From Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary

Dear Colleague,

Some of you may have seen the editorial comment in the later editions of the Evening Standard on Thursday 21st May attacking RMT members over the industrial action on the Victoria Line that day.

RMT have asked the Evening Standard for the right to reply. As yet, we have had no response. A copy of my letter to the Standard is attached and reprinted below. Please ensure that it is widely distributed.

Can I also take this opportunity to remind you that the re-ballots of our members across London Underground and Transport for London for strike action in separate disputes on jobs, pay and breaches of procedures close on Thursday 28th May.

Please make one final effort to push for the maximum turn out and a massive vote for action.

Bob Crow RMT General Secretary

22nd May 2009

Dear Editor,

I write on behalf of RMT in response to your leader article on May 21st regarding the dispute on the Victoria Line over door safety and the bullying and victimisation of RMT members and activists.

It is simply not the case that the issue of door safety is “not as serious as the RMT claims”. Evening Standard readers will be rightly asking why the Correct Door Side Enabling Equipment operates on every other line on the Underground if it is not an important safety feature? The reality, which London Underground and TfL have played down, is that this failsafe system is a life saver.

Rather than peddling the myth that RMT takes industrial action lightly, the Evening Standard should instead be asking some serious questions on the mismanagement at local level which is wrecking industrial relations and destabilising London’s transport system. Since the demolition of the disputes resolution machinery, local managers have deliberately sought a stand-off with the union rather than a negotiated settlement.

The confrontational management stance is driven by the dash for cuts. There is a massive financial black hole which will have dire implications for tube users as budgets and staffing levels are hacked back. It’s that issue which is at the core of our current ballot and not the desire for some sort of set piece fight with the Mayor of London as your claim.

You say that “RMT has been itching for a fight for some time.” The only thing that RMT is itching for is a safe, modern Underground where staff are treated with the respect that they deserve.

RMT hoped that the new look Evening Standard would depart from its traditional, union-bashing stance. Rather than acting as a mouth-piece for TfL and London Underground you should come down and talk to the front line staff whose job it is to provide a safe transport system for the travelling public. Their views and concerns should carry more weight than the political spin from the stuffed shirts at the upper levels of the Tube bureaucracy.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow RMT General Secretary