RMT press releases

As vaccine programme hits initial targets RMT calls for escalation of priority and protection for transport workers

With the news at the weekend that the initial phase of the COVID vaccination programme has hit its targets RMT called this morning for an escalation in priority for transport staff and other essential workers to ensure that those groups risking the highest levels of occupational exposure, and who are also pivotal to the route map out of the current lockdown, are properly protected. 

General Secretary Mick Cash said;

RMT blasts TfL for calling on staff in South African variant postcodes to come into work as normal.

RMT has written to TfL Commissioner Andy Byford condemning its guidance that workers in postcodes being targeted for surge testing aimed at bringing the South African variant of Covid19 to heel, should come into work as normal.

RMT on shocking new ONS figures on COVID mortality rates amongst bus and taxi drivers

Commenting on today’s ONS figures which showed that male bus and coach drivers and male taxi drivers are two of the occupational groups with high rates of Covid-19 deaths, RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“ These figures are a tragic reminder of the risks faced by the UK’s frontline transport workers.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;

“This Financial Sustainability Plan is a massive missed opportunity and a capitulation to Tory austerity. TfL could have used this moment to aggressively make the case for setting its funding on a completely new basis, recognising the failure of fare box model and making the case for public funding that recognises the public interest in London’s mass transit system.

RMT demands urgent action to protect TfL workers as new Covid variant runs rampant

TRANSPORT UNION RMT is demanding immediate action by Transport for London amid the surge in London’s cases of Covid infection and the rise of new variant Covid and the deaths of at least three TfL workers in recent days.

The union has written to both the Mayor of London and London Underground calling for an urgent upscaling of safety measures to protect staff. In the letter the union demands:

RMT pledges co-ordinated campaign to defend pay as Government eyes attack on living wage

TRANSPORT UNION RMT said today that it will mount a co-ordinated campaign to defend wages and to protect the low paid as it was reported that the Government is planning to renege on commitments on the living wage. 

General Secretary Mick Cash said;

As speculation grows that Crossrail could be mothballed RMT demands Government stop using TFL and its workers as a political foo
Responding to reports that the Capital's Crossrail line could be mothballed without immediate funding transport union RMT today called on the Government to stop using TFL as a political football. 

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

RMT, the Tube’s largest union, today condemned London Underground for its dangerous policy on Covid-19.

LUL are refusing to send staff home after a workmate reports a positive Covid-19 result. This includes staff who would have been working with their colleague potentially for many hours per day and up to 8 days in a row together.

The policy flies in the face of Government guidelines that clearly state that you MUST isolate for 14 days if you have been in contact with a Covid-19 positive person and face a fine if you knowingly don’t.

LONDON UNDERGROUND UNION RMT is to ballot canteen workers in LU depots for industrial action after private contractor Sodexo announced it intends to plough ahead with a plan to slash 30 jobs, nearly a third of the workforce.

The move will put an end to over 100 years of on site home-style cooked canteen food for transport workers which will be replaced with reheated frozen microwave meals.

The proposals are part of a restructuring plan by Sodexo and will see workers who have notched up to 20 years’ service being placed on the scrapheap.

Following the news this morning that TfL has secured a £1.8 billion funding deal to last to March 2021, RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;

"It is deeply troubling for TFL staff that this short term deal is loaded with strings that amount to at least £160 million of cuts with the very clear threat of worse to come.