ON THE eve of the election, transport union RMT warned Londoners that cuts are already leaving tube stations unstaffed on a regular basis creating dangerous travelling conditions and with far worse to come if Tory Mayor Boris Johnson bulldozes through his plans to axe a further 800 station posts.
The latest figures obtained by RMT show that from October 2009 through to March 2010 surface level stations on the District, Central, Metropolitan, Circle & Hammersmith and Northern Lines were left unstaffed for entire shifts on a total of 439 occasions. One station, Mill Hill East, was left unstaffed for 95 entire shifts.
Current cuts plans being implemented by London Underground would see up to 800 ticket office, station and platform staff jobs axed creating a wave of ticket office closures and ushering in a culture of unstaffed tube stations, particularly late at night.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
As Londoners prepare to vote they need to be aware that a Tory Mayor, who promised no cuts to station staff and no ticket office closures, is smuggling through reductions in staffing numbers that will have lethal consequences for the travelling public. The muggers paradise of unstaffed stations is already a reality across whole swathes of the tube system as these new figures demonstrate.
They already have proposals on the table that will force tube drivers to pull away from stations without working mirrors or cameras and without the assistance of platform staff. It is only a matter of time before a passenger is dragged under a tube train as a consequence of these reckless cuts.
Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has ripped up his promise to Londoners on tube staffing and voters need to take note of that on Thursday. RMT remains committed to fighting the jobs carnage on the tube and we will continue to fight for safe staffing levels on behalf of both our members and the travelling public.
No comments:
Post a Comment