Following a big majority for strike action in RMT's ballot, RMT and TSSA have jointly announced a 72-hour strike. The two unions' joint press release is copied below. LUL management's attack on our staffing levels and job security is very serious - and we must all now pull together to ensure a serious response: the best possible turnout for the strike days.
Union activists need to get out round the members, talking to everyone between now and the start of the action on Sunday 6 April. In particular, station staff need to visit depots and persuade drivers that management's casualisation plans affect us all and we should all stand together to defeat them. It does not help that ASLEF are doing management's job for them by sitting out the dispute with their usual refusal to accept any common cause with other grades - but that's just more reason for TSSA and especially RMT to make the argument for all-grades action.
Some staff may feel nervous about the prospect of sustained, 3-day action. But we have learned through many bitter lessons that one-day strikes do not work. It is better to lose several days' pay with a decent chance of winning than to sacrifice one day's pay with no chance of a result at all. Staff should also be asking ourselves how much we stand to lose in future if we let management beat us this time - it will be way more than three days' pay, both in terms of money and in terms of our rights.
1,673 RMT members voted for strikes; 333 against. That's 83.4% Yes, higher even than TSSA's impressive 81%, and a wake-up call for those who were predicting an unprecedented ballot defeat. However, the turnout was very low. This may not be down to a lack of willingess to fight, but rather because of the very short balloting period. Tubeworker repeatedly urged the unions to get on with balloting [1], but unjustified dithering at RMT HQ meant that the union's ballot did not even start until after TSSA's had finished, and with TSSA's mandate period running out, RMT's balloting period was much shorter than it would normally have been (and had two bank holidays in the middle of it). Not only did this mean that many members missed the chance to vote, it also meant that members who did not get their ballot papers did not have time to report this to the union and get a new paper issued in time.
The unions need to get their act together to win this one. It is now all hands on deck to build solid and effective strike action.
LONDON UNDERGROUND'S two biggest unions today (Friday) announced joint strike dates for more than 7,500 of their station staff and train operator members.
RMT and TSSA members, who are in dispute with the company over a raft of safety and staffing issues, will walk out from 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6 until 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 9 after voting by five to one and four to one respectively for action.
The unions have told LUL that its plans for 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 safety standards and the casualisation of safety-critical work (details in notes below).
"Each of these issues is serious in its own right, but together they amount to a fundamental and unacceptable attack on staffing across the network, putting our members' and passengers' safety at risk," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
"Tube workers will not stand idly by while the security of the network is compromised by managers who clearly believe that staff and passenger safety can be looked after on the cheap."
Gerry Doherty, general secretary of TSSA, said: "This is a dispute about the safety of our Tube system. The last people we want to hit are the travelling public but this seems to be the only way we can make London Underground listen.
"We have been trying to make them understand for months that we will not allow safety standards to be lowered by the use of agency staff. Even at this late stage, we want a negotiated settlement and remain ready to talk next week to achieve one."
ends
Notes to editors:
RMT's strike ballot saw 1,673 members vote for action with 333 voting against.
Ticket office closures and cuts to opening times: LUL temporarily halted plans to close 40 ticket offices and to cut the opening times of many more after the unions' campaign campaign last year led to a public outcry. However, LUL has refused to say that the plans have been withdrawn completely.
RMT and TSSA are demanding the complete withdrawal of the plans.
Staffing levels - emergency plans and guidelines: LUL has unilaterally decided to vary Section 4.2 of the Congestion Control and Emergency Plan to remove the specification of the minimum numbers of each grade of station staff that are to be on duty at any time.
RMT and TSSA are demanding the reinstatement of the original numbers of each grade of fully trained and fully familiarised station staff.
Refusal to work on grounds of safety: Under the guise of simplification LUL has changed its policy, undermining safety and breaching legislation.
RMT and TSSA are demanding the immediate re-instatement of the original policy.
Mobile supervisors: LUL wants to introduce 'mobile supervisors' responsible for several stations, and to continue to staff stations recently taken over from Silverlink only during the limited hours decided by the previous franchise holder. But what happens in an emergency when the mobile supervisor is in the wrong place - or even stuck between stations on a train?
RMT and TSSA are demanding that every station is fully staffed during traffic hours by the appropriate number of customer-service and station assistants, supervised by station supervisors in line with agreements and safety requirements.
Terminal 5 staffing: LUL wants to staff the new station with staff subcontracted from other firms but wearing LUL uniforms.
RMT and TSSA believe that this has serious safety implications and has demanded that the station is staffed by people trained and employed directly by LUL.
Use of agency staff: LUL wants to continue using agency staff on former Silverlink stations, including those used for ticketing and revenue duties
RMT and TSSA are demanding that the practice ends when the training of former Silverlink staff is completed and current contracts ends, and a guarantee that only directly employed LUL staff are used for stations and ticketing operations
Use of security staff: RMT and TSSA are demanding an agreement that security at all LUL-owned or -managed stations must be provided at all times by directly employed staff in appropriate grades, supplemented by the normal co-operation with the BTP and Metropolitan police forces.
Lone working: RMT and TSSA are demanding an agreement that there must be no rostered lone working unless undertaken from a place of safety.
Direct recruitment of station supervisors, train operators and service-control staff: LUL is now systematically denying career opportunities to experienced railway staff and recruiting externally, turning on its head an agreement that external advertising can take place if there are insufficient internal applications.
RMT and TSSA are demanding a complete review of recruitment policy to establish a policy that preserves and encourages a career path for experienced railway staff.