FOLLOWING last month’s ballot result in favour of taking industrial action, RMT’s National Executive Committee has taken the decision to call action and instructs ALL LUL STATION & REVENUE members:
Not to book on for any shifts between 1800 on Sunday 8th Jan and 1759 on Monday 9th. The dispute is over Tube station staffing and safety. Over 3,000 RMT station staff members were balloted for action over the impact on safety from the axing of nearly 900 front-line workers alongside the closure of tube ticket offices. RMT says that the cuts have left safety on a knife edge with the incidents at Canning Town and North Greenwich throwing the spotlight on dangers which are being worsened by the cuts process.
85% voted for strike action and 94% for action short of a strike in the ballot.
The strike action is taking place in the wake of revelations that Tube middle managers have asked LUL Chief Operating Officer, ‘How am I supposed to convince staff to break a strike/OT ban when I completely agree with many of the issues raised by the RMT?’
A recently leaked record of an ‘Area Managers Briefing’ where senior Tube bosses met with area and line managers has exposed the chaos at London Underground stations following over 800 job cuts as part of LUL’s ‘Fit for the Future’ reorganisation that resulted in the closure of ticket offices on every station on the Tube network.
Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said: ‘RMT will not stand by while safety is compromised on London Underground off the back of cash-led cuts to staffing levels that the union has warned would have a serious, lasting and corrosive impact for staff and passengers alike. That is why our members are taking this action.
‘RMT members on the London Underground stations see day-in and day-out the toxic impact of the job cuts programme and they are reporting back that it is horrific. It has now also been shown that at management level there is agreement with the union that the cuts have been a disastrous mistake.
‘With the constant overcrowding on stations and platforms it is only a matter of time before there is a major tragedy if we don’t act decisively. Our dispute is about taking action to haul back the cuts machine and put safety back at the top of the agenda.
‘The union remains available for talks.’
Train cleaners working on the Great Western Railway (GWR) are on strike today over poverty pay and claims of discrimination and bullying by management. A delegation of cleaners and their supporters will also travel to GWR’s Swindon head office to deliver a petition.
The dispute involves cleaners working on GWR and is over a number of issues including: pay; parity with GWR Staff; annual leave; provision of safety clothing and an agreement for a permanent workforce and an end to the use of agency workers.
