HAMMERSMITH and City Line Tube RMT branch secretary Ian Flatman, told News Line: ‘The strike here is absolutely solid. It’s time for a general strike. This government is not elected its definitely time for change.
‘My sister’s a nurse and she will be on the picket line in Sheffield where she works.
‘It’s something for them to vote for a strike. They have never done it before, unlike us.
‘Our pensions face being devalued by 33 per cent. The whole country is feeling the pinch.
‘We have had support on the picket line from cleaners who work for the contractor ABM, we want them to be taken back in-house.
‘Their wages are low and they were saying they had a pay increase of 10p an hour one year and 20p the next.’
Christine Soobramoney at the Hackney Downs Station picket line told News Line: ‘We did not want to take strike action, but we have no choice but to do it, because inflation is going up, but not our money.
‘I would like our pay to match inflation simply because that would make sense.
‘We have barristers, nurses, BT workers and others, they’re all coming out because they’ve had enough and so I think it’s time for those at the top to start paying working class people what they deserve.
Wale Agunbiade, RMT member on the Dalston Junction picket line, told News Line: ‘We are taking action as the terms and conditions of our staff are under threat from the train companies.
‘Management and companies are making vast amounts of profits with managers being paid over inflation pay deals whilst those on the frontline who kept on working during Covid are struggling and it is unfair as this is the type of thanks we’re getting.
‘We should be paid at a level in which we can survive the cost of living crisis and I’d like to see fair treatment of staff and if we don’t get that, we’ll keep on fighting until we get fair treatment.
At the picket line at West Ruislip Central Line station, Darren Lalli, industrial rep West Ruislip said yesterday: ‘We are out for 24 hours today.
‘The three main parts of our dispute are our pension, job cuts and changes to working conditions.
‘We went out on strike in March, June and today.
‘The RMT have demanded no detrimental changes to our pension and no imposed job cuts or imposed changes to working agreements.
‘January 31st is the deadline for the government funding for TfL.
‘The government have told TfL to find cuts and Sadiq Khan has agreed them.
‘The next lot of strikes will be more and we will re-ballot in the next four weeks to get a mandate.
‘I believe a general strike should happen now and workers must take back control. It is fantastic that the nurses are striking, the first national strike in their history.
‘I urge all unions to pressurise the TUC into calling a general strike as soon as we can.
‘It’s up to the workers to unite and take a general strike together.’
The pickets at Brixton Underground station were in confident mood yesterday. Phil, RMT rep at Brixton told News Line: ‘Everything is solid on the whole Underground, so the strike is going well.
‘The nurses and teachers have voted for strike action too. I think there should be co-ordinated action involving everyone who has a mandate.
‘The government is bringing in new laws to effectively make striking illegal.
‘If that comes in we should break those laws. We have to have the right to strike.
‘We are currently re-balloting which we have to do because of the existing anti-union laws.
‘We want a big vote for strike action and to step up the action. We’ve been offered nothing.’
