RMT Platform

London Underground plans to dramatically cut ticket office opening hours and to cut 7-800 station staff jobs. RMT is campaigning against this, and welcomes the support of passengers, fellow trade unionists and others who share our view that Tube stations need more staff not fewer!

Please send us a message of support, using the online form below.

New Issue of Easthammer Uploaded things have been relatively quiet down this neck of the woods then along comes an announcement and I have enough to fill two sides.

0Click '1 attachment' / file name to download this special issue of 'RMT London Calling' - the RMT London Transport Regional Council newsletter - in response to yesterday's announcement of up to 800 job cuts on London Underground.

Please print and distribute widely.

London Underground tells us that it "has to" cut stations jobs because of the economic crisis. But a look at London Underground's history shows that this is not just untrue - it is the opposite of the truth.

Stop The Job Slaughter

So… let’s get it right from the start: the banks have screwed up; the bankers have screwed up; PPP has been a massive failure; Metronet has gone bankrupt; Tubelines is about to go bust too. Oh, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drained billions that could have been spent on health, education and, er… public transport. But, but, but…it’s Tube workers who are expected to pay. They want to sack us to pay for their mess.

London Underground's booklet for staff on its 'change proposals' is attached. This gives more details on the 'changes' ie cuts announced to the press yesterday.

Some notes:

Transport for London has today finally admitted its plans for widespread de-staffing of London Underground stations, with the loss of 700-800 jobs. Today's press release, which you can read below, follows months of warnings from RMT about the company's intentions, and several leaks - which at the time, the company dismissed as 'scaremongering'.

TfL claims that its plans will create a 'safe, efficient and transformed Tube'. However:

• The Tube will not be 'safe' with hundreds fewer staff - it will leave passengers (and the remaining staff) vulnerable to accidents and assaults in understaffed stations, and unable to cope properly with serious, even life-threatening, incidents.
• The Tube will not be 'efficient', as without enough staff, it will not be able to provide the reliable and comfortable services that passengers want.
• The Tube will be 'transformed', but not in a good way! Rather, it will be 'transformed' into a barely-staffed system in which services become unreliable and passengers find it hard to find the help they need.

RMT is determined to fight these job cuts, as we know that they are potentially disastrous for station staff, for other grades of Underground and TfL staff, and for passengers. Everyone is welcome to be part of our campaign.

Make sure you regularly check our special 'SOS - Staff Our Stations' webpage for updates on developments and campaigning.

Your rep’s report of the main issues at the level one meeting between local reps and management on 17th February.
Read the report below, or click '1 attachment' / file name to download it as a PDF.

SRT covering SATS - again!
The SRT framework agreement states SRT should not cover any rostered duties unless the station falls below minimum numbers at short notice.

Navin Shah, Labour GLA member for Brent & Harrow, has tabled some questions to the Mayor about London Underground's plans to cut jobs and close ticket offices, and plans to table more. The questions (and an answer) are copied below.

New line-up for 2010

The Stations & Revenue (functional) Council has various Forums, Sub-Committees etc that deal with particular aspects affecting our grades. RMT has three representatives on each of these.

Please find the attached February newsletter

I recieved this email and it just made me think of how little the bosses actually think of the customers. Couldnt really think of any tags for it to go under

LONDON UNDERGROUND’S biggest union has demanded an explanation from Tube bosses after a signal failure at Farringdon last night left passengers stranded without advice or help to finish their journeys.

1. Mystery shoppers - report here

2. Complexity review - The complexity committee will visit High Barnet on 24 February, and Acton Town on a date yet to be finalised, with a view to uprating these stations and thus bringing about a pay rise for Supervisors.

RMT's success in protecting staff's rights was confirmed when yesterday's Stations & Revenue Council meeting endorsed the outcome of the S&D forum meeting about ‘mystery shopper’ surveys - details here. The company will now send out guidelines to managers (see below).

RMT Revenue Control rep Tony Rowntree recently emailed Network Rail protesting against the proposed loss of 1500 jobs on the mainline network as reported in RMT News. Below is Network Rail's reply, and below that are some comments from RMT head office countering that reply.

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Click '1 attachment' / file name to download and print RMT's leaflet explaining to the public our opposition to London Undergrond's new policy of a five pound minimum for Oyster top-ups at the ticket office window. Print it two-sided, then slice it into three!

Below is a copy of the joint collective grievance raised by SAMF's across the network and managements response.

Collective Grievance.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download and print the 2010 'Contact RMT' poster for station and revenue staff. Local reps should write their name and contact details in the large green box, and make sure the poster is up in every union notice case at work!