RMT TO FIGHT LONDON TRANSPORT AUSTERITY IMPOSED BY GOVERNMENT

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june bulletin 3 2020 :: RMTnews 4 R MT threatened strike action after the government announced austerity cuts and direct control over transport in London as part of its conditions for funding as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The government also warned that London transport fares will rise, as it reached an agreement over a £1.6 billion bailout with Transport for London. Transport for London will receive £1.1billion as a cash grant plus another £505 million in loans. In return, TfL will carry out a review of its finances and have government officials on its board. Transport secretary Grant Shapps said that the government did not want “a situation where people outside of the capital are unfairly carrying the burden, by which I mean, sadly, fares do end having to rise with inflation”. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had threatened to cut tube and bus services unless the government stepped in with a grant, after the capital’s transport authority went £1 billion over budget. He said TfL would have to cut services in order to stay within legal funding limits unless it received a cash injection. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that London Transport workers had been vital to fighting Covid-19 and any attacks on their pay, jobs and conditions arising from this imposed settlement will be a complete betrayal. “We will be seeking an urgent meeting with both the Mayor and Secretary of State for Transport to make clear London Transport workers will not pay the cost of the crisis. “It looks like Boris Johnson is back in charge of transport in London but we will not accept one penny of austerity cuts imposed by Whitehall or passed on by City Hall as part of this funding package and our resistance will include strike action if necessary. “We are also deeply concerned that this is a sign of wider austerity conditions to be imposed on the transport industry across the country,” he said. RMT has blasted a disgraceful decision by Transport for London to deny staff cleaning tube trains throughout the coronavirus crisis free travel. Tube cleaners have put themselves on the line throughout the Coronavirus crisis to keep essential workers moving, the basic right to free travel. The union has demanded that London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan intervene immediately to right this wrong and give the brave tube cleaners the basic right to move around the transport system free of charge. The decision to ban the tube cleaners from the right to free travel despite the current crisis has been conveyed to RMT in a short and blunt letter from TFL that dismissed the idea out of hand. RMT general Secretary Mick Cash said that it was nothing short of a scandal that thousands of tube cleaners who have put themselves right on the line, working round the clock in risky conditions to keep London's essential workers moving, are being denied free travel on the transport network in the midst of this pandemic crisis. "Those responsible for this disgusting and disgraceful decision should be hanging their heads in shame and I am demanding the London Mayor Sadiq Khan take immediate action to right this wrong which casts a stain across the capital city,” he said. RMT TO FIGHT LONDON TRANSPORT AUSTERITY IMPOSED BY GOVERNMENT TUBE CLEANERS DENIED FREE TRAVEL