Striking

Today, I am striking again alongside thousands of my London Underground workmates - our third monthly one-day strike.

The reason? London Underground is planning to cut hundreds and hundreds of jobs, which will seriously reduce safety and services for passengers. I and my workmates do not share the company's view that the Tube can manage with up to 800 fewer staff on its stations, and 800 fewer 'support services' staff, many of whom are not paper-shufflers but play essential roles in maintenance, safety and other areas.

The threat to the Underground's standards is so severe that the TSSA trade union, known for its extreme reluctance to take industrial action, is out on strike alongside my union, RMT. Members of both unions spent months and months campaigning, lobbying and negotiating before resorting to strike action.

To read more about the issues, and reports on our campaign, please click on one of these two links:

• RMT Platform - Staff Our Stations
  
• RMT London Calling - Stop job cuts

Public support for Tube strike

LBC is polling on its website, asking people "Whose side are you on in the Tube dispute?", here:
The current score is: Unions - 75.55%
Transport for London - 24.45%

London TravelWatch (the official watchdog for transport users) is polling visitors to its website. If you vote in the poll on ticket office opening hours on the front page (in the left hand column), you are then invted to vote on several more: click here.
At the moment:
- around 70% of respondents want ticket offices open for the whole time that the station is open (ie. for longer than they are open now!)
- over 80% of respondents believe that public transport is at risk because of funding cuts
- around a quarter have had problems topping up their Oyster card

London radio station phone-ins: The Tube strikes will no doubt be a hot topic of conversation on London's radio stations. There is a list of phone and text numbers for radio stations here. You, your friends and family may like to express their views!

A majority of GLA members (Labour + LibDems + Greens = 13 out of 25) oppose the Tube job cuts. When they proposed a resolution several weeks ago, the Tories walked out of the meeting to make it inquorate. We look forward to the resolution being resubmitted and the Tories staying in the room and being defeated!

Several disability organisations support our fight against staffing cuts, as the people they represent need staff to help them around the Tube. One organisation, Transport for All, had a very supportive letter published in the Evening Standard, which you can see here.

A message to Tube passengers from Tube staff

WHY WE ARE STRIKING: TO DEFEND SERVICES, SAFETY AND JOBS

London Underground plans to:
•get rid of around 800 station staff posts
•reduce ticket office opening times by around 7,500 hours
•carry out essential maintenance checks on trains every four weeks instead of every two weeks
•cut the number of train drivers’ posts

Tube trade unions RMT and TSSA have tried for months to persuade London Underground to scrap these unnecessary and dangerous cuts. We have spent hours in talks, have lobbied politicians, and have won lots of support from passengers. But London Underground and the Mayor have not listened.

London Underground has left members of the two unions with no choice but to hold strikes and other industrial action. We are prepared to lose money by striking because we are not prepared to see London’s workers and passengers put at risk, left without help, or have vital services withdrawn. We are professional railway staff and we want to be able to do our jobs safely and properly.

We believe that people who live in, visit and work in London need:
•a safe, secure London Underground
•open ticket offices
•more Tube staff, not fewer
•job opportunities for unemployed people and school-leavers

We understand that strikes can cause disruption and distress. We want the staff cuts withdrawn so that we do not have to carry on striking. Please support our campaign.

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Fewer station staff means:
•a less safe London Underground
•less information and help during delays and disruptions
•it will be harder to evacuate stations quickly and safely in the event of an emergency eg. fire, crash, bombing
•less help for disabled, elderly and other vulnerable passengers
•less chance of you getting the help you need with directions, information, lost property, accidents or other issues
•less deterrent to assault, vandalism and other harmful behaviour
•you will feel less secure travelling around London Underground

Shorter ticket office opening hours means you will not be able to get a ticket seller’s help when:
•you have a problem with your ticket or Oyster
•the ticket machines are not working (which will happen more often with fewer staff to service them)
•you need to buy a ticket that is not available elsewhere
•you believe that the ticketing system has treated you unfairly
•your ticket or Oyster does not work
•you want the ‘personal touch’ in dealing with your issue

Less frequent train maintenance and fewer drivers means:
•trains potentially going into passenger service with defective brakes and other parts
•serious risk of accidents, injuries and even deaths
•trains more likely to be cancelled and therefore more delays to your journey

Support our campaign against staffing cuts:
•Visit our website: www.rmtplatform.org.uk/sos
•Send us an email: supportus@rmtlondoncalling.org.uk
•Contact your member of the Greater London Assembly. Find out their names and contact details at www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/members. Write to them at City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA.
•Tell London Underground and TfL your views by writing to Customer Service Centre, London Underground, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD, or online at www.tfl.gov.uk/helpandcontact
•Email Mayor Boris Johnson: mayor@london.gov.uk

They Are Not Perks, They Are Rights

Having heard the BBC News refer to BA cabin crew's "travel perks" once too often, I have submitted the following complaint to the BBC ...

I object to the repeated use by BBC News of the term "perks" to describe British Airways cabin crew's travel concessions. The term "perks" is highly subjective - it suggests something unearned, undeserved and which a person could easily do without.

In fact, the travel concessions are essential for many staff to remain in work, and are a well-earned part of their wages and rights.

As this issue is now the main sticking point of a very high-profile, highly-charged industrial dispute, the BBC should take more care and use a less loaded, more objective term, such as "travel concessions".

The Return of the Post Strikes?

Forwarded by National Shop Stewards Network
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Postal Workers' Dispute - London Update 20.11.09

At this afternoon's meeting of the London Divisional Committee it was reported that after some six meetings with London Royal Mail they are still refusing to honour the full terms of the interim agreement.

All they want to do is make more cuts and introduce "absorption" without re-engaging about the changes they have already imposed with regard to job cuts, revisions, part-timers, belated hours, rest day hours, 4-day weeks etc in line with the agreement.

