SOCIALIST UNITY

Yesterday London Underground announced it is to axe up to 800 jobs under plans to make savings of GBP16 million a year. The cuts will include 100 managers, 450 ticket office posts and up to 200 other jobs, although London Underground (LU) said it was committed to achieving the losses without any compulsory redundancies. Between 700 and 800 jobs will be cut, but LU said no Tube station ticket office would close and staff will remain available to help travellers in ticket halls, gate lines and on platforms.

Unions reacted furiously to the announcement, which they said confirmed suspicions they have had for several weeks that LU was drawing up plans to cut jobs. Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said:

“If these cuts to jobs are bulldozed through by Transport for London it will turn London’s tube stations into a muggers paradise. MT will fight to protect passenger and staff security on London Underground and in the event of compulsory redundancies and the undermining of tube safety we will have no hesitation in balloting for action.”

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, accused London Mayor Boris Johnson of “betraying” passengers and staff.

“He was elected promising to keep ticket offices fully open and fully staffed. He has now broken that promise. We shall fight this all the way if any of our members are threatened with compulsory redundancy.”

Gerry is completely correct. Boris Johnson’s commitment in the election was: “ensuring there is always a manned ticket office at every station.”

and:

“local people feel it is important there is a manned ticket office at their station, as often there are not enough Oyster outlets in the local area. There has been little consultation with local residents, and I think it is wrong that some local stations could lose this service.”