The audit and review of TfL's governance and finance, ordered by the Department for Transport (DfT) as part of the funding bailout provided in June, and led by accountancy firm KPMG, was due to make its initial report at the end of August.
As Tubeworker reported, language in the audit's terms of references about "efficiency savings", "workforce modernisation", and "alternative operating models" made the intent very clear: cuts, and possible privatisation.
But TfL/LU bosses have now told unions that the contents of the audit won't be made public. Not only will they not be shared with unions, TfL bosses have said they don't expect to see them either! KPMG will apparently report to the DfT, and the DfT only, which will inform the DfT's position on any further funding bailout once the current package runs out in October.
This is a scandal. The future of our jobs, and the future of the transport service for London's travelling public, is at stake here. TfL and LU are public bodies, administered by local government. It's not acceptable that only a handful of Tory ministers and some government bureaucrats will see the full scope of this review.
Although seeing its full contents won't change our fundamental position - to oppose any and all cuts and attacks on terms and conditions - opening the books would allow for far greater scrutiny and response by the people the recommendations of the review will most directly affect.
As well as organising to resist cuts, our unions must also demand transparency.
