Present: Colin Morris Head of Trains Kate Scotford-Sneezum, HR Advisor Roy Luxford Drivers Company Council John Doyle Drivers Company Council Kevin Eade Drivers Company Council Jayne Byrne Note taker AGREED MINUTES OF DRIVERS COMPANY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, 9 TH AUGUST, 2011 AT BARNHAM Previous Minutes Minutes of the last meeting held on 30 th June were agreed, subject to agreed minor amendments being made. Ongoing Items Item A Staff Toilet Facilities Mr Morris has received confirmation from Mr Brooks that key pads have been installed at Seaford, Caterham and Eridge. The others should be installed within the next two weeks. Mr Morris has asked Mr Brooks for the codes, and proposed that these be supplied once all locations were completed. Item B 377 Cab Environment/Seats Dave Hitchcock s draft report has now been received. It has been read by Dominic Morrow and by Staff Side. Staff Side said there are some serious issues that need to be dealt with. Mr Hitchcock has said that any anomalies have come from the survey and has asked to meet to discuss before it is distributed further. Mr Morris will speak to Mr Morrow and a meeting will be arranged during the first two weeks of September. This will then result in an agreed base report to work from. Staff Side acknowledged this and said the company were not in a position where they could not do anything to remedy the cab issues highlighted by drivers in the survey. 1
Item C Mobile Phone 761 Facility Mr. Morris said he no further update at present. Item D Class 377 Emergency Egress Mr. Morris said he thought this item was the subject of a trial on a test train. Staff Side will meet with Dave Poole to discuss any unanswered queries. Item E Uniform (Gloves and Trousers) Trousers Mr Morris reported that the risk assessment has been carried out with regards to paddling up and he is awaiting the relevant paperwork from Ops Standards. Mr Morris added that he will speak to Fleet about training, in particular, on 442s as these are the most likely units to require this activity. Staff Side reminded Mr. Morris of the incident on SouthEastern Trains and the drivers trouser material. Gloves Mr. Morris said he no further update on gloves at present. Item F Victoria Accommodation Suggestions have been made that the accommodation may be swopped around between blocks A and B. Mr Morris confirmed this but said he was waiting for feedback to see how feasible this would be. Mr Morris will be attending a meeting with the Project Manager, Richard Hands next Wednesday and will receive an update then. He reported that timescales are running into 2012. Item G Reading Re-signalling Mr Morris will speak to Brad Atkins for an update. 2
Item H XXXXXX Application for 10b Hardship Move Mr Morris committed to this being arranged before the end of next week. Item I Driver Announcement Guide Staff Side reported that they have met with Les Hayden and Jane Bunyan to discuss this. Ms Bunyan has agreed to produce another draft which will be shorter than the previous one. Staff Side will meet again with Ms Bunyan next Tuesday. Item J - Window Filming Mr Morris has checked with Aaron Jones and all units, bar five, are now complete. It was agreed that Staff Side will send out a communication informing Drivers that this work has been done. Mr Morris asked Staff Side to emphasise that this work was carried out for the Drivers benefit. Item K - Tracklink 3 Software Door Operation Mr Morris confirmed that it is planned for the PIS part to be completed by the end of the year and will include announcements at the 11 identified locations where doors can only be released on the off side. Mr Morris will send Staff Side the response he received from Fleet relating to the queries raised. It was agreed this item would be removed subject to Staff Side receiving the queries relating to Fleet. Item L Driver Establishments Mr Morris said he had no update at present. Mr. Morris did agree to supply the information at the next meeting. 3
New Items 1. Weekend Diagrams Mr Morris will get an update from Dave Walker on the possibilities for earlier issue. 2. Accommodation of Family Member if Driver Hospitalised through work Mr Morris stated that this would be dealt with on a case by case basis and each case judged on its own merits. 3. Salary Protection following a Fatality Ms Scotford-Sneezum will feedback at the next meeting. 4. PDA s for Drivers & Drivers Bags Staff Side explained the supply of PDA s is ASLEF Policy with the view of removing the need for paper copies of the WON and PON. Mr Morris said he does not disagree with the principle but needs to find a device that is acceptable to both Management and Staff Side. Staff Side felt this was a suitable time to revisit the design of the current drivers bag. With regard to bags, Mr Morris suggested canvassing opinion and said he was happy to receive constructive input from staff. 5. TPWS Activation Speeds Staff Side requested that Southern make arrangements to publish these speeds. Mr Morris responded that there are no current plans to do so. 4
