Support us

RMT and TSSA union activists and supporters urged London Mayor Boris Johnson to reverse ticket office closures on London Underground that will see 800 jobs cut and safety seriously compromised. They delivered 1,500 protest postcards signed by Londoners warning of the dangers of the plan and demanding a rethink. Video filmed and edited by Chris Kasrils.

Although much of the tube network is still inaccessible for many disabled people for those of us able to use it we rely very much on staff being available to help us do so. If your staffing levels are reduced further then disabled people will find it more difficult to go out and will once again become isolated in their homes.
We would therefore like to send our support to all the strikers. You are fighting for us as well.
In Solidarity,
Linda Burnip
Disabled People Against Cuts

Our total support for your fight against the employment reductions
Baptista Silanes
CCOO Metro Barcelona

Dear sir,

As a regular user of the tube, I urge you to reconsider the cuts as I feel we have a sufficient passenger service (albeit not excellent!). I fear any cuts would only further detriment what is already an understaffed industry, in fact among other things, the reason the current staff just about get on with it is because the majority of them appear thoroughly polite, efficient and hard-working. in light of this we londoners support the strike action and hope that you hear our voices and reconsider.

Yours sincerely
Craig - Stratford E15

Dear Mr Mayor

As a London resident I completely agree with you about the importance of having adequate staff on the London Underground. In my view, there are currently too few staff and to reduce the numbers further is dangerous, unhelpful and demonstrates a lack of insight and too much focus on the bottom line.
Best wishes,
Caitlin Morrow

I support the strike - as a woman who often travels alone on tubes I really value having hard working and helpful tube staff on hand to ask for assistance.
Keep on fighting the cuts!
Katy Arnold

I would like to register my support of your fight to protect your terms and conditions of employment at London undergound. The tube and the people work on it are one of the best things about London and I hope that continues into the future.

Regards, Ciaran Ryan Barons Court London

This message was sent to TSSA, FBU and NUJ as well as to ourselves.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Just a short note to show you our unconditional support for your strikes and that we're encouraging our members to do the same - see below.

I support the strike. Somehow, the message has to get out to the public, but at the moment I'm afraid the right-leaning press, Metro included, is making it all out to be a money-grabbing exercise and people are buying it. Good luck. Eddie de Oliveira

Good luck with the strike. I commute to London from Hedge End and work in the City as an underwriter. I therefore get the Tube from Waterloo to Bank. I've been hoping it would be closed as it would force me to walk. I guess LU prioritise this service and it is easy to keep going as it is just the one stop. The London rags like City AM and London Evening Standard don't do the union any favours of course - it would be helpful to have some information on the safety issues that the proposed job cuts would cause as this gets no mention in the press. Terry Crow

Hello RMT and tube workers

I fully support the retention of staffing at tube stations because of the following:-

1. Personal safety, CCTV cannot be a substitute for having a responsible person on site to help people especially lone female passengers.

2. Rail safety, supervisors have safety duties to do with points and other equipment, who will be on the ground to deal with this?

3. Ticketing, machines break, also they are difficult for some people to use i.e. those with learning disabilities, sight problems and people from different countries.

"Keep up the struggle against the job cuts. Of course it is political, as Boris keeps reminding us, it would be when you want to sack workers and cause a lot of social conflict.
"It's a shame that the political dominance of ideas has made people so selfish. It doesn't matter if you can't get to work for a couple of days - solidarity with the tube workers."
Carl Linkson, WEA GMB Tutor

My travel to and from work was quite severely disrupted on Monday 4 oct. But I do support your action

• People should not lose their jobs
• I really need a safe travel system
• I need safe stations
• Remembering the roles staff played in helping commuters on 7/7

All the best

Jennifer Mann

RMT has received massive support and solidarity messages for the campaign against cuts on London Underground:

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has thrown the weight of entire Labour movement behind our action, he has said: “Workers on the tube are understandably concerned that the cuts proposed for the underground will compromise safety for both the public and staff. We fully support the action staff are taking and call on the Mayor to engage in serious negotiations to resolve this dispute."

