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FIGHT AGAINST JOB CUTS

Members should already be in receipt of the broadsheet, "We Can Stop Job Cuts". This outlines how we lost over 800 jobs between March 2011 & March 2012, while passenger numbers have soared to record levels. The Broadsheet details all the arguments of our Union to maintain a fully staffed, publicly owned and integrated transport system.

Unfortunately those who run Government, in London and nationally, and their highly paid bosses at London Underground are not moved by rational arguments. A fully staffed underground system would offer the World Class service that Londoners expect.

Workers demand more action like the co-ordinated action of Nov 2011. RMT is demanding that the TUC act on the 2011 Congress decision in favour of a General Strike.
in return for paying the highest fares in Europe. But our bosses are motivated by profit not the commitment to a public service.

This is reflected in all public services. We are seeing cuts in Health care, Fire services, local government services and the hard won social wage won through trade union struggles since the post war period. Money saved through government cuts is being transferred into the coffers of the super rich, during this recession the richest 1,000 have seen their wealth increase by 5% to £404 billion. In contrast, the poorest 10% in society have seen their real incomes fall, as wage increases have been pegged well below the level of inflation.

Read more about how the London Transport region of the RMT is fighting all job cuts in all grades here

We must say enough is enough. We will not accept one more job loss or one more cut in our conditions. We must build the resistance to cuts, in the coming months we will organise mass meeting of all our members to discuss the strategy and action required to organise the fight-back. We need 100% support from our members and we need to build unity in the workplace with TSSA and ASLEF members. Unity is strength, but Unity must be built in the concrete in the workplace.

We will also need to build links, with fire-fighters, local government workers, civil servants and all other workers fighting cutbacks. We will have to take industrial action to defend our jobs and conditions, but we must link with other workers to take generalised strike action including a general strike to fight the onslaught of cuts on working people and their families.

European wide strike action is being put forward for 13/14 March by many unions in different European countries. We must look to ways of taking part in this movement of workers, The Mc Nulty report and the leaked documents outlining attacks on London Underground mean that we will have to look at a national strike of all rail workers to resist the cutbacks in the coming months.

• Read articles from our 'No Job Cuts' leaflet here.

Bakerloo Line De-Training Dispute
Bob Crow Accuses LU of Lies as Action over De-Training Bites

TUBE BOSSES today stood accused of “lying through their teeth” over the effect of industrial action being taken by train drivers to protect passenger safety on the capital‟s Bakerloo line.
Since January 15, Bakerloo drivers in RMT and Aslef have been physically checking that trains are empty of passengers before moving into sidings, after LUL stopped station staff checking carriages.

LUL's reckless move had resulted in more than 3,000 "overcarries‟ into Bakerloo sidings in the last year, including one involving a 12-year-old boy who could have jumped onto live rails but for the action of an alert driver.

The drivers safety action has eliminated the problem of overcarrying, but has resulted in substantial delays to the service, which LUL has tried to hide – including by suppressing routine internal reports that show the true level of cancellations and delays.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said:
“It is bad enough that LUL seems happy with 3,000 overcarries on the Bakerloo in the last year compared with just 94 on nine other lines put together, but to lie through their teeth when our members have to take action to keep the public safe is despicable.

The Bakerloo line‟s own routine review showed that 12 of 29 trains scheduled to run in the first three hours of our members‟ action last week had to be cancelled – so Tube bosses simply stopped the reports being issued.

LUL must have a very low opinion of its passengers to think that pretending nothing is wrong will fool anyone – and they are even making matters worse by refusing to allow control staff to put special measures in place to cope with the delays and cancellations.

The twittersphere is buzzing with angry passengers wanting to know why they are being delayed and not being told about it, and LUL should stop this ridiculous charade, admit they got this one wrong and reinstate the safe procedure they have banned.

And if it‟s a staff shortage that‟s stopping them doing it, they can re-instate the 33 competent agency people they fired last week and refused to allow to apply for permanent jobs, presumably because they had all joined RMT and fought for equal pay.”

• Read more about the detrainment dispute here

Trainpeople

London Underground is still refusing to offer employment to the redundant Trainpeople employees. LU has used a list of spurious excuses for denying the legal and moral rights of these workers.

The RMT Council of Executives has agreed to:

1. Continue to demand that LUL fulfil its obligations and offer employment to these workers
2. Continue to support campaigning and protests in pursuit of this
3. Seek maximum media coverage
4. Report on the implementation of our previous instruction to contact the Mayor and members of the Transport for London Board about this issue
5. Report on progress with these members submitting legal claims
6. Obtain a report from our Bakerloo branch on planned further action

• Read more about these workers struggle for continued employment on the tube here.