Mention "Fit for the Future – Stations" to some LUL train drivers, and they will speak of “inevitable” ticket office closures and “unavoidable” job losses. This mistaken view is quite easy to counter.
However, responding to the view that station staff have already given up the fight and are just awaiting their "fate" is a little trickier. Some station staff seem depressed from their experience of location preferencing forms and see a bleak future ahead in locations they do not want to work in. Some who thought they would use the opportunity to get promotion have realised that they will not be spared from the harsh changes. New "Area Managers" are moving into their roles on stations, and draft local rosters are being distributed.
The unions need to do more to build unity across the grades, and show that all of us are affected by this jobs fight. "Fit for the Future - Trains" will surely follow hot on the heels of "Fit for the Future - Stations". Some drivers have their heads in the sand, but others fully understand that the station staff cuts and ticket office closures are just the beginning of massive cuts across London Underground to save £4.2billion.
There is frustration amongst some RMT drivers that all grades were balloted for the strikes in the Every Job Matters dispute, yet only drivers members were balloted in the campaign to get driver Alex McGuigan reinstated. It is crucial that the union keeps communicating with drivers about the company's cuts plans. The immediate fight against station staffing cuts and ticket office closures is part of a battle against austerity-driven cuts; a battle that involves us all, and which has already started. Activists in every union who want to see the cuts pushed back must work to cultivate a strong sense of unity and solidarity between all grades on London Underground.
Comments
How to build militancy
Tubeworker has been asked to post the following comment as a reply to the comment above, and a contribution to the debate. Please leave your views too!
Hi Saeybia,
Yes, drivers were balloted in November 2013, and RMT's two strikes (January 2014 and April 2014) were all-grades strikes. It's true that drivers have a particular industrial leverage (i.e., if trains don't run, it hardly matters whether stations are open or not), but that's the part of the point of industrial unionism - so that those workers with more immediate power can bring it to bear for the benefit of all.
In my experience many station staff were and are committed to the fight. Yes, there was some scabbing, and some managers working, and, of course, TSSA pulled out of the second strike which weakened things somewhat. But in fact on most stations the mood to fight is stronger now than it has been for months. The task is to convince drivers, and other grades, that this is not a "stations dispute" they're being asked to "help out", it's a dispute against the effects of LU's cuts on all jobs in all functions, now and in the future.
From A. Worker
Were drivers not actually
Were drivers not actually balloted as Station Staff have no power when it comes to a strike as they stations can be run by office staff? Train Staff were getting passed off with the strikes as Station Staff could work rest days and quite often were not striving for their own jobs