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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2013 2012 :: RMTnews
7
NEVER AGAIN!:RMT marked the 25th anniversary of the King’s Cross Fire which killed
31 people with a demonstration outside Kings Cross station to highlight the continued
need for a fully staffed and safe tube network. LUL documents, which have been seen by
RMT, plan to impose an unattended network including automated trains and would
require the ripping up of the safety regulations, including minimum staffing levels,
which came about in response to the tragedy.
R
MT marked the 25th
anniversary of the King’s
Cross Tube fire with a
demonstration in defence of
safety standards and staffing
levels.
London’s Mayor and London
Underground are attempting to
weaken safety rules and cut
Tube jobs.
The effects of short-staffing
and underfunding has already
led to ticket offices closures;
overworked station staff,
increased lone working; drivers
expected to go into sidings
without physically tipping out
trains; cuts in tripcock testing
and other maintenance
frequencies; and more.
The union has warned that
more is to come if management
and the Mayor get their way:
100 or more job cuts in service
control; more admin cuts;
driverless trains and a mobile
workforce expected to work ‘any
time, any place, anywhere’.
RMT general secretary Bob
Crow said that London
Underground worked well
during the Olympics because of
hard working staff and because
the company put adequate staff
on duty for a change.
“New technology can
improve London Underground if
it is used alongside staff, not
instead of them.
“But LUL is developing
technology specifically for the
purpose of getting rid of jobs -
this is the rationale behind
driverless trains and 'wave and
pay' instead of developing
technology that works
effectively with staff to improve
the service.
LUL has set up a new
Directorate of Operational
Change and Upgrades and we
know that this 'change' is
management plans is job
cuts,”he said.
RMT is producing a
broadsheet bulletin in the New
Year outlining these job cuts
proposals and how we can
defeat them.
TUBE JOB CUTS
• 18,054 LUL staff on 31 March 2011
• 17,207 LUL staff on 31 March 2012
• 800 jobs, mainly on stations, cut under OSP,
2011
• 1,000 plus jobs, mainly admin, cut under
Project Horizon so far
• 1,823 agency staff working on TfL
• 681,540 working-age Londoners unemployed
(claiming out-of-work benefits)
• 12.6% of all working-age Londoners
unemployed (claiming out-of-work benefits)
• 125,000 16-24 year olds not in employment,
education or training in London (2nd
quarter 2012)
NO TO LONDON
UNDERGROUND JOB CUTS