This is a letter to all members from General Secretary Bob Crow. LUL/14/5, 10th September 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Firstly I would ike to thank members for standing firm during the recent strike action taken with our sister union TSSA to fight the 800 job cuts on LUL. The effectiveness of the action demonstrated your clear determination that management should ditch their unnecessary and dangerous plans to cut safe staffing levels, and start talking seriously about a safe and secure future for the tube network. The strike action held over Monday and Tuesday was very solid and had a devastating effect on their ability to run a service. From feedback we understand approximately 2/3 of trains were cancelled.

Early reports indicate that on the South side of the Northern Line only 2 station staff went to work and at Morden Depot only 15 out of 150 drivers booked on. Many outlying stations were left unstaffed but open overnight leaving stations with no staff available to evacuate passengers in the event of an emergency. The Post Kings Cross Fire Safety regulations state that trains cannot move through a section of line where three or more stations in a row are closed. Management decided to totally ignore these rules in countless areas putting passengers at serious risk. If there had been another incident such as the fire at Euston recently there could have been devastating consequences.

Our planned series of industrial action continues. An overtime ban has been ongoing since the 6th September with the next strike action called between the 3rd and 4th October. The overtime ban is of vital importance in this dispute. With the already insufficient staffing levels the system essentially can’t function properly without staff volunteering for overtime. I urge members to continue to refuse overtime to keep up the pressure on management to meet our demands.

LU bosses have admitted through the course of the strike that there are far worse cuts to come this autumn and we already have examples of fleet and track maintenance schedules being ripped apart. Their claims that they are not planning to run unstaffed stations have been exposed as bogus. We already have examples of stations being run unstaffed on a regular basis in contravention of all safety practices.

Staffing levels are already at a critical point and any further reductions must be brought to a halt. This on-going dispute is about the long-term future of a safe and secure tube system. These finance-driven, piecemeal cuts are a disaster waiting to happen.

In conclusion I would once again like to thank all our LUL members for the magnificent support and solidarity during the strike which effectively shut down the network. The message to LUL is clear, get back to the negotiating table and hold meaningful talks!

Unity Is Strength,

Yours Sincerely

Bob Crow General Secretary