Leaflet For The Public: Why We Are Striking

You can download the leaflet at the end of this article

Our action is in response to the impact of a £4.2bn cuts programme imposed by the Government and Mayor of London. All four Unions are united with members voting overwhelmingly for strike action, with 90% plus yes votes and turnouts of over 50% (markedly better than the Tory Governments 24% share of the eligible voters in the General Election).

The strike is in opposition to LU demands that we accept additional night working and working at weekends. They have made this a condition of any pay rise in pay at all for the next two years. RMT members on London Underground(LU) already work 7 day/24 hour shift patterns. All we are asking is for a fair increase in pay that recognises the record number of passengers using the Tube and the massive productivity gains we’ve already delivered.

The two year pay deal, would in fact be a below inflation deal, in real terms a pay cut. The 0.75% pay offer would increase wages by between £225 per year for the lowest paid and £450 per year for the highest paid, compare this to the £7,000 per year that has been accepted by MP’s. We do not oppose night running on the Tube but we insist that enough staff are employed so that the burden of Fri/Sat nights working does not fall on those already working unsociable hours. The proposed CSA roster for South Kensington gives staff one long weekend off in every 27 weeks. We have a separate but associated dispute over specific plans for LU stations. LU is cutting 850 jobs leaving many stations dangerously under- staffed.

LU is lying to the public by claiming there will be more staff in ticket halls to help passengers. This is plainly untrue. Ticket office staff are not coming out from behind glass. The jobs in ticket offices have been cut and passengers will have to rely on self-service machines to buy tickets. Many medium sized stations outside of Zone 1 will have their staffing halved.

In reality, many stations will be left unstaffed as there will not be enough staff to cover training, annual leave and sickness. Safety will be an issue; assaults on staff are already up 44%. With less staff there will be a reduced service of care for disabled passengers. Unstaffed stations will mean many women will feel unsafe to travel late at night, sexual assaults on women have increased on the Tube. Our members will be expected to work anywhere on a line with just 24 hours notice of their duties. This will make it impossible to plan a life outside of work. At a day’s notice we could be told our duty has moved and that we will need to leave for work at 2am or 3am in the morning to catch a staff taxi.

None of the huge increase in travelling time will be in paid time. LU wants to be able to take staff from one under-staffed station to plug gaps in another rather than employ enough people in each local area. Fleet maintenance are also striking in protest at LU’s refusal to increase the number of train maintainers on duty to allow them to prepare trains for the additional demands of night running. Less maintenance time due to night running will potentially increase breakdowns in the service and also the number of accidents. London Underground is ignoring agreements it has with RMT and the other unions and is conducting sham talks, which it refuses to even call negotiations.

The company is seeking to casualise working arrangements so as to create a workforce that can be deployed anywhere at short notice with no consideration for the work/life balance of our members. Staff are calling LU’s plans a demand for a Martini workforce: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere! All four Unions are united in this struggle to defend our members jobs, pay and conditions. We are also united in demanding that our Underground is fully staffed to maximise the safety of the travelling public.

Our action is in response to the impact of a £4.2bn cuts programme imposed by the Government and Mayor of London. All four Unions are united with members voting overwhelmingly for strike action, with 90% plus yes votes and turnouts of over 50% (markedly better than the Tory Governments 24% share of the eligible voters in the General Election). The strike is in opposition to LU demands that we accept additional night working and working at weekends. They have made this a condition of any pay rise in pay at all for the next two years.

RMT members on London Underground(LU) already work 7 day/24 hour shift patterns. All we are asking is for a fair increase in pay that recognises the record number of passengers using the Tube and the massive productivity gains we’ve already delivered. The two year pay deal, would in fact be a below inflation deal, in real terms a pay cut. The 0.75% pay offer would increase wages by between £225 per year for the lowest paid and £450 per year for the highest paid, compare this to the £7,000 per year that has been accepted by MP’s.

We do not oppose night running on the Tube but we insist that enough staff are employed so that the burden of Fri/Sat nights working does not fall on those already working unsociable hours. The proposed CSA roster for South Kensington gives staff one long weekend off in every 27 weeks. We have a separate but associated dispute over specific plans for LU stations. LU is cutting 850 jobs leaving many stations dangerously under- staffed. LU is lying to the public by claiming there will be more staff in ticket halls to help passengers.

This is plainly untrue.

Ticket office staff are not coming out from behind glass. The jobs in ticket offices have been cut and passengers will have to rely on self-service machines to buy tickets. Many medium sized stations outside of Zone 1 will have their staffing halved. In reality, many stations will be left unstaffed as there will not be enough staff to cover training, annual leave and sickness.

Safety will be an issue; assaults on staff are already up 44%. With less staff there will be a reduced service of care for disabled passengers. Unstaffed stations will mean many women will feel unsafe to travel late at night, sexual assaults on women have increased on the Tube. Our members will be expected to work anywhere on a line with just 24 hours notice of their duties. This will make it impossible to plan a life outside of work. At a day’s notice we could be told our duty has moved and that we will need to leave for work at 2am or 3am in the morning to catch a staff taxi.

None of the huge increase in travelling time will be in paid time. LU wants to be able to take staff from one under-staffed station to plug gaps in another rather than employ enough people in each local area. Fleet maintenance are also striking in protest at LU’s refusal to increase the number of train maintainers on duty to allow them to prepare trains for the additional demands of night running.

Less maintenance time due to night running will potentially increase breakdowns in the service and also the number of accidents. London Underground is ignoring agreements it has with RMT and the other unions and is conducting sham talks, which it refuses to even call negotiations. The company is seeking to casualise working arrangements so as to create a workforce that can be deployed anywhere at short notice with no consideration for the work/life balance of our members.

Staff are calling LU’s plans a demand for a Martini workforce: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere! All four Unions are united in this struggle to defend our members jobs, pay and conditions. We are also united in demanding that our Underground is fully staffed to maximise the safety of the travelling public.

London Underground Strike Leaflet by Andrew Brattle