It is clear that London Management want to continue to punish, bully, intimidate and harass our members for daring to stand up to them and defend our terms and conditions.

The London Division has therefore unanimously agreed to demand that the national union, when it meets on Tuesday, announce national strike action. This is a national agreement they're breaking, it's a national union, therefore it requires national action.

Striking Against Lone Working

Today, detrainment staff at three Bakerloo line stations took their seventh day of strike action against management threats to make them work alone. (That's their seventh one-day strike, not the seventh day of an ongoing strike.)

The work they do is 'tipping out' trains, telling people that they have to get off because the train is going into a sidings or depot. It is a very vulnerable situation to be in, as quite a number of people get naffed off about being turfed off a train, and while most of them deal with their disappointment philosophically, some of the arseholes amongst them take it out on the detrainment staff with verbal abuse, threats or even violence. So it is not a job that London Underground should expect anyone to do alone, without any other staff on the station to assist them should the sh*t hit the fan.

There has been zero scabbing so far, but the strikers are quite isolated. Please send them messages of support by e-mailing me.

(You can read a lot more about the strike and how it has developed here.)

Migrant Workers Strike In Dubai

Thousands of migrant building workers are on strike in the world's tallest tower, in Dubai.

The United Arab Emirates is a country that is largely based on migrant labour, with migrant workers constituting three-quarters of the population but having no rights. I'm not even sure that 'country' is the right word - it seems more like a machine for extracting foreign labour located within certain borders.

Anyway, up the workers!

Slaying Vampires, Slaying Bosses

The fabulous Joss Whedon, creator of the best TV shows ever, Buffy and Angel, has risen even higher in my estimation by hauling his arse down to the Writers'
Guild of America's picket line (click the link and scroll down the comments to the one headed FROM THE FRONT LINES). Good on you, Joss. And go the WGA!

Metronet Strike

It would be remiss of me not to mention the strike by my workmates and RMT brothers and sisters on Metronet today (and tomorrow, and the next day ...).

These people were privatised under the notorious 'Public-Private Partnership', forced to work for a cowboy outfit called Metronet, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Atkins and others. In the four years since, the workers have done their best to maintain and improve London Underground in the face of shoddy, incompetent management cutting corners, flagrantly disregarding safety and still draining £1m per week in profits from the public purse. Then, a couple of months ago, and shortly after derailing a Central line train, Metronet crashed, and was taken into administration.

Its workers now feared for their pensions, their job security, and the possibility that they may simply be reprivatised into the hands of another bunch of cowboys. So they demanded that their unions put up a fight. RMT is by far the biggest union on metronet, with TSSA and Unite having a small number of members each. All three unions balloted for strike action, all got big majorities, and all named strike dates this week. The employers and the Mayor were under intense pressure, and began to make 'offers' that were not in fact offers in the sense that they meant anything concrete, but were offeers designed to give union bureaucrats a piece of paper they could wave and call a victory. It worked for TSSA and Unite, who jumped ship yesterday and called off the action. (The name 'Unite' clearly does not refer to a willingness to Unite with - or at least maintain unity with - other unions, then.)

RMT rightly went ahead anyway, the strike is solid, and every Underground line maintained by Metronet is running no service. It is superb, effective piece of workers' solidarity that should be an inspiration to us all. You can send messages of support to RMT's LU Engineering branch.

Salford Bin Workers' Victory

It seems that the Salford bin workers have won their dispute with the Council over casualisation. Below is the T&G/Unite press release. I'm always sceptical of union press releases, having seen many a shoddy deal sold as a victory and dressed up like a Christmas tree. But this one does look like a genuine victory. Great news.

The sad thing is that one of the main organisers, Mick Cashman (pictured), did not live to see the victory, as he died of a heart attack last month. I never met Mick (but do know several of his relatives), but many people I respect speak very highly of him. The union has dedicated the victory to Mick's memory.

Salford dispute ends in workers’ success

The terms of a new agreement reached between Salford City Council and the T&G section of Unite – the union were greeted with cheers today by union members, as they voted unanimously to accept the deal and therefore end the dispute with the council over the casualisation of jobs and the undermining of council pay and conditions.

The agreement was described by the union as “a commitment to 100% service delivery by a permanent workforce.” Following a review, the council will ensure that staffing levels for refuse collection and street cleansing are established on the basis of service need, and any additional staff will be recruited on permanent contracts. Permanent hiring of staff will start from Monday 6th August. Recycling services will transfer to direct council contracts by 1st November.

Mass meetings of union members this morning backed the agreement which had been recommended for acceptance by the dispute organising committee yesterday, following a long day of negotiations on Monday with the employer.

Neil Clarke, T&G section of Unite Regional Industrial Organiser, said:

“The outcome surpasses the expectations of our members at the outset of the dispute. It represents a magnificent victory won because of the unity of Unite members, and demonstrates what can be achieved by organised workers who campaign collectively within a strong union.”

The full details of the agreement are:

• A review of refuse collection services and subsequently, of street cleansing. The outcome of the review will establish the required number of staff to meet the service need. Any additional staff over and above the current establishment will be recruited to permanent council contracts within three-month of the end of the reviews.
  
  
• Recycling currently operated by agency workers will transfer to a service delivered by permanent staff employed directly by the local authority by 1st November 2007 at the latest.
  
  
• Some workers will commence permanent employment on Monday in positions that have previously been filled with casual staff.
  
  
• Pre-planned holiday cover and long-term sickness can be covered by temporary workers employed on terms and, replacing the current agency arrangement.
  
  
• The development of fully-funded training opportunities for employees who currently are non-LGV drivers so that in-house driver cover will replace the reliance on agency workers.