Station grades: Overtime ban back on from 3 January, prepare for strikes!

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

LU has indicated it may rush to impose new contracts on station staff, particularly in the areas where it wants to launch “Fit for the Future” first (King’s Cross, and the east end of the Central Line).

Tubeworker is pleased that this has stirred RMT to reinstating an overtime ban on stations from 3 January, and to contemplate renewing strike action.

The overtime ban can really hurt the company if it's enforced. Reps and activists should get out across the job to make sure it's upheld. It won't win us our disputes on our own, but it can be an effective element in a diverse range of industrial action tactics we use to pressure the employer. Hopefully other unions will follow this lead.

Many members feel we need to swiftly follow up the overtime ban with an announcement of strikes. That view seems to be shared by regional union leaders; however, we are concerned about how often the word “if” comes first (as in: “we will strike if LU imposes new contracts, or “if” it imposes Fit for the Future in some areas before others).

Isn’t LU already doing enough – cutting 800 jobs, wrecking our work-life balance – to warrant industrial action?! Advertising Train Op vacancies externally is another attack, undermining the possibility of career progression for stations grades. We don’t need to wait for further provocation before we strike.

There’s also clear grounds for strikes over pay. All unions have rejected the offer, which is barely an increase at all and would be erased for most of us by increases in National Insurance Contributions.

We need all-grades strikes as soon as possible.

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