TUBE UNION RMT today revealed leaked details of an internal London Underground management report titled “Minimum Staffing Levels” which the union is warning would lead to the loss of hundreds of station jobs, hacking back to the absolute bare bones staffing levels agreed in the aftermath of the Kings Cross fire in 1987. Even Victoria, the busiest station on the underground with 76 million passengers, could see its current twelve staff cut to just two during “degraded” operation.

LONDON UNDERGROUND’S biggest union has demanded an explanation from Tube bosses after a signal failure at Farringdon last night left passengers stranded without advice or help to finish their journeys.

RMT has learned that passengers on Metropolitan and Circle and Hammersmith and City trains spent up to 45 minutes between Kings Cross and Farringdon stations, missing last onward connections with other lines, and were given no help to finish their journeys.

RAIL UNION RMT have today welcomed confirmation that the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) have directly intervened with the Government over the safety issues raised by the union over the threat by Network Rail to axe 1500 maintenance jobs.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, in response to a dossier on the safety implications of the cuts compiled by RMT, Anna Walker, Chair of the ORR says:

“I can assure you that we have been scrutinising Network Rail’s restructuring proposals for some time and we will continue to do so.

TUBE UNION RMT announced today that London Underground (Metronet) members covered by the Signals Framework Agreement have voted by a massive majority of over 90% for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over the imposition of new rosters, breaches of agreements and the handing over of work to external contractors.

RMT have accused LUL management of unilaterally ripping up agreements, bulldozing through shift patterns that treat staff like slabs of meat that can be pulled off the shelf when it suits managers and of threatening job security through increased use of outside contractors.

RAIL UNION RMT today slammed the government for “presiding over a culture of private waste” on the railways after new figures obtained by RMT parliamentary convenor John McDonnell revealed that the cost of designing and tendering rail franchises since 2003 is a staggering £75 million.

TUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that it is balloting all London Underground (Metronet) members covered by the Signals Framework Agreement for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over the imposition of new rosters, breaches of agreements and the handing over of work to external contractors.

The ballot for action, which closes on 19th January, will involve 750 staff on the former Metronet sections of the tube network – all lines except for the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee.

RMT press release, 8 January 2010 ...

RAIL UNION RMT today announced arrangements for a rally and lobby of parliament on Wednesday 27th January 2010 in the fight to stop the axing of nearly 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs by Network Rail. A timetable for a national ballot for industrial action by rail maintenance staff will be confirmed shortly.

TRAIN DRIVER Alex Gordon has been elected to serve as the President of RMT, Britain’s biggest specialist transport union, for the coming three years.

In the postal ballot that closed today Bristol-based Alex, who will take up office in January, beat four other candidates and replaces John Leach, a London Underground worker whose term of office ends at the close of the year.

TUBE AND TfL union RMT today released new information which exposes the full extent of the first wave of cuts under Boris Johnson’s £5 billion tube savings programme with 144 station ticket offices and 1200 jobs under threat of the axe.

Photo by James Cridlan

TUBE UNION RMT today accused TfL and Tube Lines of slashing safety standards to dangerous levels as it emerged that twice weekly inspection of escalators will be cut to just once a week and the 12 week frequency of signal maintenance on the Jubilee Line will be cut to a 16 week cycle.

The latest safety and maintenance cuts on the Tube Lines section of the Underground have come just two weeks after RMT exposed moves to hack back the frequency of track inspections on the Jubilee Line extension.

RMT reps will be raising the issues at a meeting of the Health and Safety forum today – Thursday 3rd December – with a demand that the cuts be reversed as a matter of urgency.

RAIL UNION RMT today demanded an end to the “chaos, instability and waste” of rail privatisation following the government’s announcement this morning that National Express will have their East Anglia franchise terminated in 2011.

RMT are calling on the government to strip National Express of their remaining C2C contract and to make it clear that the company are being kicked off the UK rail tracks for good following the shambolic collapse of their East Coast Main Line operation.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:

Photo by James Cridlan

TUBE UNION RMT today warned of serious risks to public safety as it emerged that track safety patrols are to be cut.

RMT are pointing to the move to halve safety inspections as clear evidence that claims by Mayor Boris Johnson that the £5 billion black hole facing TfL will not result in front line cuts are nonsense.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said: “We have warned all along that the multi-billion pound black hole facing TfL, and the financial chaos at Tube Lines, would result in real service cuts and would impact on safety and reliability.

Tube andTfL union RMT will be holding a demonstration in support of London Underground cleaners fight against privatisation this Wednesday (18 November) as it emerged that senior TfL bosses have received a 50% increase in bonus payments over the past two years from £3.6 million in 2007 to £5.3 million this year.

The tube cleaners, who are also fighting for TfL Chair Boris Johnson’s London Living Wage, will be outside the former Metronet headquarters at Templar House, 81-87 High Holborn at 12 noon on Wednesday 18th November.

Rail Union RMT revealed today that Network Rail have threatened to sack their entire maintenance workforce of 13,000 and to re-employ a reduced number of workers on new terms and conditions in a bid to bulldoze through a multi-billion pound cuts package.

The threat to sack the workforce, who carry out the essential day to day maintenance of tracks, signals and overhead lines, was thrown at RMT representatives during re-organisation talks.