We were informed the other day of the ‘good news’ that our Continuous Development Program (CDP) will be shorter: two days for supervisors and one day for CSAs.
We might breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of less time sat in a classroom.
But this is not good news. It is important to defend our training. We want the knowledge to be able to do our job safely and effectively, especially at a time when our union is fighting to defend jobs on the grounds of safety.
Our licenses also protect us. They are an obstacle to LU replacing us with someone paid half the money with no training at all. Agency staff already work on the north end of the Bakerloo line.
Our licences also mean we are able to act together as workers. If we want to take action, LU has to find enough licensed people to cover us, so we have some power to make LU listen, when, sadly, they won’t listen any other way.
LU’s long-term agenda is to de-skill and de-license us. We should resist, not welcome, this.