Skip to content or view screen version

800 Tube Staff To Go

Sold Out | 11.03.2010 20:50 | Repression | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Liverpool | World

London Underground (LU) is to axe up to 800 jobs under plans to make savings of £16m a year, the company has announced.

London Underground (LU) is to axe up to 800 jobs under plans to make savings of £16m a year, the company has announced.



Read: to plug the defecit of the government created PPP fiasco / Tube Lines / Metronet debacle.



Tube officials said the cuts would include 100 managers, 450 ticket office posts and up to 200 other jobs.



Read: No jobs are safe (although the disappearance of certain managers, namely at Canary Wharf, Seven Sisters, Willesden Green and Waterloo would do nothing but aid staff morale).



LU said it had completely ruled out compulsory redundancies and would look at re-deploying staff.



Read: No job is safe. You could be redeployed on protected earnings for a maximum of 3 years, during which time they will do all in their power to push you out.



The company said a total of between 700 and 800 jobs would go but added that no Underground station ticket offices would shut.



Read: Believe it when you see it - management promise guaranteed to be broken.



LU said the proposals, including the job cuts, reflected the "huge success" of the pre-paid Oyster card, which now accounts for about 80% of Tube journeys.



Read: After years of training Londons commuters in how to use the oyster card, and taking the abuse when the system does'nt work / when LU introduce the outrageous £5 minimum top up it appears staff will now become victims of the successful way in which they (at LU's instruction)educated the customer.



Tory boy Boris Johnson also shows his true blue hipocrisy - signing a petition in Harrow to keep ticket offices open.

LUL station staff make London bearable -without their wealth of knowledge and experience most commuters / travellers tube experience would be a whole lot worse, thats without the safety implications. Ever lost a bag/wallet? Most people get them back after asking tube staff on stations who call ahead and get the train checked. Ever lost a child / person in your care? Again, most are found due to, oo, having staff on stations. Had a question about how to get somewhere / ticket / oyster enquiry? Yep, it will likely have been answered in the ticket office by the knowledgable staff. Ever been involved in a tube bombing? Chances are you were lead to safety by knowledgable, trained station staff...

Suggestions to LU operational staff:



1. Provide customers with mis information relating to Oyster enquiries, referring all enquiries to the helpdesk. Clog their system.

2. Work to absolute rule-remember your right not to work on the grounds of health and safety, etc.

3. Report all instances of abuse, verbal and physical, insisting upon IRFs being filed and the filth being informed.

4. Ensure you are in the more effective union-the leaders all have ulterior motives, but being with the ones willing to roll over and be shafted definately isnt in your interest.

5.Watch your back-they will be looking for every opportunity to get rid of staff-and be especially wary of managers with proven lack of people management skills (see three listed groups above) looking to score brownie points / kiss arse in order to secure themselves a job.

6. Dont trust the scabs! Remember those who do overtime on strike days when you are losing money? Remember the faces who are always in the group/performance managers office / on his facebook page? TRUST NONE OF THEM!

UNITED WE WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED.
CLASS PRIDE. CLASS SOLIDARITY.

Sold Out

Comments

Hide 3 hidden comments or hide all comments

advice from the iww

12.03.2010 00:44

All of the above suggestions for action are great but the most effective means all round is the following: non collection of fares. It's worked in the past all over europe and the syndicalist railway workers in britain in the early 20th century.
Just keep the barriers open but control control the flow of people for safety reasons. This keeps the tubes running, Gains massive public support and hits the bosses right were it hurts.

Direct Action gets the goods!

Solidarity

Leeds wobblie


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Overstaffed

12.03.2010 10:33

The London Underground is massively overstaffed. Just because these people are employed does not mean they should be able to hold the transport system to ransom. The worst ones are the people who have to staff ticket barriers in case of a faulty ticket, or to open to the extra wide ones for suitcases and wheelchairs (and these rarely bother to look at the tickets). When they are not slaving over a hot ticket barrier, they stand around chatting, texting and generally doing nothing productive.

It's all very well fighting for the "working classes", but what's the point if they provide no value to the system?

AH


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Censorship

12.03.2010 12:50

I am curious as to why my previous comment was removed. All I suggested was that the London Underground is overstaffed by people who provide no value, and would vastly benefit from a good round of sackings.

AH


Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

@AH

12.03.2010 13:29

I agree! you are 100% on the money, there are FAR too many useless people on the underground.
I mean you've got the entire executive team for a start, the upper and middle management in all their useless glory, the advertising managers and the marketeers the list goes on and on.
Wouldn't it be best to clear out all this dross and just keep the vaulable workers, like the one who actually run the system and kick out the parasites.
unless that's not what you meant...

Worker


Hide 3 hidden comments or hide all comments