Tuesday 25 August 2015


Yesterday RMT, TSSA and Unite called off this week’s strikes along with the overtime ban in what Unite’s regional officer Hugh Roberts described it as “an act of goodwill”.  However TSSA’s Manuel Cortes warned “we are not out of the woods yet” while RMT went so far as to set new possible strike dates in two weeks’ time although unless management do something amazingly brainless I’d imagine that those dates will pass without any upheaval.

None of which is surprising, calling two strikes less than three weeks after the last one without ASLEF’s support was simply a step too far and while certain RMT senior officials may be cursing that they’ve lost the chance to overthrow the capitalist system I’d imagine that most of their members are breathing a sigh of relief.  Negotiations will go on, as yet there is no date for introducing Night Tube and I think management must now be aware that should they announce one without having reached an agreement then the strikes will be back on.

Normal service is resumed, the revolution will not be televised.

5 comments:

  1. There are persistent suggestions that "Boris" has been egging (mis)-management on as one reason for this dispute dragging on for so long & being so obtuse.
    Now, I attended a presentation, back in early April on the upcoming "Night Tube" & the very senior TfL person giving the talk was expecting "vigorous" negotiations with the various Unions, but that he (at that time, remember) expected "Night Tube" to start on time, once an suitable agreement had been reached.
    So, between then & now, it's obvious something went totally tits-up.
    What was it?
    TfL incompetence, or were they pushed into it, as suggested above?
    Any ideas or information?

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    Replies
    1. There has been a change in senior management in both TfL and LUL that may have caused the problems.

      Especially in LUL where all unions feel that the Virgin Airways management are completely out of their depth.

      But also there is the general election.

      The Tory government wants to curb Union power in the public sector with new draconian laws.

      What better way to drum up support with the public than to have those nasty unions go on strike on the Tube? Easy to achieve get LU to offer an obviously unacceptable way to run Night Tube - exactly what has happened!!

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    2. The Tories want to curb union power in all sectors, remember FGW is a private sector TOC.

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    3. Greg Tingey, nice to see you on my blog, you might want to read this

      https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/b338297b-ba41-45cf-aee1-c595521da7e3

      and this

      http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/NT-doc

      Food for thought.

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  2. Well put completely agree.

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