RMT refuses to call off tube strike
Millions of London underground passengers face travel chaos this evening after the RMT refused to call off a three-day strike over jobs and pensions.
The 72-hour strike begins at 6pm and threatens to cause chaos during rush hour.
The two other unions representing members at Metronet, the firm responsible for maintaining around two-thirds of the tube network, were still meeting to discuss whether to abandon their plans for industrial action today following reassurances made by Transport for London over jobs and conditions.
But the RMT vowed to go ahead, regardless of the decision of the other two unions, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association and Unite, in calling off the strike, according to a union source.
The RMT has 2,300 members, who maintain tracks, trains and signals on most of the tube network, including some of the busiest routes such as the Victoria, Central and District lines.
The RMT’s decision to go ahead will be met with disbelief by Transport for London (TfL), the mayor’s transport authority, which says that unions have received assurances from Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London; the administrator of Metronet; and the company itself, over the concerns about jobs, transfers and pensions.
“The administrator and Metronet have made clear that there will be no job cuts, no transfers and that pensions will be fully protected while the company is in administration,” a TfL spokesman said.
“We have given the trade unions clear written assurances… London underground, Metronet, the administrator and Acas have all asked Bob Crow what further assurances the RMT is seeking.
“We have received no request… It is clearly unreasonable to proceed with this strike when all the concerns have been met.”
Mr Livingstone added his voice to the calls for the action to be called off.
“It would be incomprehensible to disrupt the lives of millions of Londoners and lose their members significant amounts of pay when all the assurances they have asked for have been given.”
However, an RMT spokesman said earlier today that the guarantees his union wanted went beyond the period of administration.
“We have still not had the assurances we have been seeking.”
The RMT is planning to follow this strike with another 72-hour stoppage starting at 6pm on September 10.
Metronet went into administration in July, four years into a 17bn public-private partnership programme, having overspent by 2bn.
Last month the RMT, TSSA and Unite balloted their members at Metronet over strike action.
The unions were worried that Metronet’s contracts, which cover the maintenance and upgrade of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Waterloo and City, Circle, District, Metropolitan, Hammersmith and City and East London lines, could be split up among other private sector companies.
TfL has lodged a formal expression of interest in taking control of Metronet’s two PPP contracts, which cover three-quarters of the capital’s tube network.
If the bid is successful it would undermine the fundamental principle of the PPP process, which is to have private sector involvement in funding and running a public asset.
The tube PPP was one of the cornerstones of Gordon Brown’s tenure as chancellor, when he drove through the programme in the face of opposition from Mr Livingstone.
Although TfL said it was seeking control on a “temporary basis”, believed to be for about two years, it did not state when it expects to hand back the contracts to the private sector.
