Today's tube strikes are (according to Bob Crowe) all about maintaining enough staff to ensure we are all safe on the tube:
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According to the BBC news the cuts are being announced to reduce the amount of ticket staff due to Oyster cards and machines now mainly fulfilling that role:
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Looks to me like they are striking to try and make their jobs recession proof and obsolete proof - and playing the 'safety' card.
“LU management knew very well that meaningful talks could not proceed while the threat of cuts to safety and safe staffing levels hung over our members heads – their failure to remove that threat sabotaged any prospect of making progress.
“RMT and TSSA negotiators completely demolished the LU/TfL line that the cuts are simply about new technology and the Oyster Card. The planned cuts are part of a multi-billion black hole facing the Mayor due to the costs of the failure of tube privatisation and an attack on funding levels from the ConDem Government.
“Not only are ticket offices and ticket staff jobs threatened but hundreds of other station staff posts are also on the line. It was the presence of those very staff that averted potential disaster in recent incidents involving fires at Euston and Oxford Circus.”
“RMT and TSSA have been presented with a stark choice. We could sit back and wait for a major disaster while safety cuts are bulldozed through turning the tube into a death trap or we can stand up and fight for passenger and staff safety. On Monday we will be making a stand on safety and safe staffing levels on behalf of all Londoners.”
“RMT and TSSA negotiators completely demolished the LU/TfL line that the cuts are simply about new technology and the Oyster Card. The planned cuts are part of a multi-billion black hole facing the Mayor due to the costs of the failure of tube privatisation and an attack on funding levels from the ConDem Government.
“Not only are ticket offices and ticket staff jobs threatened but hundreds of other station staff posts are also on the line. It was the presence of those very staff that averted potential disaster in recent incidents involving fires at Euston and Oxford Circus.”
“RMT and TSSA have been presented with a stark choice. We could sit back and wait for a major disaster while safety cuts are bulldozed through turning the tube into a death trap or we can stand up and fight for passenger and staff safety. On Monday we will be making a stand on safety and safe staffing levels on behalf of all Londoners.”
According to the BBC news the cuts are being announced to reduce the amount of ticket staff due to Oyster cards and machines now mainly fulfilling that role:
The Department for Transport gives £3bn a year to Transport for London (TfL) but this may be reduced by up to 40% as savings are made in Whitehall.
A row about plans to shed 800 ticket-office jobs could be the "tip of the iceberg" unless budgets were protected, according to the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
A row about plans to shed 800 ticket-office jobs could be the "tip of the iceberg" unless budgets were protected, according to the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
Looks to me like they are striking to try and make their jobs recession proof and obsolete proof - and playing the 'safety' card.
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