THE TUBE’S biggest union will be in dispute with failing privateer consortium Metronet if there is any attempt to cut even one of its more than 2,000 members’ jobs, RMT said last week.
As the troubled consortium announced plans to cut 290 posts under pressure from its bankers, RMT said that Tube workers will not pay the price for Metronet’s failure.
“It is Metronet that needs to be sacked, not our members,” general secretary Bob Crow said.
“Metronet’s death throes should not be allowed to decimate the skilled maintenance workforce that will still be needed long after Metronet is buried.
“If ever there was a case for euthanasia, this is it.
“We warned months ago that the consortium would try to claw back losses from its over-runs by cutting back on work if it failed to wring more money out of the public purse.
“We have already beaten off attempts to outsource jobs on the cheap, and we are telling Metronet today that if even one RMT job is axed we will be in dispute.
“Our members are out there every day trying to maintain and improve the Tube network despite rip-off contracts that have failure built into their very fabric.
“Metronet was handed a licence to shovel taxpayers and fare-payers’ money out of the Tube network by the million, and in return it has delivered failure and delay.
“For the sake of our members’ jobs, for the sake of the Tube and for the sake of London, Metronet must be sacked and infrastructure work brought back in-house under the direct control of London Underground,” Bob Crow said.
