Following a cracking vote for action, RMT has called a three-day strike next week on Tube Lines, starting Tuesday evening. This is a serious battle, and it is in all our interests to help it win.
Tube Lines workers are fighting to win a levelling-up of pensions and passes. Tube Lines was created as a private consortium under PPP, and was taken over by TfL in 2010 after PPP collapsed. While its private shareholders, Ferrovial and Bechtel, walked away with a £310 million payout, workers were left with two-tier benefits - those who were there pre-PPP having the same pensions and passes rights as other LU workers, with more recent recruits excluded and on inferior terms.
This kind of two-tier workforce is not only transparently unfair, it is also divisive - so a fight for equality strengthens and unites all of us.
One excuse from management has been that they can not grant the union’s demands until the future ownership of Tube Lines is determined later this year. This is a clear signal that TfL intends to re-privatise it, the most likely new owner being Amey (owned by Ferrovial), which was kept on to help run Tube Lines when it was brought into TfL ownership. The prospect of re-privatisation is even more reason to fight on this issue now.
Preparation for this action has been lengthy and well-organised. It has a thought-out strategy, and includes action that can win. No token 24-hour walkout here! The three-day strike will put serious pressure on management, and will be followed by more action if management don't back down.
With Tube Lines workers out on strike, there will be no Emergency Response Unit and nothing like adequate cover for maintenance and repairs. Tube workers of all grades will be asking serious questions about whether it is safe to work.
