FIT FOR LONDON OR FIT FOR CUTS?

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2012 :: RMTnews 15 Transport for London is getting ready for the Olympic Games – and for cutting jobs and standards afterwards. TfL is taking all 20,000 plus staff through a three-hour event called ‘Fit for London’, hoping to prepare them to accept these cuts. The event starts with a trip around the Olympic park, although for some, this took place in the dark! After coffee and croissants in an exhibition area with models and pictures of the Olympic park, staff were ushered into a large hall for a slick show, featuring video messages from Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy and London Mayor Boris Johnson. The company’s message was “we must change” and “we don’t want to fail like Woolworths and Virgin Megastore”. Mike Brown, Managing Director of London Underground and London Rail, appeared in person, telling attendees that, “the transformation has only just begun”, laced with “we are not immune from the economic slowdown” and “we need to be flexible”. Staff then had a short time to ask questions. Mr Brown would not guarantee that there would be no further cuts, and ominously declared that TfL would “rebalance” its staffing numbers and eliminate “duplication” of work. He admitted that the Public- Private Partnership was “one of the worst things that’s ever happened to London Underground”. RMT said that at the time, while LU management implemented it. He also said that he wanted jobs currently carried out by private contractors to be done by directly-employed London Underground staff. RMT will hold him to this. He admitted that LU had removed too many staff from stations and would restore some of these. Again, we said that at the time, and we will now pressure LU to bring back as many posts as possible. Answers intended to sound reassuring instead sounded threatening. Mike Brown’s assurance that “Any driver who is currently in a cab can remain driving for their whole career” was qualified with “provided they are flexible about work locations”, and he commented approvingly on automatic train operation on the Paris Metro and Docklands Light Railway. London Underground drivers, he said, will be performing different duties than they do now. Mr Brown promised that stations will remain staffed throughout the traffic day. This overlooks the fact that nearly one-third are already unstaffed for part of the day, and signals LU’s intention to remove staff from stations during night-time engineering hours. Station staff were alarmed to hear that ticket machines will soon be able to perform all transactions that ticket offices can, and that staff should not be “behind glass” or “slumped on a gateline” (chance would be a fine thing!). The company’s claim that “new technology means better reliability and therefore no need for current maintenance regimes to be adhered to” can be translated as “we will use new technology as a pretext to carry out maintenance checks less often, risking cuts in jobs and safety standards”. Station supervisor at Bank and former RMT president and John Leach said: “It was a surreal experience. “You turn up for a bus tour to see the Olympic site, you wonder how on earth London Underground/TfL will ever cope with the crowds, and find out that on top of the job cuts they have already made, they will not rule out more,” he said. Bakerloo line driver Jim McDaid added: “from listening to the questions put forward by frontline staff, it appears there is real fear in the workplace for our future job security. “And from listening to management’s answers, it appears that fear is justified,” he said. The ‘Fit for London’ exercise costs around £30 per head, which totals around £780,000. Lost working hours could add £2,000,000 or more. No wonder RMT stations representative Malcolm Taylor commented that “people I spoke to thought it was not a good use of time and money, and were not ‘sold’ on Mike Brown’s vision for the future.” FIT FOR LONDON OR FIT FOR CUTS? RMT executive committee Janine Booth looks at Transport for London for job cuts