LUL Declares War

Make no mistake, the Confidential Report exposed by RMT is the result of months, if not years, of management preparations to transform our job, root and branch, and bust the trade unions along with it.

The results will be massive job losses across all grades.

Station Supervisors and DSM/DTSMs are in the immediate firing line. The full closure of the Ticket offices will result in the end of the SAMF grade. RCI’s are already been slashed with more cuts scheduled and CSA’s will be uprooted and made to work more flexibly along and across all lines.

As Signal cabins close, Signal Operators will be concentrated in new depots like Hammersmith. The resultant rationalisation will lead to hundreds of job losses. Train operators will be forced out of their cabs as ATO is utilised to its fullest and our engineering, fleet and track staff will be re-organised and rationalised in preparation for another round of privatisation.

It won’t stop there. Despite LUL’s Internal Bulletin suggesting the Report is ‘purely to stimulate fresh thinking’, panicked managers have started to sing like canaries. For instance, RMT have been informed since the release of the Report, that Nigel Holness, Director BCV, has even been tasked with the wholesale privatisation of stations outside Zone 2 and actively seeking options to de-staff stations completely.

Mike Brown says any changes will be ‘subject to full consultation with the unions’. What he fails to mention is LUL Plans and preparations have already begun.

Report Released By RMT

RMT releases internal report exposing unprecedented jobs and safety assault on London Underground (24-Oct-2011) TUBE UNION RMT today released a confidential “Operational Strategy” paper from London Underground which the union says is “a blueprint for jobs and safety carnage.”

Amongst a raft of cuts-led proposals supposed to address the financial chaos left behind by the Private Public Partnership and the Mayor’s £5 billion assault on budgets, the report suggests:
The axing of more than 1500 jobs Automation of trains with “no in cab operators” and drivers replaced by “train attendants”
Closure of all ticket offices with just 30 stations having all-purpose “travel centres”
Across the board financial cuts of 20%
Freezing recruitment, ripping up existing staffing agreements and imposing a system of overtime and part-time working. De-staffing stations through an escalation of the existing job cuts programme and turning the network into a criminals paradise.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said “This document tells us everything we need to know about the operational strategy of London Underground - massive increase in fares alongside an unprecedented attack on jobs and safety. “Every single ticket office would be closed, stations left unstaffed and drivers would be thrown out of their cabs without a single thought for passenger safety.

“In recent months we have seen from an escalation in cuts-led breakdowns just why the train and platform are so critical to safety on the system. This ill-conceived and financeled document ignores reality in favour of austerity and would impact on every single staff member on London Underground.

It would leave passengers stranded in tunnels with no means of evacuation and would turn the platforms and stations into a muggers and vandals paradise. “RMT will work with our sister tube unions and passenger groups on a campaign to ensure that this document and its proposals are consigned to the dustbin of history.”