RMT slams TfL & Tube Lines, latest cuts hit escalator safety inspections etc.

TUBE UNION RMT today accused TfL and Tube Lines of slashing safety standards to dangerous levels as it emerged that twice weekly inspection of escalators will be cut to just once a week and the 12 week frequency of signal maintenance on the Jubilee Line will be cut to a 16 week cycle.

The latest safety and maintenance cuts on the Tube Lines section of the Underground have come just two weeks after RMT exposed moves to hack back the frequency of track inspections on the Jubilee Line extension.

RMT reps will be raising the issues at a meeting of the Health and Safety forum today – Thursday 3^rd December – with a demand that the cuts be reversed as a matter of urgency.

RMT have pointed out that one of the causes of the Kings Cross fire was a lack of regular escalator inspections. The union are also challenging the failure to consult with health and safety reps before the cuts were implemented, making a mockery of the agreed procedures.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said today:

"We are demanding the intervention of TfL Chair Boris Johnson to reverse the safety and maintenance cuts programme which is leaking out in dribs and drabs from Tube Lines.

"The Mayor told Londoners that the cuts on London transport would not hit passengers and front line services. These latest cuts, bulldozed through by Tube Lines without consultation, make a nonsense of those assurances. These are dangerous reductions in key maintenance and safety frequencies that will set alarm bells ringing for staff and passengers alike.

"There is a growing suspicion that the Tube Lines cuts are tied in closely with the financial turmoil facing the company and the massive gap between them and TfL on the value of the next phase of their contract. With the chaotic overruns on the Jubilee Line upgrade the time has come for TfL to pull the plugs on Tube Lines before we end up plunged into a re-run of the Metronet privatisation disaster."

RMT to stage tube cleaners protest as top TfL bosses pull in 50% bonus increase

TUBE AND TfL union RMT will be holding a demonstration in support of London Underground cleaners fight against privatisation this Wednesday (18 November) as it emerged that senior TfL bosses have received a 50% increase in bonus payments over the past two years from £3.6 million in 2007 to £5.3 million this year.

The tube cleaners, who are also fighting for TfL Chair Boris Johnson's London Living Wage, will be outside the former Metronet headquarters at Templar House, 81-87 High Holborn at 12 noon on Wednesday 18^th November.

RMT is demanding that all tube cleaning services should be brought back in house on decent wages and terms and conditions with the cleaners recognised as an integral part of the London Underground team rather than a soft touch for cuts and exploitation.

In a separate part of RMT's campaign for Cleaners Justice the union has attacked the private company Advance – who clean train trains for Southern running out of London Bridge and Victoria – for slashing staffing levels in order to prop up their profits. RMT is warning that the cleaning cuts will leave trains dirty on these important London commuter services.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary said:

"The continued attacks on tube cleaners, and on the staff working for Advance on Southern, show that senior tube and rail managers, and the Mayor himself, are prepared to turn a blind eye while those doing the dirtiest jobs on the lowest pay are kicked from pillar to post. That's a disgrace.

"Londoners should not tolerate a situation where TfL bosses get a 50% increase in bonuses over the past two years while some of their own cleaners on the tube are denied the Mayor's London Living Wage and are forced to endure the uncertainty of repeated privatisation.

"RMT's fight for justice for cleaners on our transport system will continue to put this issue right in front of the Mayor and the senior bosses who have the power to stop this exploitation."

PPP and Mayor’s budget cuts threaten Tube upgrades, says RMT

THE COMBINATION of private-sector greed and £5 billion in transport cuts planned by London's mayor threaten to derail the Tube upgrades that are essential to the capital's economic future, the network's biggest union said today.

Responding to a London First study that underlines the importance of maintaining Tube investment, RMT warned that delays and overruns in upgrades and outright cancellation of some plans would be worsened by the savage cuts planned by Mayor Johnson.

Ending the disastrous part-privatisation of Tube infrastructure, reversing the planned cuts and cancelling "punitive" fares rises were essential if London was to have a metro system worthy of a world capital, the union's general secretary, Bob Crow, said today.

"London First is right to point out the folly of cutting back on investment in the Tube, but the rosy picture it paints of the benefits delivered so far are wide of the mark," Bob Crow said.

"Station improvements are already being delayed, step-free access plans have been scrapped, Jubilee Line work is behind schedule and passengers are being hit with massive fares hikes – and that's before the mayor starts lopping £5 billion off the budget.

"Unless urgent steps are taken to bring the work in-house and reverse these cuts, the only tangible benefits felt by anyone will be the huge sums of public money being drained out of the network by Tubelines' shareholders under the asset-stripping PPP," Bob Crow said.