Dear Gerry

Fit for Future – Stations – Consultation

I am in receipt of your letter of 2nd December 2013 and must state at the outset I am amazed and disappointed at the assertions it contains. To suggest that this union is unwilling to discuss issues such as the loss of jobs and closure of all booking offices is farcical and insulting.

My Regional Organiser, John Leach, met with you yesterday and asked a number of questions, answers to which we believe we are legally entitled in order to cost the proposals. For ease of reference these were as follows:-

• full costings of the work done so far in preparing the current proposals, and projected future spending on this
• full details, including financial details, of its arrangements with external bodies which sell its tickets
• full details, including financial details, of all its contracts with other companies
• full details of the remuneration of every employee paid over £100,000 last year
• full details of its projected income (from all sources) and expenditure over the next ten years
• full details of its expenditure on hospitality, ceremonial events and overseas visits
• full details, including costings, of the work being undertaken in connection with the development of trains capable of operating without a driver

The law on consultation regarding redundancy requires an employer to consult the union about avoiding the redundancies or reducing their number, and allows unions to put alternative proposals for avoiding said redundancies. The law also requires consultation to engage with the reasons given for the redundancies, and allows unions to raise the issue of these justifications, including the economic context. Your consultation must therefore begin with talks on whether these proposed cuts are necessary, in which this union will argue that they are not and we will make alternative proposals.

So on the basis of the above it’s totally inappropriate to devolve discussion down to Functional Councils when we have yet to address these extremely important points. The Functional Council representatives would be trying to consult without knowing the full picture. When the points raised by John, and our alternative proposals have been considered - and only then - would it be appropriate to deal with the matter at the lower levels of the agreed machinery of negotiation.

So to suggest that we are ‘shunning these events’ is a distortion of the facts. We are far from doing so. What we are doing is following the agreed procedures, seeking answers to valid questions and not putting the cart before the horse as LUL is doing.

I am afraid that it is LUL that is abusing due process and is trying to railroad through these redundancies and ticket office closures without following the agreed and correct procedures both within our own machinery of negotiation and the legal requirements to mitigate redundancies. For these reasons both this Union, and I believe TSSA, will not be attending next week’s meetings until you have met your obligations to us and responded to the points raised and listen to our alternative proposals.

I sincerely hope you agree and understand our position and agree to the requests made in order to proceed in an orderly and mutually agreeable timescale.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow
General Secretary