A new roster is due at Oxford Circus on 29 March, due to the creation of an additional CSA position. That new job is the result of a long fight by unions locally to increase the staffing level; RMT members on Bakerloo South called strikes over the issue in December 2018 and January 2019, which were subsequently suspended when management promised a staffing review.
The new job is an outcome of that review – short of what union reps demanded, but a small step forward nonetheless.
Following union pressure, similar staffing reviews have taken place elsewhere, including on the Northern Edgware cover group, where management have agreed to add three new jobs (two Night Tube CSAs and one part-time CSS).
But all is not rosy in the garden. For every area where union pressure has forced management to create new jobs, there seems to be a rogue Area Manager looking to cut them. At Chancery Lane/St. Paul’s, the AM has decided, entirely unilaterally, to delete two CSS positions and replace them with one additional CSM position, leading to a net reduction in head count and forcibly displacing the CSSs whose positions the AM appears to think aren’t required.
RMT’s new “Justice for Station Staff” campaign, one of the demands of which is for a comprehensive staffing review across the job to increase staffing levels, is sorely needed!