The coalition (Conservative/Liberal Democrat) government is attacking the basic rights and working conditions of workers, we must act now to prevent the loss of thousands more jobs. Whilst billions of pounds of public money has been spent to save the banks, the coalition government is reaping the cost of the economic crisis from ordinary working members of the public and the most economically disadvantaged including pensioners and Young people.

East London Rail Branch RMT sends solidarity greetings and fraternal greetings to all our comrades, brothers and sisters striking to defend safety and jobs on London Underground.

Once again those who stand to lose the most, we find, lead us in our struggles.

We note that those paid telephone-number salaries are set on ripping the heart out of London’s transport network.

I had a terrible journey today [Tuesday 7 Sept!] but nothing compared to how it would be every day with the cuts promised. And certainly nothing to how you guys are being treated.
You have this commuter's support. Keep up the fight!
Sean Robinson

An email of wholehearted support to everyone trying striking in defence of services, safety and jobs.
Thanks for the leaflet today which I picked up outside Camden (I walked to work from Finsbury Park in order to give a bit of support of my own). I will contact my member of the GLA and write to TFL and email Mayor Boris Johnson.
Best wishes to Mr Bob Crow and everyone supporting the strike.
Alison Cushing

Dear Union members
I was very pleased to talk this morning to members of the union on strike. As a regular user of London Underground I fully appreciate the concerns of the union about safety and staffing cuts. Travel would be much affected by lack of staff on every level and would leave many of us seeking alternative forms of transport or even changing work patterns, all of which would be detrimental, not only to our quality of life, but to the economy which this government says it is keen to put to rights. I might also add that my own daughter was so nearly caught up on that fateful day of the bombing but was advised by the staff to go home and that the presence of staff in the stations is essential to safety but also makes travel on the underground so much more endurable.
Best of luck in your negotiations. I will certainly voice my concerns to the relevant bodies and would appreciate being kept informed of any other ways the public can help.
Kathy Adams

Hi there,
I'm not in London today so couldn't come down to a picket line to show mysolidarity, but just wanted to say best of luck to all striking RMT members today and over the coming weeks.
As a regular tube user I fully support the staff in their struggle against these crazy job cuts. None of us want to feel unsafe in our own tube stations, nor see a return to the station fires of the 70s and 80s.
RMT should do everything in its power to publicly illustrate the relation between this dispute and the looming breath-taking cuts to the public sector. Both are clear examples of private pockets filling with public money stolen from ordinary workers.
In solidarity,
Greg Brown

Just to say that I was saddened to hear of the proposed staff cuts on the Bakerloo line. When I last used Warwick Avenue station, the member of staff topped up my Oyster card quicker than I could have done (I was running late as usual).

I have emailed the below message to the helpandcontact page of tfl.gov.uk website and shall email the same to the Mayor. I have printed off the petition and shall collect signatures and send in also.

Good luck and best wishes, Charlotte Keech

We have received the following message ...

Just to let you know that as a result of receiving a leaflet from one of your guys at Burnt Oak station I have written to:
- my MP
- the mayor
- local councillors
- london assembly represetnatives.
Is it worth putting up notices on the board to sugest people contact the london assembly reps since they are the ones who are meant to work with the mayor? (the leaflet only mentions contacting the mayor, MP and local councillors)
good luck
Sonya LeJeune

We will be acting on Sonya's suggestion!

"I wanted to protest vigorously at the planned cut of staff at Warwick Avenue Station.

"This very busy station is important to all its users- tourists, locals, business people travelling at peak times. It has been the target of many incidents prevented by the attendance of its vigilant and kind staff

"I feel that it is important to keep it adequately staffed at all times."

Ann Futter

Here are some of the responses we have received from passengers to our 'Staff Our Stations' leaflets:

"White City Tube Station is very busy and well and is situated at the heart of a large residential community and serves a number of major businesses such as the BBC and Westfield Shopping Centre. I object most strongly to the proposed staff cuts at this station."
Simon McKay