At the recent Stations & Revenue Council meeting, RMT raised the issue of management pressure on ticket office staff. We know that on many groups, managers are using various methods to ‘encourage’ staff to drive their customers away. The company’s plan is to get customers buying tickets at any outlet other than a London Underground station, so as to justify closing and cutting ticket offices, and cutting ticket office jobs, in a few years’ time.

Some groups are getting Station Supervisors to observe SAMFs for 15 minutes of each shift, and tick off questions on a list, for example whether the ticket seller encouraged the customer to use the internet for future purchases. We believe that this is having a negative effect on the working relationship between SAMFs and Supervisors.

On some groups, reports from ‘mystery shoppers’ are being used to haul staff in for interviews to justify themselves. So if a mystery shopper comes up to your window, hands over a £20 note and their Oyster card and asks for £1 credit and £19 change, you are supposed to say “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to add more credit than that?”. And if you don’t ie. You do exactly what the customer asks you to do, then you are in trouble.

On some groups eg. Buckhurst Hill, staff have even been told in writing that falling short on this could result in disciplinary action.

Your RMT reps pointed out that none of this is in the Ticket Office Procedures Handbook, which sets out how MF staff should do their job. We complained that management had introduced these measures without discussing them with union reps either locally or at the Stations & Revenue Council. We insisted on staff’s right to do their job, and to do what the customer wants, without fear of discipline. We also uphold our members’ right not to be pressurised into participating in a strategy that could result in their jobs being abolished.

Management, however, took the opposite view. They stated that LUL wants staff to “give customers information on options for buying tickets”, and that they would not discuss this policy with us at Stations & Revenue Council. We pointed out that this ‘information on options’ was the equivalent of asking train drivers to make PAs suggesting that next time, passengers might prefer to take the bus or get a taxi.

Management also stated that their policy was “not about driving people away from the window, but about reducing overall journey time”. This, of course, only makes any sense if you do not include the time spent paying your fare in the newsagents, or on the internet at home, as part of your journey! We suggest that if LUL really wants to reduce overall journey time, it should open more ticket office windows, and reduce delays by undoing the mess caused by PPP.

Management insisted that it is within GSMs’ remit to come up with ways of improving performance, and that using MSS reports to advise and even discipline staff is legitimate.

We registered a failure to agree about this, and it will now be scheduled for discussion at an ad hoc Director’s meeting.

ADVICE TO MEMBERS: You should not put up with management pressure to drive your customers away. Talk to your local RMT rep about your views on this. Record any incidents in which you have felt unduly pressured, or in which you have had a negative reaction from customers (eg. “If I wanted more than £1 credit on my Oyster, I’d have ****ing asked for it!”). Go to your RMT branch meeting or our station and revenue grades meeting to discuss this issue further and get involved in our campaigning.

ADVICE TO REPS: Please inform RMT Stations & Revenue Council reps of what management are doing on this issue in your area. Table this for discussion at your next level one meeting. Support any member who wants to make a complaint about undue pressure. Go to your RMT branch meeting and our station and revenue grades meeting to report from your group and discuss with other reps.