10,000 MEMBERS of the RMT and sister union TSSA walked out on 24-hour strike at 9pm last night over plans to axe 800 jobs and other cuts, which will compromise safety on London Underground.
Tube union the RMT will be leafleting members of the public at Euston station today at 8am in the middle of the 24-hours strike action to explain the core safety issues at the heart of the current dispute.
RMT is making the case that the current 800 job losses amongst station and platform based staff are the thin end of the wedge, as Mayor Boris Johnson and his officials look to slash billions from transport spending in the Capital to pay off the costs of the failed tube privatisation experiment, and to meet the Tory-LibDem government spending targets.
Euston is a station where a major disaster was recently avoided after station staff spotted smoke coming from an escalator. As the fire detection system failed it was only the vigilance and experience of station staff that ensured a safe emergency evacuation.
A similar incident occurred a month ago at Oxford Circus in the middle of rush hour, where again smoke was spotted coming from an air conditioning unit by a member of platform staff, and again it was that early intervention that ensured safe evacuation of the station.
Last weekend, a member of station staff apprehended a man with a Samurai sword and two loaded guns at Moorgate. All of the staff grades involved in these three incidents are amongst the 800 jobs now threatened.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow commented: ‘We have laid out the clearest possible evidence to the Mayor and his officials that if he breaks his promises and slashes station staffing numbers he will be giving the green light to disaster.
‘Yet he is failing to take any account of the hard facts of these three recent incidents – each of which could have had lethal consequences.
‘Boris Johnson opposed these very cuts before he was elected, and now stands accused of rank political opportunism as his officials take the axe to safety standards right across the tube network with the prospect of worse to come this autumn.
‘That’s what RMT and TSSA are striking over – the whole future of a safe tube system is now on the block.’
On the eve of last night’s action the RMT accused London Underground of appealing for volunteers to help try and run some skeleton services.
RMT alleged that LU say that those without the required Operational Licences will still be deployed and that those with lapsed licences can have them renewed without complying with the normal training and updating programme.
RMT says that the latest safety breaches go to the very heart of the dispute which is all about London Underground hacking back staffing levels and cutting corners on safety in a dash to slash costs, regardless of the implications for the travelling public.
