rmtlondon's blog

Night Tube was first announced in October 2013 at the same time as London Underground bosses and Tory mayor Boris Johnson announced plans for massive cuts to the tube and the closure of every ticket office.

The RMT has held the position since day one that we are willing to discuss any increase in Tube services. In this official union decision in November 2013 we made our position clear:

In September 2014, the date that London Underground plan to launch Night Tube was announced, but still bosses hadn't agreed with the workers via their unions how it would be staffed.

Strike Ban Threat
The Tories have announced plans for more anti-union laws which could see public transport strikes effectively banned. Around 24% of the electorate voted for the Tories, yet they want 50% of workers to vote yes for a strike to go ahead. A rewriting of democracy which would be very difficult for any union to satisfy.

They'd also call for a minimum tube service to run at all times, restrict picketing, and reduce the time union reps get to defend members.

Stonewall has announced today that it will begin campaigning on Trans issues. Stonewall is a charity which works to achieve equality and justice for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people. In 2013 the RMT LGBT conference passed a resolution on Stonewall which included the call that "Stonewall should stop perpetuating the exclusion of transgender people and campaign on trans issues in England and Wales, not just LGB issues."

You can read about Stonewall's decision to begin campaigning on trans issues here.

The RMT has made a number of proposals to London Underground of alternatives to job cuts and ticket office closures. All of these have been rejected by the company. One issue raised was bosses pay. In 2012/13, TfL paid 328 people more than £100k. RMT calculate that if this was capped at £100k, £15m would be saved per year.

In response to our proposal, London Underground wrote to the RMT to defend the bosses high pay, citing ‘total annual pay, ‘Long-term incentives’ and ‘Total Direct Compensation’ to name a few. TfL told us they believe that their managers are probably not paid enough:

Attached below is the conference agenda, slide show from the conference and minutes from 2012.

Conference report

This year’s conference was the first two day LGBT conference in its 15 year history. It was held in sunny Blackpool in a hotel on the promenade. From Skyping Ugandan gay rights activist Frank Mugisha, to our General Secretary Bob Crow telling us of his pride at marching alongside members at London Pride it was a conference to remember.

Bob Crow

The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster turned out to be the worst civilian disaster of World War 2, yet very few people know about it.

The Central line had not reached further East than Liverpool Street when the 2nd World war broke out, so work on the unfinished Bethnal Green underground station stopped. It was a natural place for East Londoners to shelter in safety from the bombs, particularly during the Blitz. There was no track and no trains could run through it, so it could accommodate up to 10,000 people sleeping on the platforms, in the tunnels and in the pit where the track would normally have been. Unlike the present 3 entrance/exits to the station there was only one entrance to the shelter during the war. You went through a narrow doorway that opened out straight onto the rough, wide steps, that were open to the elements so there could be no light to show the way down otherwise enemy planes would have seen it.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the first London Underground line. The first line opened on January 10 1863, between Paddington and Farringdon as envisaged by Charles Pearsen. Briefly an MP for Lambeth, Peasons proposal was "to facilitate the improvement of the social conditions of City workers by enabling them to commute into London on cheap trains from new residential developments of good quality, cheap homes built outside the capital."

Data from the 2011 UK and Wales census was recently released. The Office for National Statistics which oversees the process says the census "help paint a picture of the nation and how we live. They provide a detailed snapshot of the population and its characteristics, and underpin funding allocation to provide public services."

A number of reports have been compiled from the findings covering London. Notably these include the 'GLA Intelligence Unit' reports into the Labour Market, Housing, Ethnic Diversity and Health & Unpaid Care findings of the cencus.

The RMT held a protest outside the Russian Federation Embassy in Kensington to voice our disgust at the governments attacks on gay rights and to voice our support for LGBT people in the country.

RMT's activists organised leafleting and a demo at the embassy on Tuesday. As the building is in a private road we were ushered to a site prepared by the police who were ready for with barriers in place.