RMT press release, issued today

ANY THREAT of forced redundancies of RMT members at TfL and London Underground will be resisted, the capital’s biggest tube and rail union said today.

The union today said it was alarmed by today’s announcement that “hundreds” of jobs could be lost across TfL as part of a drive to find £2.4 billion in “efficiency savings.

“TfL has made vague statements about the need to reduce headcount across TfL and that can only cause alarm among our members,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Reducing the use of over-priced outside consultants is all well and good, but there can be no question of any job losses among the people who deliver the services that London depends on.

“There is no way that London’s transport workers should be made to pay for the failure of the bankers and privateers whose greed has created the crisis our economy is now in.

“The mayor was elected on the promise of bright new ideas, but there is nothing remotely bright or new about wielding the axe on jobs and services.

“If the mayor is looking for efficiencies he should find a way of bringing the Tube Lines PPP contracts back in house, because they are still draining huge sums of public money from London’s transport budget

“We thought the government was going to plough money into public projects to help us through the recession, but first we have had attacks on Network Rail’s essential budgets and now it seems London Underground is coming under attack.

“It goes without saying that RMT will resist any forced redundancies among our members,” Bob Crow said.