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Defend the London Bridge 3
Stations & Revenue Functional Council
Time to stick together
Lee Cornell's sacking and the London Bridge 3:
Why every CSS and CSM should support Lee and vote 'yes' to strike.
When London Underground announced the closure of all ticket offices as part of its absurd Fit For The Future (FFFS) programme, RMT balloted all of us, from every grade, to strike over the closures. Signal workers, track workers, Service Control, train operators, all of them came out on strike as part of what we called Every Job Matters and they made a material difference to how effective
the strike was and to the outcome of the negotiations that followed. When those negotiations stalled, those same RMT members struck again. They went on strike because when we stick together, we win more. They went on strike because we're an 'all grades' union.
The ticket office closures weren't
stopped but all ex-SAMF's who
chose not to take 'voluntary severance' (VS) remained on the job with no cut in salary; every former Station Supervisor who chose not to take VS was 'mapped' into a CSM role, with no cut in salary. No one got a P45. If we hadn't stood together we'd have ended up like any other workplace and most other trade unions when your job is made redundant; you're dumped on the dole.
The most solid section of station staff in the strikes against FFFS was the majority grade, the CSA's. Each of the London Bridge 3 struck numerous times
against FFFS; if they hadn't done so, the outcome of the strikes would have been vastly different. Current CSS's and former SS's would have had to apply for their 'own' jobs. The cull would have been savage.
When LU started to recruit 'fixed term' CSA's, RMT members in all grades said we weren't having it. As
part of the strike action that we took we ensured that fixed term CSA's were taken on permanently. That's solidarity. All grades were appalled at LU's plans to employ CSA2's on £8k less than the rate. Through strike action by all station grades we've ensures that all the first recruits will get CSA1 money after 12 months. We aim to secure the same for the remainder of CSA2's.That's solidarity.
You can't pick and choose your solidarities, especially when there is a torrent of misinformation coming from the very same people who took the axe to your job.
The choice is simple now: do you trust Lee Cornell or the people who shut the ticket offices? Do you trust the London Bridge Three or a management that would hang you out to dry if you were abused by a fare dodger? Do you stand with Lee's RMT workmates who've already walked out in his support, or cross your fingers and hope it doesn't happen to you?
- Eamonn Lynch's blog
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