RMT press release, 13th September 2006

NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS of people in London and the southeast want the East London Line's operations kept in the public sector, according to an Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by RMT, London Underground's biggest union.

Some 74 per cent of those interviewed believed that the extended East London Line should continue to be operated by the public sector when it re-opens after extension in 2010.

Just one person in ten wanted the line's operations to be handed to a private operator.

"Commuters and rail workers alike have had a belly-full of privatisation and it beggars belief that anyone could want to hand over any part of the Tube's operations to the privateers," RMT general secretary Bob crow said today.

"Unfortunately the mayor of London is trying to kid us that handing East London Line operations to a private-sector operator is somehow not really privatisation, but you can't justify privatisation by trying to redefine it.

"The simple fact is that TfL intends to remove East London Line operations from London Underground, which is publicly owned, and transfer them to a private franchisee.

"If that is not privatisation, then British Rail was never privatised, England won the world cup this summer and the moon is made out of cream cheese.

"It is not too late for the mayor to keep the East London Line public, and this poll should tell the mayor just how far his plan is out of step with what Tube users and Tube workers want," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note to editors: A sample of 528 British adults In London and the southeast of England were interviewed between August 31 and September 7. The data are weighted to match the profile of the populations They were asked:

"Currently the Tube is run by Transport for London, a public-sector organisation.

"Transport for London is proposing to expand the Tube's East London Line, which currently runs from Shoreditch to New Cross, further into north and south London. If it were to be expanded, do you believe that this expanded passenger service on the East London Line should continue to be operated by the public sector, or by a private rail company?"

Responses: Public sector 74%; Private rail company 10%; Don't know 16%