfL and officers from the MPS Transport Operational Command Unit raided four commercial premises in west London and one residential address in the Croydon area.

The suspects arrested may hold valuable information about a wide scale counterfeit fraud of Bus Saver tickets, believed to be masterminded by international organised criminals.

This criminal operation has resulted in the need to withdraw the current design of Bus Saver tickets and introduce a new design from the summer.

David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport for TfL said: 'The criminals who have carried out this deception have now added to their list of dubious achievements the exploitation of some of London's most vulnerable people who rely on these discounted tickets to get around the capital.

'We will not tolerate this fraud and we are taking action against those involved this week.

'Every pound these criminals skim off Transport for London's revenue is a pound taken away from transport services for all Londoners.

'We will be withdrawing the current Saver ticket between spring and summer this year to help stamp out this racket, so customers should be aware they have around four months to use up any leftover stocks.'

It is believed the sophisticated counterfeits have penetrated at least 10 per cent of the current Bus Saver ticket circulation - which itself makes up around 10-12 per cent of the Pay-as-you-go market.

Bus Saver tickets account for around 8m bus passenger journeys a year out of a total of 1.8bn journeys overall.

A new design of ticket, with a number of both covert and overt anti- counterfeit measures, is currently being produced and will be on sale from 2 April.

The current design will no longer be accepted on London Buses after 30 June 30, and we would advise anyone with spare tickets at home to use them over the next four months as there will be no refund or exchange of tickets.

Ends

Labels: london, subway, transport