UNION BLASTS ATTACKS ON TUBE JOBS AND SAFETY STANDARDS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: may 2010 :: RMTnews 7 R MT has blasted London Tory Mayor Boris Johnson for throwing up a smokescreen under the guise of a “Transport Strategy”, designed to deflect attention away from his multi-billion transport cuts package that threatens thousands of jobs, ticket office closures and the undermining of current safety standards. In his ‘strategy’, Johnson has chosen to airbrush out the attack on staffing levels, ticket offices and safety standards that is already being rolled out by his officials. RMT has pledged to fight the Tube and TfL cuts and warned that the incoming government will seek further cuts in transport budgets as it swings the axe at public expenditure. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said that Boris Johnson had made no effort to discuss his “Transport Strategy” with the people who really matter – the thousands of workers out there delivering transport services in London day in and day out. Cuts are already leaving Tube stations unstaffed on a regular basis creating dangerous travelling conditions and far worse is to come if Johnson bulldozes through his plans to axe a further 800 station posts. The latest figures obtained by RMT show that from October 2009 through to March 2010 surface level stations on the District, Central, Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith and Northern Lines were left unstaffed for entire shifts on a total of 439 occasions. One station, Mill Hill East, was left unstaffed for 95 entire shifts. Current cuts plans being implemented by London Underground would see up to 800 ticket office, station and platform staff jobs axed creating a wave of ticket office closures and ushering in a culture of unstaffed tube stations, particularly late at night. There are already proposals on the table that will force drivers to pull away from stations without working mirrors or cameras and without the assistance of platform staff. The union has warned that it is only a matter of time before a passenger is dragged under a tube train as a consequence of these reckless cuts. Bob Crow said that the Tory Mayor, who promised no cuts to station staff and no ticket office closures, was smuggling through reductions in staffing numbers that will have lethal consequences for the travelling public. “RMT remains committed to fighting the jobs carnage on the tube and we will continue to fight for safe staffing levels on behalf of both our members and the travelling public,” he said. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Fill in the RMT postcard available from your branch secretary and return it by FREEPOST – we will pass the cards directly to the Mayor • Write to London Mayor Boris Johnson directly at mayor@london.gov.uk, or at City Hall, 110 The Queens Walk, London, SE1 2AA asking him to honour his election pledges • Write to your MP asking him or her to defend Tube safety and oppose job cuts. • Ask your local councillors to tell the Mayor that these staff cuts are unacceptable. • Check for campaign updates at www.rmt.org.uk. Transport for London has called time on the public-private partnership and bought Tube contractor Tube Lines out for £310 million, ending the disastrous experiment with the private sector brought in by outgoing prime minister Gordon Brown. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that while the TfL buyout from owners Amey, a unit of Spain's Ferrovial, and Bechtel was good news it was unclear what the future held for the workforce. “We want assurances on jobs and conditions and we are balloting members for industrial action,” he said. The ballot will close on June 1. As a result of the deal – which brings London Underground back under state control and ends months of wrangling over upgrade works – TfL will take control of maintenance on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines from next month. Metronet was the first private PPP consortium to collapse in 2007, leaving taxpayers with a bill of hundreds of millions of pounds. Bob Crow said the buyout was a "recognition on a massive scale that transport privatisation does not work" and said RMT would continue to campaign for the renationalisation of Britain's rail network. The union campaigned hard to stop the madcap £30 billion scheme which handed Tube engineering work over to privateers on 30-year contracts and became know as a license to print money at the taxpayers expense. RMT SEEKS GUARANTEES FOR TUBE LINES WORKERS Union launchess strike ballot after PPP killed off, but leaving workers with an uncertain future UNION BLASTS ATTACKS ON TUBE JOBS AND SAFETY STANDARDS