Job Lot?

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

Local union reps on LU stations will shortly begin consulting members on LU's proposed allocation of the 325 additional jobs we won following our 8-9 January strike. (You can read LU's proposal online <a href=http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/files/staffing_review_july_17_master…;).

It's worth putting that concession in context: in one fell swoop, we managed to claw back around 1/3 of the jobs LU wanted to cut as part of Fit for the Future. With other cuts prevented through other channels, LU has only been able to make about half of the close-to-1,000 cuts it initially intended. To lose even a single job is bad; to lose 500 is certainly nothing to celebrate. But to reverse 500 job cuts is certainly a significant achievement, and one that we won solely by the strength of our late-2016 overtime ban and the January strike.

However, while the 325 jobs will help, they're not enough. When an RMT strike planned for early February were suspended, senior reps told those of us who wanted to go ahead with the strikes (in part because we felt the 325 figure was too low) that the 325 figure was a baseline that we should aim to increase. Let's put that to the test: in the consultation, reps should build up members' confidence and encourage them to set their sights high. Let's not just tinker around the edges of rosters, let's identify areas where LU's proposed 325 don't address serious short-staffing or lone-working issues, and come back to them with proposals for additional jobs.

If they don't look like budging, then we only need to cast our minds back to January to recall that we have the means to force them to move at our disposal: industrial action.

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