RMT members working on London Underground stations are taking strike action today because London Underground management will not take the action needed to address a crisis on our tube stations.

838 Job Cuts have left stations without sufficient staff to operate safely and effectively.

The tube is reliant on staff working overtime on rest days.

An overtime ban by station staff has led to over 80 station closures in just over a month. This proves LU has cut too many jobs.

LU is wasting money to cover gaps in the properly trained workforce with hastily briefed managers who get paid three times the normal pay rate of station staff.

While managers get huge payments the starting pay rate for station staff has been cut by 25%.

The crisis on the tube’s stations is a result of the fantastically misnamed ‘Fit for the Future’ project. Reason, safety considerations, providing a service for passengers and staff welfare have all been ignored by senior management, who have driven through massive staffing cuts across the network.

Please download the attached leaflet for distribution on the picket line

Many stations are now staffed by one person around the clock. This means that as soon as that member of staff is dealing with an issue there is no-one available to help you.

At busier stations staffing has also been cut. Ticket offices were closed but on the vast majority of stations no additional staff are available in ticket halls to help you on self-service machines.

The Only unsubsidised Metro System in the World

If the government, London Mayor and Transport for London get their way London Underground will be the only system of its kind to operate without a government

subsidy. Both New York Subway and Paris Metro receive significant government support.

London Underground needs to be financed as a public service. That is not to say savings can’t be made to improve efficiency. RMT has offered to review spending with tube managers. We have suggested a salary cap of £100K for senior TfL and tube management who currently earn up to £600K. RMT has also consistently called for all engineering and cleaning to be brought back in-house. This would save millions that has been lost to the profits of the private sector.

Sadly, tube management has declined to take up any of these ideas. They prefer to cut the jobs of staff who used to be available on our stations to help passengers.

Public Leaflet Jan17 by RMT London Calling on Scribd