After unions claim real number of job cuts is double what TfL say
Peace talks are underway at ACAS to stop three more 24-hour strikes.
Last week a fresh row broke out with the RMT and TSSA when Tube Lines announced publicly it was cutting another 250 jobs. The unions claim they were then told 'privately' that the actual number of posts going would be over 500.
The next 24-hour strike is set to starts at 9.00pm on Sunday October 3rd, the opening day of the Tory Party Conference in Birmingham.
Whilst the reduction of ticket office staff has been at the forefront of the ongoing rift between management and unions, cuts of between 20 and 33% to repair teams looking after lifts and escalators across the network have been highlighted by TSSA union leader Gerry Doherty.
He accused London Mayor Boris Johnson of misleading the travelling public about what the cuts would mean on the ground and the actual number of jobs he was proposing to axe. "Boris is being economical with the truth when he claims the cuts will not affect services,” he said.
Tube Lines, which looks after the Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee Lines were cutting 20 jobs from its 60 strong repair team while Otis, which serves the whole tube network, were cutting 80 jobs from its 500 strong wokforce because of TfL cutbacks.
"You cannot chop these amount of jobs without an impact on day to day operations. Londoners will face a worse journey to work with more and more lifts and escalators simply not working as they should," he added.
September 23, 2010