RMT tube workers will lobby the Trades Union Council tomorrow (11 September), at its Brighton conference, to support bringing back maintenance provider, Metronet into the public sector.
The union plunged the UK capital into chaos last week as its 2,300 members walked out in a dispute concerning what would happen after Metronet emerged from administration.
London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, has called for tube maintenance to be brought back in house ” a position the RMT vigorously supports ” as union general secretary, Bob Crow, outlined.
”Metronet”s collapse underlines that the PPP [public, private partnership] has failure built into its very fabric, yet well over ”1m of public money a week is being wasted on the charade of public administration,” he said.
”The latest poll shows that bringing back tube maintenance into the public sector would be an overwhelmingly popular move. The government can and should end the uncertainty, the delays and the waste.”
Crow was referring to a poll carried out by ICM and commissioned by the union, indicating that 76% of Londoners apparently wanted future maintenance of tube tracks, signals and station, to be carried out by London Underground.