Huge job losses on London Underground will be resisted, says RMT

Publication Date: January 29 2009

ANY THREAT of forced redundancies of RMT members at TfL and London Underground will be resisted, the capital’s biggest tube and rail union said today.

In response to news that at least 1,000 jobs would be cut and fears that thousands more were under threat, RMT said that any move attempt to impose compulsory redundancies would be met with a ballot for industrial action.

“Once again it seems if you are a banker you get protection, but if you are part of a team providing a public service you don’t,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today

“There is no way that London’s transport workers should be made to pay for the failure of the bankers and privateers whose greed has created the crisis our economy is now in.

“And there is no way that redundancies on this scale can be implemented with affecting the level of service.

“If the mayor is looking for efficiencies he should bring the Tube Lines PPP contracts back in house, because they are still draining huge sums of public money from London’s transport budget.

“We make it quite clear that any attempt to impose compulsory redundancies among our members or to undermine their terms and conditions will be met with a ballot for industrial action,” Bob Crow said.