30th Jan 12
Train staff to get Olympic bonus
by Paul Russell
Driving force: DLR drivers to get five times more than tube drivers
Driving force: DLR drivers to get five times more than tube drivers
Staff on London’s Docklands Light Railway will be paid a weekly bonus of £100 just for going into work during the Olympic Games.
The RMT union secured the agreement on behalf of its 550 members, and it dwarfs previous deals tied up by tube drivers and many other transport workers during the Olympics. It will see the DLR employees bringing in an attendance bonus of as much as £900, so long as they turn up for all shifts during the Olympics and Paralympics. Adding to their bumper deal, they will be guaranteed a minimum of five hours overtime each week, for which they will earn 75 per cent more than their normal rate.
The line is set to be a key artery when the Games are on as it connects six venues, including the Olympic park to the main gateway for spectators heading to events from the centre of London, the rest of Britain and Europe via high-speed rail, Stratford International.
RMT believes the agreement could be worth up to £2,500 to its members, four times more than the bonus secured by London Overground staff and five times more than the £500 one-off payment which tube drivers secured.
The DLR, unlike the London Underground, does not hire train drivers. But on-board staff, called passenger service agents, are usually paid £36,000. Others who will benefit from the agreement include technicians, control centre staff and customer service hosts set to be deployed at stations including Canary Wharf, Island gardens and Bank.
RMT’s general secretary Bob Crow welcomed the agreement. He described it as a “groundbreaking deal”, saying that it raised the bar another notch in the industry and gave their members a reward of £2.500 for the extra workload and pressure they will experience during the period of the Olympics and Paralympics.
A spokesperson for Serco, which manages DLR, said that the deal was a reflection of changing working practices that will be required during the Olympics. The attendance bonus is meant to compensate employees who will not be permitted to take annual leave this summer, a period when they would usually take their family holidays. In addition, Serco decided to pay a higher overtime rate to cover additional staffing requirements during the games, instead of taking on more workers.
Serco Docklands’ managing director David Stretch said that he is pleased they have been able to negotiate a fair deal with RMT. He explained that it now means they can finalise employees’ working arrangements and be confident that they will help deliver the company’s enhanced services during the games and welcome an additional 2.28 million passengers to the DLR network.
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