Defending jobs

RAIL UNION RMT have today welcomed confirmation that the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) have directly intervened with the Government over the safety issues raised by the union over the threat by Network Rail to axe 1500 maintenance jobs.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, in response to a dossier on the safety implications of the cuts compiled by RMT, Anna Walker, Chair of the ORR says:

“I can assure you that we have been scrutinising Network Rail’s restructuring proposals for some time and we will continue to do so.

RMT members from London Transport Region joined fellow members from around the country at Parliament last Wednesday to demand that MPs stop Network Rail going ahead with plans to scrap 1,500 maintenance jobs.

These photos come courtesy of RMT's London Taxis branch, who sent a delegation to the lobby.

RAIL UNION RMT will today (Wednesday 27th January) hand a dossier of safety failures and maintenance cuts to MP’s as rail workers lobby parliament this lunchtime in protest at plans by Network Rail to axe a further 1500 safety-critical jobs.

Hundreds of rail workers have contacted a confidential RMT email line to say lives could be put at risk. The dossier highlights the worst examples of where the scaling back of work and changing standards in preparation for the job cuts are already leading to a serious deterioration in safety.

The following resolution, submitted by Piccadilly & District West branch and seconded by Hammersmith & City branch, was carried unanimously at the Regional Council meeting on 28 January 2010.

This Union has not been consulted on the implementation of the £5 minimum top up at Ticket offices. We believe this policy is both an attack on customers, especially poorer people, and a threat to the future of ticket offices and jobs.

The new issue of our RMT London Calling newsletter highlights the threats to jobs across London's transport. It also includes articles on the Haiti earthquake, TubeLines/PPP crisis, signals dispute, sacked Bakerloo drivers, and more.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download it. Please distribute it widely.

We all know that there is a recession. We have witnessed it first hand with this year’s pay cut and the sacking of our members just to reduce staffing numbers.
But not all companies necessarily view a recession as a bad thing. What LU are doing is hiding behind the recession and using it as a excuse to cut our pay, slash jobs and introduce unsafe working practices.

London Underground plans to close or cut most of its ticket offices, and to reduce station staffing by over 1,000 staff. To provide customer service and safety, London Underground stations need more staff not fewer. Popular opposition stopped planned ticket office closures in 2008; now we need the same popular opposition to stop them again.

RMT has set up a petition against the job cuts on the 10 Downing Street website. It will take you just a minute or so to add your name, and give a big boost to our campaign to save jobs.

Click here to sign the petition.