RMT EXPOSES LONDON OVERGROUND TICKET OFFICE CLOSURES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2019 :: RMTnews 7 R MT has released a full list of London Overground’s plans to cut hours at 45 stations to the bare minimum and close the ticket offices altogether at Brondesbury, White Hart Lane and West Hampstead. The proposals equate to a cut in hours of over 65 per cent across the Overground. Many stations are facing cuts in hours of over 80 per cent. Yet last year, London Overground, which is owned by the German State rail company, made a profit of £4.6 million. The scale of the planned cutbacks was revealed on a day of action to fight the closures. RMT is asking people to send a campaign postcard to the Mayor asking him to use his powers to halt the closures, full details of the campaign can be found on the RMT website. Last year, London Overground planned to close 51 ticket offices on the network. However, RMT launched a campaign and thousands of London Overground passengers opposed the closures leading to the Mayor intervening and promising to keep the ticket offices open. Under the new proposals many stations would only be open 07:30 – 10:00 am, Monday to Friday. If these cuts go ahead, and many ticket offices are closed for large parts of the day, RMT is concerned that: • Stations will become less safe, secure and accessible. • Passengers will not be able to access all ticket types and services at a machine. • Many people, including some elderly and disabled passengers, would struggle to purchase tickets and get advice. • It will be easier for London Overground to close more ticket offices and reduce staffing even further in the future. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that plans to cut ticket office opening hours were about cutting costs and maximising profits and fly in the face of the Mayor’s promise last year to keep the ticket offices open. “This union will be fighting to keep ticket offices fully open and oppose the proposed cuts and we expect the same widespread support from the travelling public that we had when fought to save ticket offices last year,” he said. A group of RMT members began indefinite industrial action last month in protest at violent assaults in the workplace including a shocking attack on London Underground staff at West Ham and the fatal stabbing of a member of the public in broad daylight at Hillingdon. New figures from the British Transport Police show that sexual assaults have risen by more than 40 per cent over the past four years and are the latest shocking statistic confirming the explosion in violent crime across London Underground. Tube workers on a key section of the District Line have already voted by nearly 95 per cent to take action short of strike action in protest after a female member of staff was attacked in her office by a violent passenger and others have been threatened. Members have now been instructed to work from a within a place of safety when lone- working and not to detrain alone or attend incidents on trains alone. The union will have no hesitation in escalating the dispute if there isn’t a programme of urgent action to stem the surge in violent abuse and assaults. THE UNION DEMANDS ARE CLEAR: • No lone working • Reversal of staff cuts made under Fit For The Future stations, more directly employed LUL staff • Support for staff affected by violence and abuse in the workplace • Better security arrangements including secure and accessible places of safety for all workers • Better policing and prosecutions of those responsible RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that it was clear that staff were living in a constant state of fear and had simply had enough of the inaction of local managers. “The escalation in assaults has left the union with no choice but to move to a programme of industrial action with the warning that more groups of staff will be brought into the dispute if LU don’t start taking the situation seriously. "RMT has warned repeatedly that the all-out drive towards an automated and faceless Tube would turn our trains and stations into a criminals paradise and those who have ignored those warnings should act now before more serious injuries or worse occur on the Tube,” he said. RMT EXPOSES LONDON OVERGROUND TICKET OFFICE CLOSURES TUBE WORKERS TAKE ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE AT WORK