6. Protection for Drivers Diagnosed with Diabetes Staff Side asked, as a higher percentage of people from certain ethnic origins suffer from diabetes should the company be giving them extra advice. Ms Scotford-Sneezum replied that if the Company were to give extra advice then it would be across the board and not to any particular ethnic origin and she agreed to raise the issue with Megan Taylor. 7. 2012 Olympics Staff Side said they had relisted this as some drivers had been advised on briefing day 2 that Southern intend to drastically alter the timetable over the four week period. Mr Morris advised this is definitely not the case and that Southern will be running a small number of retimings and 5 or 6 extra trains at night. The base timetable will not be altered. Staff Side asked when this would be published and Mr Morris confirmed that it would be this side of Christmas. Staff Side also asked for Mr. Morris to place an article in Train Crew Matters to clarify Southerns position. Mr Morris agreed to provide outline details of train alterations as soon as they had been firmed up. 8. Care First Staff Side asked if anything would change in respect of post-trauma counselling now that a different Company is being used. Ms Scotford-Sneezum replied that counselling can be arranged through the Line Manager or by individuals themselves. There is no requirement to disclose why counselling is needed. Ms Scotford Sneezum will get more information from Megan Taylor. Staff Side asked how many sessions an employee will initially receive and whether there is scope for more should it be required. Ms Scotford-Sneezum said staff will receive up to six initial sessions, additional sessions can be made available if required. 5
9. 10 Car DOO Mr Morris advised that at the moment the train plan for December includes operation of 5 services in the morning peak and 7 in the evening peak with 10-car formations. There are 2 x 10- car formations, starting and finishing at Selhurst from Monday to Friday. Staff Side said that the current agreement is for no more than 8-car formations to run as DOO. Mr Morris said that he was aware of that and wanted to work with staff side to enable this. After discussion it was agreed that Mr Morris would speak to Train Planning to see if a trial 10-car formation could be arranged so that Staff Side could view it. 10. Emergency provision for Drivers Staff Side will speak to Les Hayden regarding this. 11. Investigations Staff Side said there were two recent cases where evidence was neither recorded or copied. If it had been the investigation may have taken a different direction. There is a real need for CDM s to be made aware of the importance to preserve evidence. They are also aware of an employee who was interviewed by two managers. One manager was meant to be taking the minutes of the interview but started asking questions. Mr. Morris asked whether the manager taking the minutes was clarifying the answers. Staff Side said the information they received was that the manager was asking questions. Mr Morris confirmed this would be discussed at the DOM team meetings and raised at the DLM and CLM forums. Ms Scotford-Sneezum said she would speak to the line managers involved. Staff Side said this kind of incident is what damages relations at depots. 12. Mutual Exchange of Duties Staff Side explained the issue is the List Office have said they are unable to agree an MCO until the weekly roster is published in case one party is sick or is taken off track. Staff Side asked that once the swap has gone through it should be honoured. Drivers swap so they can make personal arrangements. Mr Morris said he would speak to the roster clerk and feed back at the next meeting. 6
Any Other Business FCC 377 s at Brighton Staff Side said they had discussed this request with FCC colleagues and could not agree to it at this time. Taxis Staff Side asked how Helen s taxis got the name of Jeff Turner. They added that no-one will be prepared to use Helen s taxis in the future. Mr Morris said he believed that the name had been said in conversation by another train crew member, and confirmed that nobody on management side had spoken to anyone at Helen s. He also advised that he has asked for a 6- month review of taxi costs to see what savings have been made since the new system was introduced. Workbooks Mr Morris explained that Workbooks were introduced at the time of the re-org. He would expect crew to have 2 x Time with your Manager sessions and 2 x sessions where Line Managers would go out with crew, per year. XXXXXX Staff Side explained that he is a XXXX ULR and that there have been problems with his release for P2L activity. Staff Side will email further details to Mr Morris and he will then speak to Rosters. Change of Meeting dates The following dates were agreed for meetings until the end of the year: 10.30-12.30 Wednesday, 28 th September 09.00-11.00 Thursday, 3 rd November 14.00-16.00 Thursday, 1 st December 14.00-16.00 Thursday, 15 th December 7