Tube union RMT today pledged to step up the fight to stop the carve up of the Lillie Bridge tube maintenance depot as Mayor Boris Johnson sneaked out an announcement late last night that gives the green light to the demolition of Earls Court and the surrounding area and its conversion into a yuppies playground by Tory Councillors hell bent on the social cleansing of whole swathes of West London.

RMT today demanded immediate assurances from London Underground that there will be no threat to the jobs and safety-critical work at Lillie Bridge and that TFL will not cave in to pressure from developers, right-wing politicians and billionaire Russian football club owners to smash up Lillie Bridge in the name of greed. RMT has made it clear that the union will ballot for action if those assurances are not forthcoming.

RMT has also pledged to work with campaigners fighting the Earls Court carve up and will join and promote protests demanding that Boris Johnson and his supporters back off.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“RMT is wholly opposed to any interference with the Lillie Bridge tube maintenance depot as part of the yuppiefication of West London, the union is also deeply concerned about the potential impact on jobs and the loss of safety-critical maintenance capacity.

“This whole ill-conceived plan, which includes the social cleansing of Earls Court in favour on penthouse apartments for the super-rich, must be stopped and we stand shoulder to shoulder with the campaign to force Boris Johnson to turn back the proposals. This is the mayor sending out the signal that he is only interested in the demands of speculators and Russian billionaires.”

ENDS