“We will close all old-style ticket offices but keep a few as visitor information centres at biggest stations.”
This is what Boris tweeted within 48 hours of the LUL / RMT ACAS agreement which saw strikes suspended. The ACAS agreement includes the line “London Underground would agree... a station-by-station review including ticket office closures which could result in some ticket offices remaining open.”
So what is Boris up to - Is he unaware of the ACAS agreement? Possibly. He isn’t always very good with details; see for example his LBC interview in December of last year when he claimed he was trying to keep ticket prices down, but then couldn’t say what a single ticket costs. However, it seems fairly clear he does know - he knows he’s been beaten so far, and to know that he must know what the agreement was.
Is it more likely that he doesn’t care? Yes. He has kept himself away from RMT General Secretary Bob Crow as he doesn’t want to be confronted with difficult questions; such as “How does taking a thousand workers off the tube mean more workers offering assistance on the tube?” Boris knows that he won’t be scrutinised by the ‘mainstream’ press for what he says. Just read through the articles and comment pieces that give apparently in depth reports into the tube ‘modernisation’ but don't mention the main issue - nearly a thousand jobs going, let alone long term workers facing massive pay cuts. It’s easy to see why Boris believes he can say anything on Twitter and not be called out on it. At least Tubeworker is here to give you a true insight.
Whatever the reason for Boris’s denial on the future of ticket offices it makes him look either incompetent or deluded. Just days after his managers on LUL say some ticket offices may remain open; Boris is adamantly saying ‘no’ they will all close.
But the danger is that what Boris wants, Boris gets - so if he keeps on like this, we need to be ready to resume strike action. Preparing to strike now after the ACAS talks finish may send the message to him that we won’t stand by and let him win.
Boris also revealed (again) on twitter that a driverless train design will be unveiled soon - and several signs point towards the Piccadilly Line being prepared for an order of possibly driverless trains in 2016. This is a threat we should believe may come true and start responding to, rather than burying our heads in the sand in the belief it will never happen. The Every Job Matters dispute should be the fight to keep drivers on the front of a train.