THE STRIKING Tube workers brought London to a standstill yesterday, and every London worker and commuter must give them their full support against the attempt to impose night working and also the mass closure of ticket offices, along with major staff reductions, without any proper discussion, and without a signed and sealed agreement.
On the anniversary of the 2005, 7/7 Tube bombings, and with the state itself focussing on the danger of terror attacks, attempts to impose night working, and the closure of ticket offices, plus staff cuts on the Tube network are a matter of great public concern. They must be discussed and agreed with the trade unions in order to assist in the safety of the public!
However, Mayor Johnson declared yesterday morning, as the strike impacted fully, that a 24-hour service on some parts of London’s Tube network will happen, despite the industrial action. The fact of the matter is that this strike action was imposed on Tube workers by LUL managers, under instructions to steamroller through changes.
It is because of this attempt to impose a settlement on the workers, and also on the commuters, that LUL and Mayor Johnson have managed the feat of uniting all four Tube unions, RMT, ASLEF, Unite and the TSSA in their first-ever joint strike.
The RMT says: ‘The responsibility for this strike and the disruption that it will cause rests squarely with London Underground management. They squandered the window of opportunity to resolve this dispute by refusing to move their position in the slightest for three months, and then demanding that all four trade unions accept an offer in one afternoon.
‘They have played foolish games of brinkmanship, taking their offer off the table, then denying they had done so.’ ASLEF adds: ‘This dispute is entirely the fault of TfL; they have prevaricated for months, after announcing the Night Tube, without proper negotiation, on the same day as nearly 1,000 redundancies on the London Underground.’
Again the RMT explains: ‘Our members on London Underground voted overwhelmingly for strike action because the company tried to force through, without negotiation, new rosters which would mean Tube drivers would have to work an unlimited number of weekend and night shifts for no extra pay. In the ballot conducted by Electoral Reform Services 97.6 per cent voted for strike action on a turnout of 81.3 per cent.’
There were similar majorities in the three other trade unions. So why won’t LUL negotiate properly with the workers?
What is happening is that Mayor Johnson is trying to whip up an anti-union feeling amongst the millions of commuters so that when the new draconian Tory anti-union laws are brought in outlawing strikes in the public sector, they can be used in an attempt to break the Tube trade unions, with the support of a section of the commuting public!
However, the public are not fools. They know that massive changes that affect their health and safety directly must be discussed properly and agreed with the trade unions, who are the real defenders of the public in the public sector. Workers must therefore continue with their support of the Tube workers, as the rail trade unions correctly continue with their struggle to defend themselves and the public.
The unions must also prepare for a situation where the government attempts to bring in anti-union laws that will be used on them in a premeditated and planned battle. They must fight to get the entire trade union movement to agree that an injury to one is an injury to all, as far as the use of new anti-union laws is concerned.
Any attempt to use such laws to ban strike action by the Tube trade unions must be met with a general strike by all trade unions. Such a strike will be backed by all workers and must bring down the Tory government and bring in a workers government.
This government will nationalise the banks and the major industries and bring in a socialist planned economy where satisfying the needs of the working class, including the travelling public, is the number one issue.
This is the big struggle that is now approaching at some speed.