From Steve Hedley, Regional Organiser

You may be aware of management's propaganda bulletin “Heads up” and I think it is worth drawing your attention to the document issued on 16th July. If any of you were uncertain what the future holds if senior management get their way, this appalling mix of distortion and wishful thinking should set you right. It is probably better to expose the lies and distortions as they arise in the document of the 16th but as I am pressed for time I will only dwell on the most serious abuses of the truth.

PAY

Despite all the unions - that is, RMT, ASLEF, TSSA and Unite - rejecting the pay offer, management make the outlandish claim that “the majority of our staff recognise a final fair offer”. Needless to say not a shred of evidence is produced to support such a claim - but why let reality intrude on the “bunker mentality” of some senior managers?

FUNDING PENSIONS UNDER THREAT

In a paragraph referring to the TfL pension scheme, senior management claim “We are rapidly approaching a point where this can’t be sustained”.

So not only is your pay rise to be minimal, but there is a direct threat to the pensions scheme and final salary pensions in particular. This from the people who took long “pensions holidays” withholding contributions for years when the funds were in surplus.

NO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES

Absolutely no guarantees of honouring existing agreements are given. Indeed, whilst admitting that the 'jobs for life' agreement is enshrined in the London Underground main agreement and the former Metronet principles agreement, management blatantly refuse to accept that Annex H of the PPP Code of Practice is valid. You have all been sent a copy of this agreement in the post and you can judge for yourself.

If London Underground won't honour an agreement signed off by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and guaranteed by the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott then they will feel empowered to tear up any agreement with impunity.

OCR [organisational change review]

The OCR which management are attempting to push through redeploys people for 16 weeks and then sacks people if no jobs are available. Contrast this to the existing deal where if your job is made redundant then you are used to best advantage with no time limit until a suitable alternative job is available. In the middle of a recession, the current 'jobs for life' deal is more important than ever and must be defended.

ARE WE NEXT?

Management admit that there is a “gap in our funding” and goes on to say that they will have to identify savings. At no point does it say that there will be no further compulsory redundancies. This is unsurprising as due to the disastrous privatisations of Metronet and TubeLines, debts of over £6 billion are outstanding. We are once again being asked to pay for their mistakes.

BREACHES OF AGREEMENT

In this section senior management deny any wrongdoing even though in a previous paragraph they admit not abiding to the 'jobs for life' deal. It goes on to insult all the trade unions and accuses them of “threats”. This is a bit rich from people who threaten your pay your job security and now your pension.

Management's somewhat rambling prose ends on the promise to “stand firm” against who or what it is not altogether apparent - but then again why should clarity interfere with a good rant?