TRANSPORT workers in three unions descend on the Tory Mayor Boris Johnson’s Office this morning to fight the ‘all-out savage attack’ on their pay and conditions.
The RMT, TSSA, the union for ticket office staff, and Unite, lobby the TfL Board meeting at City Hall between 9am and 11am.
The RMT said that the TfL’s attack on pay and pensions ‘would condemn to staff to a life of poverty in retirement’.
RMT continued: ‘The savage attacks that TfL are looking to bulldoze through would mean:
‘• Pay rises will be one off lump sums and would not count towards pensionable pay with final salary pensions reduced.
‘• An immediate pay freeze over the next five years for at least 50% of staff.
‘• The annual pay award would be placed at the discretion of managers and no longer fully negotiated with the recognised trade unions.
‘• Any pay rises would be determined by punitive and discriminatory “individual performance” processes which we believe will leave staff at the risk of bullying and harassment.
‘The impetus behind management’s proposals is purely and simply cash-led cuts, a situation that will become worse over the forthcoming years as there are further reductions in TfL’s grant and the expectation that further assaults on jobs, pay and pensions are being lined up for the future.’
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: ‘The current TfL pension proposals are nothing less than a concerted attack on terms and conditions and would have a major effect on the future of the entire TfL Pension Fund.
‘TfL have refused to budge on this important issue despite the staff’s clear rejection of their proposals.
‘The unions have demanded that TfL immediately withdraw the toxic “Pay For Performance” plans and get back round the table but our concerns have been ignored and that is why we are lobbying City Hall this morning.
‘This attack on TfL pay and pensions has to be seen in the wider context of Government austerity cuts to TfL’s funding and once again it is the staff who are being lined up to take a hit that would not only whack them in the pocket now but would condemn them to lives of poverty in retirement.
‘The pension and pay assault also has to be seen against the backdrop of the continuing threat to jobs, services and safety on London Underground which are driven by the same multi-billion cuts attack.’
Sister union TSSA said: ‘We are also concerned about the funding cuts that they have made to accessible transport services in London and plans that they may have to cut their funding to the massively popular London Transport Museum.
‘TfL’s plans to abolish all ticket offices are intended to cut costs without any consideration of the impact that this will have upon the travelling public, and particularly elderly travellers, those travelling with children and disabled travellers.
‘These plans are part of ongoing cost-cutting measures which have been taking place in TfL over recent years without any meaningful consultation with the public.
‘TfL has already removed general public access to their telephone customer information services, limiting one-to-one customer information to disabled and elderly travellers.
‘This was done without any public consultation or information and despite massive demand from the public for this service.
‘And now, not satisfied with the savings made by cutting telephone access to customer service advisors, TfL is planning to outsource these roles to private companies.
‘This means that customer services will be shipped out of London and delivered by a low-paid, transient workforce without a first-hand knowledge of London.
‘In recent year TfL has also reduced its funding for accessible transport, including services upon which many elderly and disabled travellers rely, and is now proposing to close EVERY ticket office on the Underground network and cut staffing at stations.
‘This will create a massive burden upon the small number of Travel Information Centres; anyone that travels regularly through central London will know that these services are already massively in demand and that long queues for information are the norm.
‘These proposals also have serious implications for passenger safety – particularly given TfL’s plans for a 24 hour tube, and will make it harder for disabled travellers to gain assistance.
‘Alongside these cuts to customer services, TfL is proposing to freeze the pay and slash the pensions of long-serving staff in TfL without proper consultation or negotiation.
‘These are behind the scenes workers who provide key support services such as transport planning, customer information, Dial-A-Ride and road maintenance. TfL is a world-class service staffed by experienced, skilled professionals who are dedicated to keeping London moving.
‘If TfL management get their way, many of these staff will be forced to seek work elsewhere and consequently the quality of the services – impacting upon the underground, overground and buses in London – will be diminished.
‘TfL is riding roughshod over the concerns and rights of both the travelling public of London and of their employees. We’re lobbying the TfL Board members to ask them to intervene in these disputes and to instruct TfL to enter into meaningful negotiations at ACAS with the recognised trade unions in TfL and London Underground.
‘We want to protect services for the travelling public and ensure that TfL has a top-quality, committed workforce that can deliver a world class transport service for London.’
Meanwhile staff employed by the Settle and Carlisle Railway Development Company, providing at-seat catering on Northern Rail services between Carlisle and Settle, are to be balloted for strike action later this week in a row over the compulsory redundancy of a long standing member of staff who manages the service.
The RMT union described the redundancy announcement as an ‘extremely disappointing development’.
The union said: ‘RMT has a proud history being involved in the campaign to save the line and of supporting the development of the line and initiatives to see it grow.
‘RMT has been extremely supportive of the trolley catering service because the union knows it enhances the passenger experience of the journey.
‘RMT says that there is no justification for the redundancy as the development company is doing well financially and its key objective as a “not for profit organisation” is to encourage sustainable commercial development.’
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: ‘The last thing we expected was a compulsory redundancy situation – it seems the company’s actions are at odds with their stated objectives leading them into a regrettable and wholly avoidable dispute with Britain’s biggest rail union.
‘Astonishingly the company has cited potential rail franchise changes in 2016 as a reason for the compulsory redundancy now, when the specifications for the rail franchises will not be known until December 2014 and the franchises will not actually be let for some considerable time afterwards.
‘Despite numerous requests to look at alternatives to compulsory redundancy the company has now made one of our members redundant. In these circumstances RMT has no option but to ballot our members for strike action. The union remains available for further talks.’
