We note that this morning, LUL announced:

• that every ticket office will close by 2015
• that nearly one thousand jobs on stations will go, with a net loss of 750 jobs
• that stations will be staffed when trains are running, which suggests that they may not have Supervisors present and may no longer be staffed when trains are not running at night
• a thoroughgoing restructuring of station staffing, with all job roles changing and staff being re-evaluated for their own jobs

In line with our previous decision on 19 November 2013, we instruct the General Secretary to hold an immediate ballot of all LUL members for strikes and action short of strikes, with notice to be served by Tuesday 26 November 2013 and the ballot to close in January 2014.

We instruct the General Secretary to immediately issue the following statement to our members, the press, the public and the company:

RMT deplores London Underground Ltd’s announcement today that it plans to close every ticket office, scrap nearly 1,000 stations jobs and reorganise station staffing including the removal of Station Supervisors at some stations. This is a catastrophic attack on London Underground’s passengers and staff. It is not aimed at improving our Tube but at saving millions of pounds following the government’s 12.5% cut to Transport for London’s funding.

RMT also opposes the company’s plans to replace skilled workers with unreliable automation in all areas of its work, including train maintenance, engineering, service control and even train operation.

We believe that London needs an Underground that is adequately staffed to ensure an accessible, safe, reliable service, and that Londoners need more jobs not fewer. Today’s announcement takes London in the opposite direction.

RMT calls on London Underground Ltd and the Mayor to abandon these reckless plans. We remind Boris Johnson that he claimed to oppose ticket office closures when he was seeking Londoners’ votes. We will be working with other trade unions and the wider community to oppose these cuts.

RMT has made its opposition to staffing cuts clear to London Underground Ltd over a long period, but the company’s well-paid Directors have not listened to us so far. With LUL today beginning a 90-day process towards imposing these cuts as early as February, we need to take industrial action in an effort to make the company see sense. RMT’s Executive has today agreed to pursue a high-profile campaign and to ballot all our London Underground members for strikes and action short of strikes.

We need to begin this ballot immediately because:

• LUL has formally begun a 90-day consultation, so could impose these cuts as early as February.
• We will study and discuss the detail of LUL's announcement, but we know enough already to know that this will be devastating for passengers and workers.
• RMT has been telling LUL for several years that we oppose cuts in staffing levels and ticket offices, but the company has not listened.
• There is time during the balloting period for further talks, during which we hope that LUL will see sense and/or London's elected representatives will intervene to stop these job cuts.
• Laws designed to slow down industrial action mean that to take action in the New Year, we need to begin balloting now.

We are confident that the other trade unions on London Underground will also oppose these cuts, and instruct the General Secretary to arrange urgent discussions on a co-ordinated strategy.

Noting that the union has the legal right to submit an alternative proposal for consideration, we refer this matter to the Southern Sub-committee to draft such a proposal, which will be based on maintenance of staffing levels and safety standards, and return of all privatised functions to an unified, publicly-owned London Underground.

We believe that these cuts will have a negative knock-on effect on our TfL members, and instruct the General Secretary to place in front of us an urgent report on this.

We instruct the General Secretary to arrange the production and mass distribution of a leaflet for the public.

We instruct the General Secretary to create and expand a special section on this campaign on the RMT website, and to promote our Regional Council's website page (www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/every-job-matters), Twitter account (Every Job Matters @LULnojobcuts) and Facebook page (Every Job Matters - Defending Jobs on London Underground www.facebook.com/everyjobmatters).

Regional Councils and branches to be advised.