STOP TUBE CUTS!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2013 :: RMTnews 7 R MT is balloting all London Underground members against plans to close every ticket office, scrap nearly 1,000 stations jobs including the removal of station supervisors at some stations. London Underground is beginning a 90-day process to impose these cuts as early as February next year following the government’s 12.5 per cent cut to Transport for London’s funding. RMT opposes plans to replace skilled workers with unreliable automation in all areas, including train maintenance, engineering, service control and train operation. London needs an Underground that is adequately staffed to ensure an accessible, safe, reliable service. RMT is calling on LUL and the London Mayor Boris Johnson to abandon these plans. Boris Johnson claimed to oppose ticket office closures before he was elected. RMT general secretary Bob Crow called for a Yes vote and said that no matter how it is dressed up by Boris Johnson, this is all about slashing £270 million from the London transport budget and the proposed cuts will hit the most vulnerable users of tube services the hardest. “The mayor must believe he is some sort of magician if he thinks he can slash a thousand jobs and still run safe services when everyone knows that staffing has already been cut to the bone while passenger demand continues to rise. “Throwing in the plan for night time operation at the weekends is just a smokescreen to try and camouflage the real issue which is a savage cuts to jobs, access and safety. “Any move to run through the night would require huge additional capacity and staffing and wholesale changes to fleet and infrastructure maintenance that would require the agreement of the tube unions and the issue has only been flagged up today as a diversion from the massive cuts agenda. “Londoner’s should not be fooled, axing staff and ticket offices is part of the drive to a faceless, automated tube where you take your chances the moment you step onto a station, a platform or a train. That is the real issue we have been confronted with today. “RMT will work with sister unions and the public to fight these plans and that means using every campaigning, political and industrial tool at our disposal including a ballot for industrial action,” he said. STOP TUBE CUTS! O N L O N D O N U N D E R G R O U N D EVERY JOB MATTERS D E F E N D I N G J O B S RMT calls for Yes vote in ballot for action against plans to close every Tube ticket office by 2015 and cut nearly 1,000 jobs RMT deplores London Underground’s plans to close every ticket office, scrap nearly 1,000 stations jobs and reorganise station staffing, including the removal of Station Supervisors at some stations. This is a catastrophic attack which is not aimed at improving our Tube but at saving millions of pounds following the government’s 12.5% cut to Transport for London’s funding. RMT also opposes plans to replace skilled workers with unreliable automation in all areas, including train maintenance, engineering, service control and train operation. London needs an Underground that is adequately staffed to ensure an accessible, safe, reliable service. RMT calls on LUL and the Mayor to abandon these plans. We remind Boris Johnson that he claimed to oppose ticket office closures before he was elected. We will be working with other trade unions and the wider community to oppose these cuts. RMT has made its opposition to staffing cuts clear to London Underground over a long period, but the company’s well-paid Directors have not listened to us so far. With LUL beginning a 90-day process towards imposing these cuts as early as February, we need to take industrial action to make the company see sense. RMT will pursue a high-profile campaign and is balloting all London Underground members for strikes and action short of strikes. EVERY JOB MATTERS DEFENDING JOBS ON LONDON UNDERGROUND • 953 jobs to be axed • every ticket office to close by 2015 • total restructure of station staffing London Underground’s plans VOTE YES FOR ACTION • threat of further cuts to come