Bank/Monument SAMFs write ...

We in the Bank/Monument ticket offices completely reject the proposed roster and wish to outline valid reasons why.

The roster appears to meet the company’s needs not those of the customers or the station staff.

A dozen RMT reps and activists leafleted passengers coming in and out of Bank station yesterday, Monday 12 April. They dished out hundreds of leaflets and invited people to sign RMT's petition against the job cuts. After just an hour, several sheets of the petition were full of names.

RMT will be appearing outside various stations over the coming weeks, giving out leaflets and collecting signatures. Keep checking back to this website for dates and details - and join us if you can!

A Bank/Monument SAMF explains why London Underground should not be cutting ticket office staff and opening hours on the group ...

Summary:

1. The job cuts victimise ticket office staff.
2. Current staffing levels are inadequate to meet local needs.
3. Bank/Monument complex requires at least current staffing levels to deal with existing ticketing issues.
4. Ticket office staff are the only ones who can offer the best customer service on ticketing issues.
5. There are too many flaws with the Oyster system now that it has expanded.
6. Most Oyster problems can only be resolved at ticket offices; other outlets eg. shops, online and helpdesk can not do this, and do not offer a personal service.
7. Customer numbers are growing, there so are the problems due to the complicated Oyster system.
8. We can not continue working under pressure, with little job satisfaction, concerns over job security and very low morale.

London Underground's proposed new groups for the Central line are as follows:

Greenford - West Ruislip, Ruislip Gardens, South Ruislip, Northolt, Greenford, Perivale, Hanger Lane, Ealing Broadway, West Acton, North Acton, East Acton, White City, Shepherd's Bush - 13 stations, c.135 staff

• This is the current Greenford group with White City and Shepherd's Bush stations added. Greenford group currently has 102 staff; White City has 14, Shepherd's Bush 25, and their share of their current group's reserve is around 14. Total = 155. So, management's proposals represent the loss of around 20 jobs on these stations.

London Underground has decided that all additional station staff duties required by project work must be covered by the Special Requirements Team - even where there are existing project CSAs at that location. As a result, those staff face being forced to move away to a work location where they do not want to work, and will be replaced by people who are not nearly as familiar with the station.

The station which this will affect immediately is Bank/Monument, which has just completed phase 1 of its project work but still has several more phases to go, and will not be completed for several years. As ‘On The Move’ recently pointed out, the Bank/Monument complex is the largest underground railway station in Europe. There are already serious concerns about staffing levels, assaults and evacuation times on the station, and replacing staff who are familiar with the running of the station and well-versed in evacuation procedures can only make these problems worse.

RMT and TSSA reps took part in a lengthy discussion with management today about "over-establishment" CSAs.

We reiterated our opposition to any displacements, and our proposal that management should fill vacancies, confident that doing so would create a chain of vacancies that would see most if not all of the over-establishment staff find posts at stations and groups they want to work at.

I've just had a busking manager turn up at Bank and was informed that this week will be her last along with all her colleagues as LUL have sacked the company responsible for enforcing the buskers.

I'm trying to build up an idea about the type of facilities each GSM provides for his/her staff.