London Underground Job Cuts Dispute 2010-11

RMT and TSSA step up industrial action in fight over safe tube staffing levels – staff will not participate in £5 Oyster top-up from Sunday 3rd October

TUBE UNION’S RMT AND TSSA confirmed today that the next phase of industrial action on the tube network in the fight to defend safe staffing levels is on and that the scale of the action will be ramped up with union members refusing to participate in the £5 minimum Oyster top-up from Sunday 3rd October.

That we congratulate our London Underground members and those of TSSA for their display of unity and standing up to the threat of massive cuts in jobs and undermining of safety.

Our industrial action will continue unless Management sees sense and withdraws imposition of these totally unacceptable proposals.

The previous GGC decision of 25 August 2010 is amended as follows:

All members in the former Metronet Grades are instructed to take strike action and not to work from 19.00 hours on Sunday 3rd October until 18.59 hours on Monday 4th October.

Talks between RMT/TSSA and London Underground management took place today, ending around 4pm. The unions' industrial action goes ahead - the overtime ban is still on, and a 24-hour strike is due to take place on 3-4 October.

Our industrial action so far has put sufficient pressure on management for them to attend talks. The unions asked again for the company to withdraw the OSP (job-cutting plan), and made several suggestions as to how talks could go forward productively. Management are now considering their response.

The RMT and TSSA have an ongoing overtime ban in place with London Underground station staff. Since the overtime ban began several Stations have been closed due to lack of staff, and in some cases left unstaffed or 'baby sat' by station assistants.

Read more of this article to see the list of closed stations.

RMT's overtime ban is affecting the District Line fleet. No shunter on days at Ealing Common depot means no trains available for changeovers and problems with some service trains and football trains tomorrow.

Click on the attachment to download the latest Monthly News, the newsletter of Finsbury Park branch.

In this edition:

SUPER STRIKE FLOORS LUL - a Monthly News round-up of how the strike hit home in the areas covered by our branch; WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? - why there is no fence to sit on in this dispute; WORSE IS STILL TO COME - with the government expected to demand between 25 and 40% of cuts to the transport budget, the 800 threatened station jobs is merely the start of the jobs cull;

Management have requested a meeting next week at ACAS to discuss the proposed 800 job cuts on LUL. The RMT will of course be attending but we have made it very clear we will not be agreeing to any axing of jobs.

In the meantime please continue to build pickets for our next day of strike action which will be announced soon.

Yours sincerely

Steve Hedley Regional Organiser

Arsenal, Liverpool Street, Lambeth North, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Regent's Park ... These are all stations which have been forced to close because RMT and TSSA members are refusing to do overtime in protest at London Underground's proposed job cuts.

An RMT member in Service Control writes ...

Firstly, when station staff are taken away, their responsibilities have to go somewhere and a lot of them are being heaped onto controllers. We are being given increasing responsibility for operational procedures such as wrong direction movements (carried out over secure radio) and frankly I think we already carry a huge responsibility (and therefore concurrent potential for cock-up) and need more like we need holes in our heads.