The London Underground unions have taken up a vital struggle over jobs and safety...
Unions fight attack on station staffing
WORKERS, MAR 2008 ISSUE
Over 7,500 members of the RMT and TSSA unions are mounting a joint campaign in defence of safety standards and staffing on London Underground (LUL). They have told LUL that ticket-office closures, de-staffing, lone working, introduction of "mobile supervisors", use of agency and security staff and other disputed policies amount to an unacceptable attack on members' and passengers' safety.
Plans to close 40 ticket offices and to cut the opening times of many more were temporarily halted after the unions' campaign last year led to a public outcry. RMT and TSSA are demanding the complete withdrawal of the plans. But LUL has refused to say that ticket offices will be kept open.
When LUL imposed driver-only tube trains it assured the public and its own drivers that good station staffing levels would keep the system safe, but those assurances are now being undermined, say the unions. They point out that changes in policy on when and how staff can refuse to work on safety grounds are unworkable and in breach of legislation.
Despite an agreement that jobs may be advertised externally only if there are too few internal applications, LUL is now systematically denying career opportunities to experienced railway staff and recruiting externally. The denial of tube driver jobs and promotion to experienced workers undermines the safety culture, says Bob Crow of the RMT. Both unions are demanding a review of recruitment policy to preserve and encourage a career path for experienced railway staff.
LUL wants to introduce "mobile supervisors" responsible for several stations, and to staff stations recently taken over from Silverlink only during the limited hours decided by the previous franchise holder. The unions are asking what happens in an emergency when the mobile supervisor is in the wrong place – or even stuck between stations on a train. They are demanding that every station is fully staffed during traffic hours, including by station supervisors, in line with existing agreements.
Emergency planning is under attack, as LUL has insisted on changes that water down the staff required on duty and which safety reps believe will undermine the ability to respond to emergencies and undertake safe evacuations. RMT and TSSA are demanding the reinstatement of the original numbers of each grade of fully trained and familiarised station staff.
Agency staff
Agency staff in London Underground uniforms, posing as fully trained permanent staff of LUL, are already carrying ticket-machine cash around on trains. Now LUL wants to staff the new Heathrow Terminal 5 station with staff subcontracted from other firms but wearing LUL uniforms. RMT and TSSA are demanding that the station be staffed by workers trained and employed directly by London Underground.
LUL wants to continue using agency staff on former Silverlink stations. RMT and TSSA are demanding that the practice ends when the training of former Silverlink staff is completed and current contracts finish. They want a guarantee that only directly employed LUL staff will be used for ticketing and revenue duties. The same goes for security staff, subject to normal co-operation with British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police.
TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty sums up, "Tube users should be as appalled as our members at the amount of safety issues outstanding, and I hope they will understand that LUL's refusal to discuss these issues in the round left us with no choice but to tell the company that we are now in dispute".