If you're gonna be a dog, then at least be a good dog

tube-strike

So we're in the middle of another tube strike. In a way, it evokes nostalgia from a couple of years ago, when there seemed to be a strike every week throughout the summer (especially on sunny days, or days when England were playing in the Roastball World Cup). However, it's obviously not a good feeling.

One thing that is perplexing me about the strike right now is the complete contrast of information being given by the two different sides in this dispute. I thought I'd try to summarise this, from reported statements by both the RMT and TfL:

RMT Leadership says:	TfL says:
TfL have torn up an agreement that there would be no redundancies	[No mention of any previous agreement]
We want a 5% pay rise	You can have a rise of 1% above inflation for this year, followed by 0.5% above inflation for next year
The TfL deal (of 1% above inflation, then 0.5% above inflation) is a pay cut "in real terms"	[No response to this, possibly because it's gibberish]
We were happy to sign the TfL pay deal on Tuesday [contradicting their above statement], then solicitors scuppered it	We had reached an agreement, then at the last minute the RMT demanded that we reinstate two sacked drivers, or they would go ahead with the strike
The strike is over pay and redundancies	The strike is over the refusal to reinstate two sacked drivers

No matter how you look at this, it's logically impossible that both sides are being truthful here. So who's lying?

If we were to take this dispute in isolation, with no knowledge of recent RMT-led strikes, then it would be hard to know which side to believe. It's just the RMT's word against TfL's. However, this isn't an isolated incident. The RMT has a history of calling strikes for spurious, confused and transparently contradictory or illegitimate reasons*, so I certainly know who I believe.

If the RMT ever wants to be taken seriously again, they'll need to shed their 'boy who cried wolf' image, instead of reinforcing everyone's opinion that they are a bunch of lazy, greedy, duplicitous, pugnacious cunts.

* Some of my favourite reasons for tube strikes in recent years:

The one where the RMT threatened to strike because City Hall was "rubbishing" their leader in the press.

The one where the RMT called a strike on New Year's Eve 2005, which was completely unsupported by the tube workers, leading to them call a subsequent strike nine days later over "safety issues" caused by the original failed strike.

The one where, during the aforementioned RMT-led strike on "safety" grounds, there was a simultaneous "wildcat strike" demanding the reinstatement of a driver who had fallen asleep on the job, and driven his train straight through a platform at London Bridge (and a red signal) at almost six times the speed limit. Safety, eh?

The one where the RMT couldn't seem to make up their mind about the reason for a strike, and strike supporters claimed that it was about: (a) safety; (b) pay; (c) jealousy over some TfL salaries; (d) the war in Iraq; (e) the fact that not all workers at King's Cross received medals for their good work in the immediate aftermath of the 7/7 bombings.

Picture by DesheBoard.

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Blog » The tube strike, a.k.a. fat-faced stupidity

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