Is the Opening of Brixton Depot the start of a train side SRT?

The opening of a new depot you think would always be a good thing because of the employment of more drivers to staff it, and giving other grades the opportunity to progress if they wish to become a driver, and therefore strengthens the job and the need for train drivers, but the question we have to ask ourselves is, would this indeed be the case with the opening of Brixton and the subsequent plans on the opening up of more new depots across the combine.

The date for the opening of Brixton is fast approaching, but no one even at this date still has any idea of how many drivers will be sent and displaced to Brixton from Seven Sisters, and the more worrying thing is that once the training for the new Victoria line stock is complete, what will happen to all those displaced drivers who are now over and above the establishment numbers.

A paranoid and cynical person like me may think that they will be moved on to where ever the next upgrade would be, and therefore they would be constantly bounced around the combine filling training needs and holes at depots. If this were the case, what would then be formed in my opinion is a Train side SRT, and if that is the way the company is going then we need to stop this from happening NOW, because if we don’t, any sort of promotion to the train side would be curtailed, if not stopped because this group of already qualified drivers would only require line and stock training and then they are out on the road. So any station staff thinking of becoming a train driver, sorry but they won't need you , LUL will save thousands of pounds in training cost.

If this is the case, it seems it is being allowed to happen because there seems to be nothing coming out about the future of displaced drivers to new depots, and what will happen to them once upgrades and training is all finished. Let alone the issue of the East London Line drivers sitting outside the roster at Leytonstone, are they too going to be forced into this same situation?

We as a region and a Union need to take a good long look at what the future could possibly hold and do everything within our power to not only protect drivers jobs, but to protect the rights of other grades, so that they have positions that they can get promoted into, otherwise we could end up with SRT's in all grades and then there will be no need to employ staff in these grades anymore just use the SRT for that grade.

A paranoid and cynical

Will Reid Industrial Relations Rep (R.M.T) Staff Side Secretary Seven Sisters (Trains) Auto: 56924 Mobile: 07889089064 Union Office Landline: 02070276924 http://rmt-finsburypark0543.org/