‘There was chaos on the Underground this morning,’ rail union RMT general secretary Bob Crow said yesterday.
Commenting on the 24-hour strike by 4,000 RMT station staff members launched at 6.30pm on Sunday evening, he added: ‘Fifty per cent of 108 stations covered by health and safety regulations were shut.
‘Untrained staff were used and we will be taking further action.’
RMT said that drivers and signal staff are being balloted for actions short of strike action which will involve a work to rule and strict observance of safety regulations.
A spokesman added that station staff will be taking further one-day strike action before February 5th when London Underground Ltd (LUL) intends to impose controversial new rosters and sack hundreds of staff.
Crow continued: ‘Our members are very angry. They are wondering why London Underground refused to negotiate on the draft agreement at the TUC last Friday night.’
Asked will there be any more talks, Crow said: ‘No.’
A number of RMT drivers took unofficial action yesterday over safety concerns.
One driver, who could not give his name for fear of victimisation, told News Line: ‘I am not at work because I consider it to be unsafe.
‘If there was an incident, who would help the driver, or get passengers off a train and evacuate the station if there were no staff?
‘Safety rules have been broken.’
RMT station staff member Keith Watts was on the official picket line at Hammersmith Tube.
He told News Line: ‘Management are saying there will be no job losses but they have taken full time jobs and made them part time.
‘If we don’t make a stand on this issue there will be no station staff or ticket selling staff.
‘There would be no assistance for any passenger when it is needed.
‘It is purely about cutting the wage bill and with these Oyster Cards, the passengers are putting their money upfront.’
He added: ‘I would never sign any more multi-year pay deals ever again.
‘When agreements are made, we want to see the whole agreement. We want no more hidden agendas, because management has changed the agreement halfway through.’
RMT leaders slammed LUL over its readiness to break Tube safety rules in an attempt to beat the strike action by station staff over the imposition of unsafe rosters.
RMT London regional organiser Bobby Law said that the system was being kept open by untrained staff and managers who were working shifts of up to 20 hours.
He said: ‘Due to the intransigence of LUL, trains full of passengers are running through closed stations, in direct contravention of safety rules.
‘For instance, instead of disembarking passengers, Piccadilly line trains are running through three consecutive closed stations, Caledonian Road, Holloway Road and Kings Cross.’
Law also outlined one incident at Upminster Bridge station, which was closed due to the dispute, on Sunday evening when an emergency alarm stopped the train halfway into the platform.
Angry passengers began opening the doors and the driver retreated to his cab and locked himself in.
Police arrived 40 minutes later with a supervisor who had been called in from his home to open up the station.
‘It is clear that LUL’s attempt to run a network without adequate station staff is putting the public at risk.
‘They can’t even keep their headquarters station, St James’s Park, open without using untrained staff,’ said Law.
• On being informed yesterday afternoon, RMT general secretary Crow said: ‘The decision by Linda Williams, the Chief Inspector of Railways, to order an investigation into the safety breaches we have raised is welcome news indeed.
‘The catalogue of safety breaches during the New Year’s Eve stoppage is growing. London Underground used inadequately trained staff, some of them allowed to work for 24 hours at a stretch; they had inexperienced staff driving trains, and they allowed trains to stop at stations with no staff on duty, and even with no lighting on at all.’
