By Charlotte Webster-
One of the largest Tube worker unions, the RMT, has announced two 24 hour strikes in protest over the uncertainty of jobs, pensions and working conditions due as a result of TfL’s ongoing funding crisis.
The RMT has ordered all 10,000 members not to turn up for work on Tuesday March 1 and Thursday March 3, which is expected to force the closure of the entire Underground network.
The dispute is over Transport for London’s plans to axe between 500 and 600 station posts in a bid to save cash, and fears among union members that their pensions could be at risk. The walkouts will start a minute after midnight and run until a minute to midnight on both of the days the strike occurs.
TfL say the central government been unco-operative to supply emergency funding, and has always attached conditions to the funding. Some of the conditions include reviewing TfL workers’ pensions, changing working patterns and slim-lining the TfL workforce. Although at this stage, nobody has forcibly lost their job, proposals mean that staff leaving roles or retiring would not have their roles back-filled.
In December, TfL signalled that proposals it is making would lead to 600 roles being removed from the organisation, including 250 front-line customer service positions which risks station staffing levels. The RMT puts the blame directly on central government and urges TfL to resist accepting the conditions. TfL says the strike action is unnecessary and that it is trying to negotiate the best possible funding deal for the capital’s public transport network.
. RMT union members working on the Tube will not start their shifts for the entire 24 hours of Tuesday, March 1 and Thursday, March 3.
London Underground lines are expected to be severely impacted, with heavily reduced or no Tube services at all. The other Tube workers’ unions, ASLEF and TSSA, are not expected to join the walkout but some staff could also walk off the job in solidarity. It will affect children attending schools that require a long train journey, forcing them to seek alternative routes instead.
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members will be taking strike action next month because a financial crisis at LUL has been deliberately engineered by the Government to drive a cuts’ agenda which would savage jobs, services, safety and threaten their working conditions and pensions.
“These are the very same transport staff praised as heroes for carrying London through Covid for nearly two years, often at serious personal risk, who now have no option but to strike to defend their livelihoods.
“The politicians need to wake up to the fact that transport staff will not pay the price for this cynically engineered crisis. In addition to the strike action RMT is coordinating a campaign of resistance with colleagues from other unions impacted by this threat.
“The union remains available for talks aimed at resolving the dispute.”
Andy Lord, TfL’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “It is extremely disappointing that the RMT has today announced strike action, as no proposals have been tabled on pensions or terms and conditions, and nobody has or will lose their jobs as a result of the proposals we have set out.
“The devastating impact of the pandemic on TfL finances has made a programme of change urgently necessary and we need the RMT to work with us, rather than disrupting London’s recovery. We’re urging them to do the right thing for London, talk to us and call off this unnecessary action.”