Tube strike called for 14-16 October

Submitted by Matthew on 8 October, 2014 - 11:28 Author: Ollie Moore

London Underground workers will strike on 14, 15, and 16 October.

Tube union RMT is fighting to stop management imposing massive staffing cuts and the closure of every ticket office on the network.

The cuts would see a reduction of nearly 1,000 posts, with some stations set to lose more than 50% of their staff.

Major stations will lose significant numbers of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) posts from their rosters, with Oxford Circus set to lose 5.2 FTE posts, King’s Cross St. Pancras 7.6, Paddington 8.4, and Victoria 8.2. Barons Court, in West London, will be hardest hit, with a 58% cut to its staffing level.

The cuts will also see lone working introduced at over 50% of Tube stations, and although every existing ticket office on the network is slated for closure, LU plans to only install 150 new automatic ticket machines to replace them.

Tube workers struck in February and April against the cuts, forcing concessions from management on issues like salary and location. But the RMT remains opposed to the entire cuts plan itself.

Phil Hufton, London Underground’s Chief Operating Officer, hired specifically to implement these cuts, is leaving LU for a job at Network Rail. Labour Greater London Assembly members like Val Shawcross have asked questions in the Assembly about how staffing cuts will affect local communities.

Smaller Tube union TSSA, which joined RMT in the February strike but which has since held back from calling further industrial action, has indicated it will not be participating. Drivers’ union ASLEF has not supported any RMT strike on this issue, although ASLEF reps in some locations have respected RMT picket lines.

The Tube strike coincides with strikes by workers in civil service union PCS on the 15 October and forms part of a week long series of strikes in the public sector.

A Tube worker told Solidarity: “Like the public sector pay strikes, our strike is about the government’s austerity project. The Coalition’s 12.5% cut to Transport for London’s central government funding has been passed onto us by our employers. We’re saying: fund public transport properly, don’t cut jobs. Our strike isn’t just an industrial battle between us and our bosses, it’s a fight for what kind of Tube service we want in London – one run where staff and passengers’ interests come first, or a system where every corner is cut to save money.”

The rank-and-file bulletin Tubeworker, produced by Workers’ Liberty members who work on London Underground along with other socialists and radicals on the Tube, is pushing for more strikes to be called to follow up the October action.

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