07.10.14
Tube workers set for 48-hour strike next week
London Underground workers are set for a 48-hour strike next week in a long-running dispute over ticket office closures.
RMT members have been instructed not to book on for any shifts between 21.00 on Tuesday 14 October through to 20.59 on Thursday 16 October.
The walkout threatens to cause travel disruption in the capital and coincides with strikes, previously reported by RTM’s sister site PSE, by council workers and civil servants across the country in separate disputes over pay, jobs and cuts.
The latest phase of action in RMT’s ‘Every Job Matters’ campaign follows talks with London Underground. The union said some limited progress has been made but the union executive has taken the view that it is not enough after months of negotiations and that the only option is a further round of strike action.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT negotiators have made every effort in the long-running talks to resolve a range of issues that impact on our members’ jobs, their pay and working conditions and the safety of the services that they provide to the travelling public.
“The cuts, currently being bulldozed through, would de-staff whole areas of the Tube system at a time of surging passenger demand and would make evacuation and other basic safety procedures a physical impossibility. The axing of ticket offices and station staffing grades would render the tube a no-go zone for many people with disabilities and for women travelling alone. The cuts ignore the realities of life that we saw when services broke down last week and the recent surveys which point to an increase in violence and sexual assaults.
“RMT will not stand back and allow government- driven austerity cuts to hollow out the tube system and leave it as a dangerous shell. We are also fully aware that the current cuts are just part of a multi-billion pound attack that will include such lethal ideas as driverless-operation. The strike action next week is designed to force the Mayor to instruct his senior officials to back away from this toxic cuts package and engage in serious and meaningful negotiations.”
Transport for London says staff would be better used by being stationed on concourses and platforms than manning quiet ticket offices, and has promised no compulsory redundancies.
(Image: c. TfL)
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