The Ticket Collector

Tube workers to vote on strikes.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association union said its 2,500 members will vote on whether to strike in a row over safety and staffing levels.

RMT and TSSA have told LUL that ticket-office closures, de-staffing, lone working, introduction of ‘mobile supervisors’, use of agency and security staff and other disputed policies amount to an unacceptable attack on safety standards and the casualisation of safety-critical work.

“Each of these issues is serious in its own right, but together they amount to a fundamental and unacceptable attack on staffing across the network which strikes at the very heart of its safe operation,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Our joint campaign against 40 ticket-office closures and massive cuts in opening times last year gave us a breathing space, but they are now back on the table, along with a raft of other plans and problems that combine to put our members’ and passengers’ safety at serious risk.”

“When LUL imposed driver-only tube trains it assured the public and its own drivers that good station staffing levels would keep the system safe, but those assurances are now being undermined.”

“The systematic denial of driving jobs and promotion to experienced Tube workers in favour of external recruitment is another serious problem that is undermining the safety culture” Bob Crow said.

“LUL has insisted on changes to its emergency plan that water down the staff required on duty and which our safety reps believe will undermine the ability to respond to emergencies and undertake safe evacuations” said TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty.

“We now have agency staff in LUL uniforms and station staff left to work alone at night, and they have even got agency staff carrying ticket-machine cash around on trains.”

“LUL has also sought to change its policy on when and how staff can refuse to work on safety grounds, in a way that is unworkable and in breach of legislation.”

“Tube users should be as appalled as our members at the range of safety issues outstanding and I hope they will understand that LUL’s refusal to discuss these issues in the round left us with no choice but to tell the company that we are now in dispute” Gerry Doherty said.