LUL Trains

RMT blasts Mayor’s “transport strategy” as a smokescreen for job cuts, ticket office closures and attacks on safety standards

TUBE UNION RMT today blasted London Tory Mayor Boris Johnson for throwing up a smokescreen under the guise of a “Transport Strategy”, designed to deflect attention away from his multi-billion transport cuts package that threatens thousands of jobs, ticket office closures across the Capital and a systematic undermining of current safety standards.

TUBE UNION RMT today slammed proposed changes to London Underground train operations that the union has warned would turn station platforms into “death traps.”

Proposals submitted to RMT safety reps at the Trains Health and Safety Council (THSC), and titled the Operation Effectiveness Programme (OEP), would involve:

• Detraining in a tunnel on your own.
• departing Category A platforms alone with defective OPO equiptment.
• Notching back into platforms after an overrun.

From Steve Hedley, RMT Regional Organiser:

If anyone has bought into the management propaganda that the 800 station staff job cuts will not affect drivers, the management's latest attack on safety should shatter their illusions.

LUL has put forward a raft of proposals which will compromise the safety of drivers and passengers alike, and are trying to steamroller them through in order to do away with the need for station staff.

Managements new 'Operational Effectiveness Programme' seeks to:

Your Trains Health and Safety Council reps write ...

The recession bites as LU announces proposals to run trains without the need for station staff.

A proposed change to the rule book, dated the end of last year, suggests that train operators could detrain on their own if a train is stalled without communications in a tunnel for more than half an hour.

The proposal document details how you should walk ahead of the customers making efforts to ensure they are all following and get them to pass on information amongst themselves about trip hazards. At points using telephone wires to turn of traction current. When you get to the next station get staff assistance if this is possible. This would suggest that it may not be possible to find staff at a section 12 station.

Download the full document to make up your own mind about whether it is safe and what it means for the future of staffing levels on stations were it to be implemented.

Click '1 attachment' / file name to download a poster with quotes from RMT and ASLEF representatives, showing that despite London Underground's claims, the plans to cut stations jobs do affect train drivers.

Please distribute this as widely as possible to drivers. Other grades - especially station staff - will also be pleased to see this evidence that drivers' union reps understand the impact of the job cuts and oppose them.

RMT at Brixton depot has produced a new newsletter for drivers. You can read the text below, or click '1 attachment'/file name to download and print it.

Sacking of Drivers

Over the past couple of months there have been several issues including London underground sacking drivers. We at Brixton have had two this year. One of the issues is a said 96% attendance standard. There is no such figure anywhere. If asked to sign any documents stating any attendance percentage targets, do not! Speak to your union rep.

Senior train operators will recall a time when LUL took their training seriously. With sole responsibility for several hundred passengers, often in inaccessible locations, it’s essential that a driver knows how to take remedial action to get a train moving should it become defective. Likewise, drivers need to know and understand the rules and regulations that help make the underground system operate safely.