Tube review may cut some salaries by pounds 5,000

A PAY REVIEW announced by London Underground yesterday will cut some salaries by more than pounds 5,000 a year while others will be increased by up to 37 per cent.

Train operators and station staff are put forward for the biggest rises with the highest paid drivers having a salary of pounds 23,330 and a station supervisor pounds 24,770.

At the other end of the scale, relief signals staff face a cut of pounds 5,124 to pounds 19,570 a year and the lowest technical support grade will lose pounds 2,050 to become the poorest paid staff at pounds 11,390.

London Underground said the review of salaries and conditions for its 16,000 operational staff was intended to be a simplification of a structure containing 1,000 different pay-rate variations.

It follows publication of a company plan late last year which indicated the need for 5,000 redundancies by 1995.

Management estimates that 71 per cent of employees will gain by the changes which will add 4.1 per cent to the annual wage bill. Most will see a drop in hours worked from a basic of between 38 and 53 hours a week to between 35 and a new maximum of 41 hours.

Productivity gains and savings from reduced numbers will more than offset the extra costs. All those due to suffer pay cuts will have their earnings protected for an interim period of two years.

Job evaluations have been based on the skills and knowledge required, judgement, physical demands, responsibility and the outside market rate for the work.

From the list of 'winners' and 'losers' it is clear that management considered it had been paying too much for unskilled and semi-skilled labour and too little for higher grade jobs.

The proposals will be discussed with trade union leaders when both sides meet for a week starting on 7 September in a hotel in Watford.

A spokesman for the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, said the proposals represented fundamental changes in working practices.

He said: 'There are some major problems. Some people have been identified as losers. They are likely to find that difficult to swallow.'