Bakerloo August 2010 Branch newsletter

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The main article follows:

RMT & TSSA unite to fight for jobs and safety!

RMT & TSSA members have sent a resounding NO to management’s plans to cut jobs and undermine safety on London Underground. With a yes vote for strike action of over 75%, the unions have announced a joint rolling campaign of strike action starting on Monday 6th September with an overtime ban for all grades at the same time.

London Underground’s plan to slash 800 jobs and close hundreds of ticket offices has saw RMT and TSSA unite over this assault on jobs on the tube. For the first time in living memory TSSA has joined our union in balloting and organising strike action on the tube. This is because not only will these plans make the Tube a dangerous place to travel on and work in, it would also prove the end of any sort of customer service. Management’s claims that people no longer use ticket offices are nonsense, given the choice passengers would much rather deal with properly trained ticket office staff than clueless people in the local corner shop. Management simply don’t want to give passengers this choice.
But make no bones about it, this is just the second round of staff cuts TfL/LUL want to impose. Following last years cuts of 1000 backroom managers, this is round two.
LUL bosses are using salami tactics to attack job levels on the tube. It’s booking offices now but it will be your grade tomorrow. RMT Regional Organiser said “these 800 jobs are just the tip of the iceberg. We all know that management plan a further review in October and they are talking about a further 25% of cuts. 75% of LUL's budget is in manpower so it doesn't take a genius to work out where the axe will be falling. These cuts will work out at another 1 in 4 jobs. We have just won victories on LUL engineering, on Tubelines and at Alstrom, this show that when people are organised and are willing to fight then victories can be won” .As the article overleaf shows the next phase will be an attack on the train operator grade. According to the company’s own literature December’s new timetables will leave the company with 300 drivers more than they need. With LUL’s present policy of sacking drivers for nothing it is only through strong strike action and all grades unity that will make management think twice. At the moment with the balance of forces in management’s favour they have been running amok, abusing procedures, sacking and redeploying staff as they see fit. It’s time for all grades to unite to show management that we want a properly staffed and safe Underground.