Industrial action planned for today has been called off
The RMT have called off their planned three day industrial action after London Underground (LU) management agreed to a station by station review of ticket office closures.
Until the review is completed later this month no applications for voluntary redundancy will be processed by LU. There will also be detailed discussion about insuring that any station staff who do not accept voluntary severance under the Fit for Future programme on the tube would be offered another role with an equivalent salary.
Phil Hufton, Chief Operating Officer of London Underground, said: “The only way to resolve this dispute is for the RMT leadership to work with us to shape the future of the Tube in a changing world. It is good that they have committed to doing so alongside the three other unions involved. As we have always said, we are, of course, open to discuss any proposals our staff or the unions may offer.
“Modernisation of the Tube means that it is our intention to close all ticket offices, used in less than 3 per cent of journeys, and instead deliver a vastly better customer service by bringing more staff than ever before out on to the concourses of stations at ticket machines, ticket gates and platforms – just as we delivered during the London 2012 Games. This will also allow us to save £50 million per annum to reinvest in better and more reliable train services and to keep fares down.”
Mick Cash,
Acting General Secretary, of the RMT said in a letter to members, "By standing strong, your resolve and unity has forced London Underground to back down."
The RMT strike action was due to affect services from around 9.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday 5 May and throughout the whole of Tuesday 6, Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 May, with services not returning to normal until the morning of Friday 9 May.
TfL says during the previous week’s strike action LU managed to run 50% of Tube services across the 48-hour action and carried up to 57% of the usual number of passengers, far higher than during the last strike in February.
May 6, 2014
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